A CAROL FOR CHRISTMAS by Robin Lee Hatcher

This was a short story (120 pages), and it had a good message to it.  This is book one in The Burke Family Series.  I had already read book 2 several years ago, not realizing it was in a series.  It was good to go back and see how this family got started.  You can easily read these two books ("A Carol for Christmas" and "Return to Me") as stand alone books, but they were both very good stories so I highly recommend both of them.

This is the story of newlyweds, Carol Burke and her husband Jonathan.  They fall in love, leave college and get married.  But married life isn't  as wonderful as Carol had dreamed when she gave up her dreams of a music career and followed her husband to Idaho to help learn the family business.  Jonathan has long hours at work while Carol sits alone in their tiny apartment.  Then Carol gets a chance of lifetime to sing and pursue her career.  But is it her chance of a lifetime, or a time for her to trust her future to what God wants for her life.  A tender look at how fragile we can become when we take our eyes off the Lord and set them only on our wants and desires.

I really enjoyed this story.  I thought the author took the verse, "Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this",  and helped me to realize, along with Carol, that "God hadn't promised to give Carol what she wanted because she delighted in Him.  God had promised that when she delighted in Him, the desires of her heart would change and be what He wanted for her."  A good thought to be reminded of.  I was rooting for the love Carol and Jonathan had for each other and was glad to see how each of them came to realize how special their love for each other really was.  I felt refreshed after reading this story.