A mother and daughter experience a life-changing, soul-rattling journey from the American dream to a foreign land that will change their minds and break their hearts in ways they have never been broken before.
After reading through this entire book in less than 24 hours, I handed it to my daughter so we could experience and share it together. I think you will be profoundly moved by what my teenage daughter had to say when she finished the book a few hours later (she’s a fast reader!).
Before Love Mercy was consequently dropped into my hesitant hands, I had been searching for God and all that He offers with growing impatience. After countless podcasts, sermons, books, and hard thinking, I came to the conclusion that what I was doing must not be working because my countenance was still lacking in the pleasure and peace I sought. I tried so hard to be a better person and to somehow get fulfillment from all of my “Christian” knowledge, but to no avail.
Therefore, with my humble conjecture, I believe God decided to help me out by handing me this book and, through my mom, telling me to read it. Hesitantly, but with an open mind, I did read Love Mercy by Lisa and Ty Samson. Now I find myself with rich and colorful food for thought.
Love Mercy practically takes its reader all the way from Kentucky to Swaziland and back again. It recounts the journey of Lisa & Ty Samson as they learn and grow in Swaziland. It also depicts the very thoughts that might have run through yours and my own mind as they saw images that the world knows all too well. A boy lives in a dump; people are taken advantage of; women and children raped. All this goes on and yet my own little world is as happy as ever.
The thing that struck me most was the pure action of the missionaries and locals. People who give with no thought as to whether or not they should are amazing. Love Mercy spoke of a pastor who had given his own children’s school money to another family, which had kids who could not afford to attend the government run school. Now, that very pastor has his own school where kids who cannot afford regular school, as well as his own, can attend.
This book taught me that love is not the notorious warm, mushy feeling. Love is action. Love is selflessness. Love is doing what really hurts for the sake of someone else. But, the funny thing is that the thing that hurt the most before, (i.e. giving something up), eventually becomes a pleasure. Soon it is no longer a burden to give up your time for the sake of someone else. It becomes a way of life.
Love Mercy also caused me to ask myself a question that before I wouldn’t have wanted to ask for fear of an unwanted answer. Well, now I am ready to ask it. The question is this: “What am I supposed to do?” One cannot possibly read a book like this and say, “Oh, that was nice,” and then return to ignorant living. God has commanded the human population to take care of the vulnerable and the weak. So, obviously the, “Oh, well, I just don’t think that’s my calling”, excuse is ruled out. I am called to help, but what does that look like, exactly?
For, now I think that looks like me brightening the day of everyone I meet. Most of the people I meet do not need food, or clean drinking water, but maybe they need a friend, a smile, a hug, or fresh baked cookies; the possibilities are endless. Until I can go to Africa to hold the dying child, maybe I need to brighten the day of the healthy one in America.
I won’t say this book changed my life forever, or say that things will never be the same. I know there will be some days that I will forget, or be stupid and selfish and decide not to help. But I now have a little bit more of the pieces to the puzzle. I am going to take one day at a time, and I am grateful for the insight.
Proverbs 22:2: Rich and poor have this in common: The Lord is the Maker of them all.
READY FOR CHANGE? HERE’S HOW TO WIN…
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