Ribbon of Years by Robin Lee Hatcher ~ Book Review

Julianna Crosby finds herself at an estate sale in Boise, Idaho.  Usually she loves these sales but she feels restless and discontented with her life.  As she roams the old Victorian house she finds herself in a room with a few chairs and a box on table.  As she realizes the room was set up for a meeting, she cannot resist the pull to look through the box that curiously has the label "My Life" written on it.  Reasoning that the woman downstairs had said everything in the house was for sale Julianna starts to peek through the odd assortment of items.  As she a few people start to enter the room at various times and she finds herself immersed in the story of the life of "Miriam" as each person explains what each item means and how it relates to them.  What she finds is the story of a young girl with big Hollywood dreams who never made it past Idaho, who didn't always find her path in life an easy one and yet how her eventual walk of deep faith in God touched each person in that room in a profound way.  Now Julianna finds Miriam's life, even after her passing, touching hers.

This is one of my all time favorite Christian books.  I've now read it probably four times since purchasing it in the early 2000's.  It follows Miriam's life from the 1930's to the 1980's.  From a headstrong, starry eyed teenager to a woman firmly grounded in her faith who walks out that faith in her everyday life no matter what life throws at her and in a way that touches the lives around her.  The author has said her own Mom was the inspiration for the character of Miriam.  Though an easy read and one that always compels me to keep reading it, also touches on a myriad of hard life topics, ones where one may wonder where God is in them,  each of which is handled in a very real way with real feelings and fears.  The author doesn't shy away from addressing them or letting the reader know that the Christian life is not a walk in the park but at the same time showing how a progressive, abiding faith in God walked out daily can carry one through the hardest of times and touch the lives of those around us in profound ways.  Though not a fluffy read I always find this story encouraging to keep to my own walk of faith.   

I will note that this book has now been republished with a different cover but this is the one I have so hence this picture.

I rated this a 10/10