Have you read Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love? That book lay at my house for a long time and I didn’t know where it came from or what it was about. Then my granddaughter said, “You need to read Redeeming Love. It is sooooo good!” I remembered seeing it, so I found it and read it. It is soooooo good! In my life, I’ve read a lot of books and liked most of them. This is the best book I’ve read. I plan to read it again, and I just don’t reread books. I feel that there are too many I haven’t read yet. But this one is different.
In the back, Rivers explains why she wrote it, and I was so impressed. It’s based on the Biblical book of Hosea, which is basically a picture of God’s redeeming love for His people. Even though the Children of Israel left Him, again and again, to return to deleterious lifestyles, He forgave them and restored them to a life surrounded by His love. And that’s what happens to Angel, the main character of Redeeming Love.
My husband and I went to see the newly released movie the other night. I have mulled over it quite a lot and have tried to understand my feelings about it, but I think I’ve failed. It was a little rough, but the subject matter is rough. Horrible things that happened to this young girl happen to people today, especially to women. Angel went through many tragic events in her life that took her to the place from which Michael (the hero) rescued her. From the time she was a child, she consistently had no control over things done to her.
To me, the movie did not have the same impact as the book. Maybe that’s just because I already knew the storyline. I didn’t like the sex scenes, which were pretty racy. I changed my mind about organizing a group of women to go watch it.
In the movie, she leaves three times--in the book, she leaves more. I think that was important because it shows her continuous rejection of love and his continuous reaching out to her with unconditional love. Then at the end, she comes to him stripped, showing her total rejection of her old life and complete submission to his love. Of course, that could not be displayed in the movie, but the impact of that in the book was so profound. It is such a wonderful picture of God's unconditional love for his people and the need for us to strip ourselves of all the wrong thinking and destructive behaviors piled on us by ourselves, others, and the world.
I read some Hollywood-style reviews which sickened me. It’s obvious those reviewers have no idea about a God kind of love. I pray that someday they experience His love.
Some are saying it can’t compete with Spiderman and Scream, but I hope floods of people go view this movie simply because it’s a good story with a great message of God’s Redeeming Love.