When Mercy Rains
A Novel
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4.5 • 46 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
She left her Old Order Mennonite commuinty, heavily weighted with secrets. But God reveals all things, in His time. And He redeems them.
Suzanne Zimmerman was only seventeen and pregnant when her shamed mother quietly sent her away from their Old Order Mennonite community in Kansas. With her old home, family, and first love firmly behind her, Suzanne moved to Indiana, became a nurse, and raised a daughter, Alexa, on her own.
Now, nearly twenty years later, an unexpected letter arrives from Kansas. Her brother asks her to bring her nursing abilities home and care for their ailing mother. His request requires that Suzanne face a family that may not have forgiven her and a strict faith community. It also means seeing Paul Aldrich, her first love, again.
Paul, widowed with an eight-year-old son, is relieved to see Suzanne again, giving him the chance to beg her forgiveness for his past indiscretion. But when he meets Alexa, his guilt flickers in the glare of Suzanne’s prolonged secret—one that changes everything.
Suzanne had let go of any expectation for forgiveness long ago. Does she dare hope for mercy–and how will her uncovered past affect the people she loves the most?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Sawyer's first book of a new trilogy (after Through the Deep Waters), we meet the Zimmermans, a large Old Order Mennonite family living in rural Kansas. Teenage Suzanne Zimmerman becomes pregnant and is sent to Indiana to avoid shaming her family, weaving a web of lies and deception that persists for two decades. Nearly 20 years after her forced departure, Suzanne's siblings implore her to return to nurse their widowed, invalid mother. Suzanne's arrival not only stokes new resentment from family members, it opens up long-festering wounds and triggers revelations not everyone is equipped to handle. The presence of Paul Aldrich, Suzanne's widowed high school boyfriend, and his eight-year-old son further complicate matters. Sawyer's characters are multidimensional, struggling with regret and remorse yet still showing compassion and grace. This is a tale of hope, an engaging account of what can happen when even the best-intentioned behavior hurts loved ones and of the power of forgiveness to heal those hurts, no matter how long they have lain unattended.
Customer Reviews
When Mercy Rains
A great, clean read with no foul language. Learning more about the Mennonite religion was good. Only negative was no HEA for Suzy. Interesting family dynamics, ups and downs like most families.
When Mercy Rains
You have got to read this.
This is one of the best books I have read ever, and I have read MANY. I cried with Alexa, Paul and Suzy. I even cried with Abigail and Shelley.
I too was a child born out of wedlock, my childhood was not anything like Alexa's was. However, unlike Alexa I did know my maternal grandparents. I lived with them for about the first 10 years of my life. That, I will never regret, because what I learned from them carried me to adulthood. I never forgot their love.
Abigail was so bitter and vile toward Suzy, that had it been me I would have kissed her off, and took my child and gone home. This is really a classic example of Gods love and his mercy toward us if we allow him.
I had hoped Paul and Suzy would heal enough to have another chance, but I guess too much time and too many secrets ruined that chance. I am glad they parted as friends. I wonder what happened to Anna-Grace and her parents. Did they give her the letters.
I would love to read more of Kim Vogels work if it is like this. I hope to see a sequel to this too.
You gotta read it!