"life is to short for half-hearted connections and meaningless run-throughs"
-Karen Kingsbury (Take 2)
This past school year my roommate, Lindsey, gave me the book Redemption by Karen Kingsbury to read. I did not get around to reading it until this summer. I was not sure that I would like the but it turned out to be one of the best books I ever read.
This book was apart of the Redemption series that consisted of 5 books, the Firstborn series that has 5 books, and the finally the Sunrise series that has 4 books. Over these past two months Lindsey and I read every single one of the books and many more written by Karen Kingsbury.
Mrs. Kingsbury had inspired me through her books. She writes a lot about Love and how it can be the most precious treasure you could ever find. Over this past summer I have had many conversations with my best friend about when it will be our time. It seems that everyone around us has found the person their supposed to be with and here we are patiently, at least trying to be, waiting. All the waiting can become discouraging, but as i read these books I have been given a glimpse of what I could have in a relationship if I wait on Gods timing in love. Her books have also made me take a look and see what love is and what my picture of it was. I see love as something that people share, whether its with a friend, your family, or significant other. But as I read these books I found that love was something so much more that just a connection to someone. Love is a gift given to us by our Savior, we don't deserve love but yet we are still showered with it every moment of our life. For some of us, like me, love is not something that is easy to give away. We have been hurt by someone that has caused us to put up a wall and guard our heart and protect ourselves form the hurt that comes with loving someone. Yes, in the bible it say to guard your heart, in Proverbs 4:23 it says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life". But this does not mean to completely cut your heart off from others. On the website desiringgod.com i read a post that is so true it say "we use that verse to justify being cold or cowardly instead of loving. we think the saying "guard your heart" means don't get hurt." That quote is so true, even for myself, we don't love because we believe were guarding our hearts and not loving will protect us. But this is so untrue by not loving we are hurting ourselves and not following God's commandment of loving one another.
In my opinion Proverbs 4:23 it telling us as a body of believers to love but to guard our hear with the word of God. Always remember to love God first. As we love one another we should remember how precious love is and how it could change someone.
Karen Kingsbury reminds her readers to Love. Her books have helped shape me in a way. The taught me about life, love, and faith. I want to encourage people to read her stories they truly are Life Changing
