“Instead of celebrating her fortieth birthday with friends and family, Cydney (Cyd) Sanders is a bridesmaid at her younger sister’s wedding. Only one person acknowledges her special day and that’s Cedric, a man she met days before. A kind gesture on his part leads to a birthday dinner, but does Cedric really care about Cyd’s birthday or does he have ulterior motives? Cyd’s best friend, Dana, is experiencing trouble in her marriage; her husband, Scott, committed adultery. Even though there is forgiveness, will this Christian couple be able to get their marriage back on track? And Cyd’s friend, Phyllis: She’s a Christian, but her husband, Hayes, isn’t and it is her heart’s desire that he surrender his life to the Lord. How long can she continue to be a good Christian wife when the man she’s married to doesn’t have an ounce of respect for Christianity?
When Dana discovered Scott’s unfaithfulness, I felt so bad for her and I was not happy with him at all. Why didn’t Scott care about what God wanted him to do ‘before’ he made a bad choice? What? He could remember James 5:16 (Confess your sins one to another) but totally forgot about number seven of the Ten Commandments? He committed adultery and broke Dana’s heart, the woman he supposedly loved. It was good that he repented – necessary, in fact - but I didn’t think it was necessary for him to go about it the way he did, because his sins really weren’t ‘everybody’s’ business. But, then again, because of his testimony he may have helped other people to see the error of their ways. Now, I do believe Dana forgave Scott too quickly and I’m wondering if she did because she felt put on the spot. The author does show Dana still struggling with her feelings after she forgave her husband and I was glad to come to that part of the story, but still, the man had sex with another woman. Christian or not, adultery is the ultimate betrayal and yes, God wants us to forgive, but I’m thinkin’ it takes a much longer time before a woman gets to the point where she’ll even let her husband put a finger on her again, let alone embrace her.
I was glad Phyllis went to her class reunion, because she deserved to take some time for herself. She had a good time and I was happy for her. This character attended the same college my son attended, the University of Maryland College Park. That part of the story was entertaining because of the fun everybody was having and the familiarity made it much more enjoyable. Now, as for her marriage: I felt really bad for this woman. She got to the point where she couldn’t even manage ‘the faith of a mustard seed’. Life was getting her down and there was no answer from God no matter how much she prayed. I could understand why she thought the heavenly Father wasn’t working on her situation, but she needed to remember to ‘walk by faith, not by sight’ even though that can be difficult sometimes. And, personally, I was glad she ran into, Rod. He was a good Christian man with a heart for young people. I liked him and he was somebody Phyllis could relate to. Was it wrong for her to enjoy the fellowship of a Christian brother? No, it wasn’t… as long as she kept it friendly and didn’t cross any lines. I was reading Chapter 10 and thought ‘walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, girl’.
Phyllis’ husband, Hayes: This man had serious issues and I figured something must have happened in his past to make him act the way he did. Church didn’t come between him and Phyllis as he claimed. The problem was his attitude towards God. Kudos to Phyllis for caring enough about her spiritual growth to still attend services even though he unbelieving husband wouldn’t go, and for making sure her children didn’t miss church as long as she was around.
Pregnancy out-of-wedlock, fornication, adultery: Kim Cash Tate deals with unfaithfulness in a way that’s thought-provoking and entertaining. Some folks at Living Word Community Church kept Pastor Lyles busy, that’s for sure. Cyd was the main character. I liked her, I was very proud of her for the choice she made as I read the end of chapter eleven and I liked the part about the lavender rose, but the other characters situations drew me in more, Phyllis’ in particular. And as for the wedding, it was so elegantly described. In fact, the way Tate describes details from Stephanie’s bridal fitting to the exchanging of vows made me feel like I was I was a part of it all.
Faithful is like a good Hallmark movie. I’d have no problem cozying up on the couch to watch this story coming to life on television. It would be very nice if that happened. One thing, though: All throughout the story there are inspiring, encouraging, uplifting prayers and even prayers before meals, but when a character accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Savior the prayer of salvation or some call it ‘the sinners prayer’ – the most important prayer of all - is omitted and I didn’t understand why. I don’t believe a person has to be a Christian to enjoy this book, so I’m thinkin’, hoping, really, that unsaved readers enjoying the story could begin to feel like they want to know Christ so it would have been good if the words to pray were there for them.
Thoughts that came to mind immediately after reading this book: Sometimes Christians don’t pray because we don’t want to hear the answer. Also, Christians make mistakes just like everyone else. We are not perfect. If we are trying to please God with our choices then we should know better than to do some of the things we do, but sometimes it takes a mistake here and there to bring us closer to God. Because, you see, when we do mess up it hurts to know that we hurt our heavenly Father with our disobedience, so we go to the Word more, seek Him more, pray more and our relationship with Jesus grows stronger.
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