Unveiled

Recently, I wrote a post about Mary, the mother of Jesus. I was reminded of a series of books that I have read in the past and, fortunately, own. A Lineage of Grace, five novellas by Francine Rivers, tell the stories of the women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus outlined in Matthew chapter 1. The first of the five is Unveiled, the story of Tamar, a Canaanite girl.

The story of Tamar comes from the book of Genesis in the Bible, right in the middle of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers and their reunion in Egypt. Unfortunately, when Tamar's story is told-the girl that pretended to be a prostitute to trick Judah into sleeping with her-she usually gets a bad rap. Francine Rivers' interpretation of the story, based on LOTS of research and knowledge of Scripture, gives us more insight on Tamar's life and abuse in Judah's household, the battle between Hebrew and Canaanite culture, and the inner-workings of God's plan to redeem the world through a seemingly failed family. (I also love that there is a "Seek and Find" section in the back of the book that allows the reader to check out and study the scripture from which this story is found.)

Things I learned from this book:
1. God has a plan.
2. People mess up.
3. God works His plan despite messy people.
4. God forgives messy people.
5. People with messy pasts are NOT disqualified from God's plan.

Yay! That means God can do something with "messy" ol' me!