Eleanor was living a pretty fair life. When her aunt died, she was left with an excessive amount of money that would be inherited when she reached to age of 25...as long as she never married. Unfortunately(kinda), she fell in love long before the age of 25, and married shortly after. She kept their marriage a secret, and also kept the fact that she was to inherit money from Chad.
Everything is going well...until Eleanor's world falls apart, and she is left feeling as though life isn't worth living anymore. She finds herself questioning everything she's ever known about her life and the way she has lived it.
Through a series of events, Eleanor begins to come to grips with what has happened. When others begin to bestow kindness upon her even though she has wronged them many times, curiosity starts to rise. Why are they so kind and giving to someone who has wronged them more than once? It isn't long before Eleanor realizes that they did not originally help her on their own accord. What human would help someone like her just because? She knew she wouldn't. It was because they had something she didn't...and she wanted to know what that was.
Finally, she found it. But she had to let go. Let go of all of her anger and pain...surrender to Christ. She had to put Him first in all that she did. Her decisions were no longer to be hers alone - she must make them through and for Christ. It was a life changing realization for Eleanor, and it altered her life permanently. All of her actions were now based on what God revealed to her through prayer. Eleanor learned to let go, and let God work in her. Complete surrender to His will.
It is what we must all do. Surrender to God's greater plan. In the end, His will will happened whether you like it or not -- but if you let it with a willing spirit, it will be much easier and you will be able to look at it through different eyes. It won't be easy, but we are called to.
Surrender.
8 comments:
Love how you wrote this review--with the pictures and takeaway message! And I haven't heard anyone mention Francena Arnold in forever. She's a great inspirational author. Blessings!
Renee - Oops! It was supposed to say "Book Discussion", but in my hurry I mistakenly wrote "Book Review". :) Glad you enjoyed our post though! Thanks for commenting!
I remember reading this book ages and ages ago. And then read it to my kids.
Fondly,
Glenda
I am Francena Arnold’s grandson and wanted to thank you for this post (and to thank the earlier commenters as well). I cited it in Grandma’s Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francena_H._Arnold
I also told more about Grandma in a longer version that I used on my own blog: http://stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/my-original-draft-of-a-wikipedia-entry-for-grandma-francena-h-arnold/
She was a remarkable woman and an outstanding writer. I know the rest of her family is pleased with what you wrote about Not My Will, underscoring the continuing impact of Grandma's writing, four decades after her death.
My most favorite book ever...we named our first of four sos, Chad as a result of this book! Absolutely loved it and have read it many times.
I read this book sometime around 1974. I was nine years old. I could not put this book down. This book inspired me in ways I didn't know. All good ways.
Thank you for this discussion. Now I am going to Amazon to see if I can find a copy to read it again.
I read this book when I was in 4th year high school upon the recommendation of my dear classmate. I cried buckets of tears and still could remember the pain and the story. Very good book. It was around 40 decades ago.
Li este livro há vários anos e fui edificada por ele; usei também para aconselhar colegas e depois emprestei o livro e a pessoa não me devolveu e agora estou a procura de um exemplar e até agora não consegui.Queria mesmo nem que seja (usado) e na língua portuguesa.
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