Better Together
A Year Of Flowers by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the most beautiful Christian contemporary offering of four stories in one book.
Each story is intertwined as they build towards the final story showing how the three lead characters are better together. The reader is reminded that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.
Flowers take centre stage. Different flowers mean different things. “Flowers touched a person’s life.” We see that flowers need just the right conditions to bud and to flourish. Likewise, we too, need the right conditions in order to flourish. We need God. We need “to get to a point where you realise life isn’t working out very well on your own. To know you need Christ.” When we reach rock bottom, we find the Rock who is Jesus is right there with us.
“I got to a point when I had no-where else to go… when I realized my own indescribable need for a Lord & Savior… My whole purpose in life has changed.” This really ‘speaks’ to the reader as we can ‘feel’ the characters desperate need for Jesus and the security of knowing Him.
We all have dreams. “She found the life she’d been chasing after, only to discover it wasn’t what she’d dreamed it would be.” Sometimes our dreams feel more like nightmares as we realise we have been focused on the wrong things. “Chasing all the wrong things… it was time to get herself back to church.” There are times in our life when we realise that something is missing, and that something is a person and His Name is Jesus. Being with other believers in church helps to build up our faith, and we, in turn, can help to build up the faith of others.
God shows up in our lives in unexpected places. “Do you even see how God is at work in your life?” God wants to be a part of every area of our lives. God will use different mediums to speak to us. “The Lord uses music to speak to our hearts.”
We see that all three lead characters have run from their situations and kept on running for seven years. “When you can’t talk about something, it doesn’t go away. It just gets stuffed down.” Their personal demons have been haunting them for seven years. Now is the time to return home. “You can’t fix what you don’t face.” When we face up to our mistakes, we see that God transforms our messes into masterpieces. All heaven rejoices when the prodigal returns home.
There is the theme of forgiveness. Forgiveness is freeing. It releases us from burdens we didn’t even know we were carrying.
Within the novel, there is much love. It reaches from the pages to include the reader. Suzanne Woods Fisher has written a most delightful novel that will leave you feeling serenely loved and very peaceful.
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
