When Life Doesn't Match Your Dreams

3.5 stars

Each chapter explores the life of one woman in the book of Genesis (plus Zipporah from Exodus), with a fictional imagining of what their life might've looked like and what they might've felt in their life situations. Then, the author relates each woman's journey to ours today, reminding us that our God is the same God that we see in Scripture, and we can still trust Him- even when life is hard.

Jill Eileen Smith writes biblical fiction novels, and her skill in that genre came through in this book as well. She is a talented writer, and wrote beautifully, accessibly, and compassionately. Even though the book touched on tough issues like abuse, guilt, unforgiveness, marital infidelity, mental illness, death, and other difficulties in life, it was full of hope as the author reminded us of many reasons we have to trust in Adonai, Yahweh, Yeshua. I enjoyed the historical detail she obviously researched so well, and it helped me to really think of these women as real people who I could relate to from the pages of the Bible. I also appreciated the “ponder this” verse and thoughtful questions at the end of each chapter.

I did struggle a little bit with some of the aspects of this book, however. A lot of women's ministry books these days are pretty fluffy, full of emotional and flowery prose without a lot of rich theology to sink deep roots into. I thought this book fell into that trap a little bit. And while I enjoyed the fictional sections that brought these women to life, I thought it strayed into too much speculation from time to time.

Overall, though, I found this book to be an encouragement to my discouraged heart, working a little more hope into the places I needed it.

I received a copy of When Life Doesn't Match Your Dreams from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.