Francine Rivers - A Path to Redeeming Love: A Forty-Day Devotional

Hoseas story in the Bible had a great deal to do with my decision to give my life to Jesus Christ. I had grown up in the church, but like others, I was able to sit in the pews for years and never allow my heart to be touched by the gospel. Knowledge is fine, but its love that transforms us, Christs love. After I studied the book of Hosea, I saw how patient and how deep Gods love is for meand everyone. How could I not fall in love with God through His Son, Jesus? Why had I rebelled and resisted for so long?

At this point in my life, Id been writing love stories for almost ten years and realized how much deeper Gods love is for us than what we read in romance novels or see in romantic movies. Gods love is a consuming fire! His passion for each of us is beyond our understanding. His love is so high, deep, and wide that it necessitated the blood sacrifice of His own Son to atone for our sins to make the way open to Him. The love He offers each of us is forever strong. It never wavers with feelings or circumstances. He is faithful, trustworthy, and the lover of our souls, offering us a marriage consummated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When we say yes to Jesus, we are in Christ, sealed and secure no matter what happens. He will never lose us.

While studying the book of Hosea, I felt the Lord nudging me to write His love story. The prophets life gave me the plot. As I studied Gods character in order to develop the character of Michael, I prayed readers would see the difference between what I had been writing about (eros, or sensual love) and what real love looks likepassionate, sacrificial, unchanging, and eternal. When readers wrote to me and said they longed to meet a man like Michael, I would write back, You can! His name is Jesus! This is why I wrote Redeeming Love: so that you would know how greatly you are loved and that no matter what youve been through, God loves and wants you. He can make beauty out of ashes. He makes all things new.

Karin Buursma and I have worked together to take the truths of Gods never-ending love that are highlighted in the novel and expand them into a devotional format. Each devotion begins with a scene from Redeeming Love, tracing Angels journey from despair and rejection to rescue, redemption, and ultimately full restoration. We pull out key spiritual themes in the storysuch as the gift of hope, the reality of Gods presence with us even in hard times, and the transforming power of Gods forgivenessand consider what they mean in our own lives.

The devotions are grounded in Scripture because we want to continually point you back to Gods Word. It is our best source of truth about what God is really like and how He wants to interact with His people.

While our circumstances are undoubtedly different than Angels, we all share the essence of her journey. We too often feel rejected, believing no one can love us for who we are. Our past hurts, along with a distorted understanding of God, can hold us back from fully embracing His love and believing that He can redeem the hard things in our lives. Our prayer is that when you finish reading this book, youll be able to see more clearly who God is and how He is calling you to be restored in Him. May the truth of Gods redeeming love bring you hope and joy as you draw closer to Him.

W E ALL EXPERIENCE REJECTION. Sometimes it strikes in subtle ways, and other times in a blatant way. I look back over my life and remember the pain of it. When I was a small child, I stood in the doorway of my mothers room as she told me, from her bed, to stay out of the room and away from her. I retreated, crushed and convinced that my mother didnt love me. Other mothers hugged and kissed their children. Mine didnt. The only person I saw my mother kiss was my father. That early rejection was the first and most severe, but others followed:

• I felt like an outcast because all the popular students lived in town and I lived a couple miles away.

• I was bullied and called names.

• I heard people refer to the rural road on which I lived as chicken alley.

• Girls sneered at my homemade dresses and hand-me-downs from cousins.

• I strove to win an end-of-summer swim contest, only to have the blue ribbon go to my visiting cousin.

• I had a giant crush on a boy who liked girls who were prettier and smarter than me.