Review ~ When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams by Jill Eileen Smith

Paperback, 224 pages

Published February 19th 2019 by Fleming H. Revell Company

Life is full of twists and turns. Relationships falter, careers fizzle, health fades. We may be faced with choices we never wanted to make or have situations pushed upon us we'd never expected. Yet, in all of it, God is at our side--even when he feels far away.

Drawing on her extensive research into women of the Old Testament, novelist Jill Eileen Smith turns her pen to the lessons in trusting God that we can learn today from women like

- Eve

- Noah's wife

- Sarai

- Hagar

- Lot's wife

- Rebekah

- Rachel

- and more

Readers will learn from what these ancient women did right--and even what they did wrong--when faced with dashed expectations and deferred dreams. And they'll come away with the confidence that ours is a faithful God who loves us and is forming us through our trials into the women he longs for us to be.

My Review

3.5 STARS

Jill Eileen Smith is a popular Biblical fiction author and her in-depth research into ancient times is obvious in When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams. She presents 12 women of the Bible, paralleling fictional accounts of their lives along with contemporary issues we may have faced or are facing now.  Even though life doesn’t always live up to what we dreamed about, God is faithful. In the midst of life’s crazy twists and turns and sorrows and joys, it is God who we depend on, who we draw strength from, who is shaping us into the women he wants us to be. He never leaves us or forsakes us.

At the end of each chapter there is a thought to ponder along with a few questions to get us thinking about what might be shaping our lives. Self-examination is a good thing and the questions are relevant and thought provoking. I didn’t expect When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams to be such weighty reading. It’s an interesting book that I had to consume in small doses.

I was provided a copy of the book by the publisher. No review was required. No compensation was received.