The novel Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, is a powerful story about: faith, forgiveness, and love.
Rivers was inspired to write this story after reading the book of Hosea in The Bible. Before this, Rivers said she couldn’t write for a few years because she wanted to get her priorities straight and start focusing on God.
After Rivers started practicing her faith and getting into God’s word, she said,” I felt that God was saying that this is the love story that I want you to write, my love for my people.”
Redeeming Love takes place in 1850 during the California Gold Rush. Angel is a beautiful woman who was sold into prostitution at the age of eight. Her childhood was full of abuse and neglect. Michael Hosea is a farmer who saves her after God told him that he was going to marry her someday.
Throughout this book Angel thinks she’s not good enough for Michael and God’s love. She runs away countless times but Micheal always went back for her. Until the last time when Angel saw how happy he was when holding their neighbors baby.
Angel couldn’t have kids, and when she told Michael he said that nothing is impossible with God. She didn’t want Micheal to be unhappy, so she ran away one last time hoping that Micheal would fall in love with someone else.
Michael did not run after her this time because he respected that she didn’t want to be with him. Unfortunately when she goes to town she is found by her adopted father, the man that abused her as a child.
She escapes from her adoptive father along with saving a little girl who was also being abused. Angel begins to realize God’s love for her. She had always believed she could never be forgiven for the things she did. Satan put in her mind that she didn’t deserve the love from God.
After three years Angel decided to return to Michael. Michael had waited all those years praying that she would come back to him. And after all that time, she did.
This story has touched the lives of many people, over three million copies have been sold worldwide, and has been translated into 30 different languages. The book was so successful that they turned it into a movie in 2022.
This book is by far my favorite. Rivers did an amazing job portraying the love and forgiveness that God has for every single one of us. The only con I would say this book has is that it could be a trigger for some people that have gone through abuse. But on top of that, this novel could also help them overcome their past.
Another reader Dimitra Heather said, “It shows me how God is working everything for our good. How deep and rich His love is for us and how relatable some of us are to Amanda.”
When asked about what redeeming love means to her, Rivers responded with, “Nothing is wasted in your life no matter what you’ve been through, God can completely restore you. He can take the worst of what you’ve been through or what you’ve done and He can turn it into His good purpose and miraculous ways.”
