Book Review: Beaded Hope by Cathy Liggett

"What an unlikely-looking welcoming committee. A woman in her fifties or sixties. A driver who looked to be in his early twenties. And a girl about nine years old.

Maybe we look just as odd to them, Gabby considered. Four women coming from the other side of the world - to do what? Save them? Save South Africa?

If they only knew. Gabby frowned. She couldn't speak for the rest of her group. But didn't she need someone just as badly to save her from herself?" Beaded Hope, pg 96.

Four women, strangers from the Midwest, head to South Africa on a two-week mission trip. Each have their own, selfish reasons for the trip, and none of them are really thinking about helping the people that they are going to minister to. No, but God has a greater plan, and four women are about to have their lives turned upside down by the heart of the women of Africa. No one will come away unchanged.

I really enjoyed this story. The book deals with so many difficult issues - poverty, HIV, AIDS, Infertility and Teenage Pregnancy. I felt and cried with the characters, and was blessed by the changes that took place in their lives. A mission trip, like the one described in the book, can be a powerful event in the life of a person. After all, we don't really understand what we take for granted until we see the world through someone else's eyes.

I would highly recommend Beaded Hope.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of review.)