WINGS OF REFUGE BY LYNN AUSTIN

 WINGS OF REFUGE BY LYNN AUSTIN 
I have read every Lynn Austin book I have come across, and I have enjoyed them all and gained a great deal of spiritual insight from her novels, but if I had to choose a favourite it would be WINGS OF REFUGE.  The setting in Israel, the characters spanning generations and how their stories are interwoven, make this a fascinating and inspirational read. We start with Abby, a forty-two year-old wife and mother of two, a history teacher, who travels to Israel with a church group to do some holiday archeological excavations.  She is going on this pilgrimage to try and get over the hurt and betrayal that she feels when her husband has an affair with a younger woman. Her first impressions of the Holy Land are shocking when a kind Israeli man who sat with her in the plane and helped her overcome her fear of flying by quoting psalms, is brutally murdered at the Ben Gurion airport and dies in her arms.  
Through her friendship with Hannah, Ben Rosen's cousin, Ari, her son-in-law, and Marwan a Palestinian Muslim, she is given a crash course in Israeli politics.  Through them and their stories, and what they dig up about Leah, a first century Jewish woman who goes from being a slave to being married to a wealthy tax collector, she learns the necessity of forgiveness.  Each of the characters in this book have a choice of whether they will forgive those who have hurt them and betrayed their trust, even those who are their sworn enemies.
There is so much biblical truth revealed in this novel as we follow all the characters and see how the decisions they make affect their lives and the lives of those round about them.  Their stories are very effectively woven together.  The mosaic that Hannah gives Abby, which had belonged to her daughter, reminds us that only God sees the full picture and that we don't always see why certain things happen in our lives, but that God's plans for each of us are perfect when they are woven into His perfect mosaic!
Through all that Abby goes through, she goes from being a nominal Christian and church-goer, to someone who chooses to walk closely with the Lord.  He becomes her strength in a strange land and in terrifying circumstances.
Our enemies don't deserve forgiveness, but Jesus forgave His enemies when they nailed Him to the cross, and the forgiveness He bought for us was very costly - He paid for it with His blood!  This fact should give us the strength to forgive others, even our worst enemies!






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