ROCK OF REFUGE by Donna Westover Gallup

This author's desire is "to convey God's love through fiction":  I feel she does a great job of accomplishing this in her stories.  This is book two in the Mysterious Ways series and it takes place 7 years after book one,  "White as Snow".  We are now in the Colorado Territory in the year 1871 and Charlie and his gramps are still working their ranch.  Charlie though is now 17 and his friends are leaving the area and beginning new adventures and Charlie feels the need for an adventure in his life.  Grandpa will come to see Charlie as a man and is about to send him on an adventure that will  take up most of the story line.

Many of the same characters that you met in book one you will find in book two also.  I highly recommend you read these in the order they are written.  The author has a unique way of thinking and writing.  She does a great job of giving you a western feel, along with a bit of history and in this story just a touch of romance.  She weaves the gospel message into her stories and gives great life lessons and weaves interesting characters into her books.  I find myself intrigued with this series and wanting to keep reading.  "In Green Pastures" is the next story in this series and I look forward to reading it.  The more I read, the more "hooked" I become.  I will say near the end of this story, after Grandpa's "accident" the story took a turn that was a little hard to wrap my thoughts around, but kept my interest all the way through.

This story will show how God is in control and we won't always "see everything the way He sees it, but  He can see the beginning, the ending and everything in between. He doesn't ask that we try to see the situation, or understand it; He only asks that we trust Him on the journey".  There will be heartache, sorrow, evil and goodness as you read this story.  There will also be the hardest lesson of all for some of us, letting go of those things we cling to the most and letting God have first place in our life.  So saddle up, sit back and be prepared to enjoy this western adventure.