21 Days of Grace

Title: 21 Days of Grace
Author: Kathy Ide
Series: Fiction Lover’s Devotional series
Major Themes: Devotional, Christian Fiction
Synopsis: Twenty-one well written short fiction stories encouraging you in your Christian faith.

Ever heard of fiction devotionals? I hadn’t either, until Mom won 21 Days of Grace in a giveaway after hearing a recommendation from a friend. Since I love stories, I thought I’d try this as a quickie-story-fix as I woke up in the mornings, and I was pleasantly surprised as I read it. Although short, these stories pack a punch with characters that feel like they come from a novel! And the “life application” at the end of each one helps to flesh them out even more.

Throughout the 21 stories in this book, we meet many different people. Encounter an Amish woman, cry for a homeless girl, witness an adoption, visit an old coffee shop—you could name just about anything, and there’s probably a story about someone in that situation in this book. Some of the stories are sweet, some tear at your heart and make you want to weep, but all have one common subject—needy people. That’s who we all are, no matter what our station in life is. We need God, and we need to know that someone—anyone—cares about us. Through the power of story, God’s love is told again and again. It takes many different avenues, comes through a crazy amount of different people, but it’s there—living, breathing, real.

21 Days of Grace was very encouraging. I ended up reading it at different times through the day, too, just because the stories were so well written and thought-provoking! If you’re going through a season of doubt, or strengthening for your faith, I’d highly encourage you to check this book out. Hopefully one day I can read the other ones in the series too—even if they’re only half as good as this one is, they will be well worth my time!

WARNING: Story 12 has a rather rough bunch of characters in it, and a few words I wouldn’t use. There’s also a threat with a gun there. Story 18 talks about a slave girl and mentions that she’s been raped before.