While the century began with such promise, it is 1910 when Mira Dean’s hopes of being a wife and mother are dashed to pieces. Her fiancé dead from tuberculosis, Mira resigns herself to being a spinster schoolteacher–until Gordon Covington shows up. No longer the boy she knew from school, Gordon is now a preacher who is full of surprises. First, he asks Mira to come to Sourwood in eastern Kentucky to teach at his mission school. Second, he asks her to marry him. Just like that. And all at once the doors that had seemed firmly shut begin to open, just a crack. With much trepidation, Mira steps out in faith into a life she never imagined, in a place filled with its own special challenges, to serve a people who will end up becoming the family she always dreamed of. From the pen of bestselling author Ann H. Gabhart comes a heartwarming story of the unexpected blessings that can come when we dare to follow the Lord’s leading.
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Sexual Content - 0/5
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Violence - 0/5
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Language - 0/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 0/5
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Summary
Reviewed by Rebecca:
"Anita claims she heard the young visiting preacher proposing marriage. To you."
Anita had heard right. Mira Dean's childhood acquaintance, Gordon Covington, had grown up into a fine man; he was pastoring a mission church deep within Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains, and apparently doing a satisfactory job of growing his small Sourwood congregation. (Sourwood? It wasn't even on the map . . . . yes, she had been curious enough to look) Approaching Mira following the service that morning, Gordon had spouted off some nonsensical idea about being persuaded that God had directed her into his path, to not only fill the need for a school teacher, but to also become his wife. Mira was no blushing bride candidate; tragically her one and only dream for marital bliss was dead and buried, literally. Mira was completely satisfied with her life exactly the way it was, she was not going anywhere with Gordon Covington.
As so often happens, God opens and closes doors rather quickly at times; leaving Mira no other choice but to take a huge leap of faith, infused with a hefty dose of courage, and to board a train heading towards Gordon's beloved Sourwood Mountain folk . . . . in order to marry a man she barely knows while living in a place that she has never seen, or up until this point even heard of. Longing for happiness in spite of her circumstances, Mira holds onto a tiny sliver of hope that she would discover love.
A charming story!! This author pens the sights and sounds of mountain life in such a way that her characters cannot help but spring to life along the trails they call home. It's a beautiful place, but not always pretty . . . it's a bountiful place, but not everyone has food to eat . . . . it's a tight-knit community, but there are those who desperately crave family . . . . . and it's a place where secrets have deep roots and tight lips.
"The Lord moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. . . . " - words from an old hymn