Mark Zimmer just went to Hope Community Church as a temporary pastor until his grandfather could find a permanent pastor. Mara was doing everything in her power to work so God would forgive her for her past mistakes. The two of them go on the journey of finding about God's forgiveness and what he has in store for both of them and eventurally learn many things about each other and God's will. Things are not always what they seem or what they want their life to be. Wonderful book and deep message.

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I loved this book! It was a wonderful story about a woman with a tragic past, and the man she falls for unwittingly.

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A temporary pastor in a small town community church finds true love with a cleaning woman. Sounds like a simplistic plot, yet Reed's characters walk off the page and into your heart. Mara is deeply hurt by her parents' untimely deaths and hides behind a facade of anger and loneliness, which Jacob sees through. The son of a popular preacher, he's hoping that he'll eventually become like his grandfather and preach to a large congregation in San Francisco.

The characters are fairly young; Mara is 22, Jacob only 26, yet they appear wise beyond their years. Mara gets a makeover courtesy of Jacob's sister and, probably for the first time, her outer beauty matches her inner beauty. Mara and Jacob develop a real connection based, not on looks, but on shared faith, which is the strongest foundation on which to build a marriage.

I liked the contrast of Jacob's grandfather's big city ministry (evidently modeled on some of the megachurches) and Mara's small community church. I was reminded of Jesus sending out the 70 disciples to preach. They didn't stand in the middle of the city and deliver sermons; they went, in pairs, to people's homes and preached. You can give a sermon on television, but you'll never know if you've reached someone's heart unless you sit down, face-to-face, and talk to them.

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very good book makes you really think on matters of the heart

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