THE BREAKING POINT BY KAREN BALL

I have just reread THE BREAKING POINT by KAREN BALL and can highly recommend it. It is a story about family relationships and marriage. We see how God's amazing mercy and grace can restore, not only a broken marriage, but also broken people.
Renee and Gabe grow up in completely different families. Renee's parents are godly people who love each other, their family is very close, and her childhood is wonderfully happy. She feels secure in her parents' love for her. Her parents's marriage becomes an idol in her life, and she is frustrated with Gabe who is not at all like her father. She tries her hardest to change him.
Gabe's father was an angry and violent man, and there was no peace in their home. Gabe was afraid of his father until one day he became angry and hit him back, Even though he still was beaten on a regular basis, he made anger his friend and was no longer afraid. Gabe was also good at acting as if everything was fine. This became his way of life, and after he miraculously survived a fall down a cliff, he became active in church to fulfill a vow he had made to God. He was good at preaching, as he used his acting ability to help him. He didn't realize the Lord hadn't called him to ministry until his seminary professor helped him see the truth.
Renee and Gabe's marriage starts off on the wrong foot and goes downhill very fast. They go through years of counseling and are greatly helped by Grace and Oren, an elderly couple who belong to their Bible study group.
Renee, Gabe and their Siberian husky, Bo, are stranded in a snow storm after being away for a few days in the mountains. This is where everything comes to a head. They roll down a bank, Gabe is injured and unconscious and Renee is afraid he will die if she doesn't go for help. He wakes up when she has gone and is scared that she is lost and that he will never see her again. We see how they both turn to the Lord in this crisis and how He answers their prayers and how He uses this time to show them the truth about themselves. There is no room for blaming one another for their predicament, nor is their room for play acting.
Renee sees how critical she has become and realizes that she and Gabe are not her mother and father but that they are very different, and Gabe sees how he has hurt Renee by not appreciating her love for him. He has never felt good enough because of his father's physical and verbal abuse, and learnt to
protect his heart by playing a part instead of being himself. He sees how he has pushed Renee away with his outbursts of anger.
We see how a couple can be restored to one another if they are determined not to give up on one another, if they follow godly counsel and ask the Lord to change them rather than trying to change their partner.
This is a story of forgiveness, faith and redemption and is full of scriptural truth.





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