Guest Author - Diana Pederson

Leisha Kelly. Emma’s Gift. Revell. 2003.

Our grandparents, and perhaps our parents, remember the Great Depression of the 1930s. Emma’s Gift is the story of families living in rural America during this time period. This is a gripping story of struggle as families seek to maintain their health, feed their families, and keep their homes without the “safety net” government provides families today.

Julia and Samuel Wortham have moved in with a family friend, Emma Graham, just to have a house over their heads. It is taking all the creativity and faith possible just to survive the ordeal of the depression. Then, just days before Christmas 1931, a neighbor, Wilametta Hammond, suddenly dies leaving behind ten children and a husband unable to deal with the realities of life.

Leisha Kelly weaves a wonderfully warm story around the very real struggles of the Hammond family and their neighbors following the unexpected death. Emma Graham was a woman of tremendous faith in God. Her death, quickly following that of her close friend, Wilametta, leaves two neighboring families both reeling from the harsh realities of life.

It’s hard for people today to realize that in the past, a family couldn’t just go down to the unemployment office when a father was out of work. They also couldn’t collect food stamps and other forms of help from the government when crops failed. People learned to rely on themselves and each other and on their GOD who supplies all our needs.

Recommendation

Would you like your children to begin to understand that it is God that supplies our needs – not the government? This is a message that needs to be gotten to people of all ages in this great nation today. Reading this book may seem like a fantasy in today’s world of welfare, food banks, and unemployment checks. You may even find tears on your cheeks as you learn about these families.

I challenge each family reading this review to purchase this book and read it through together. Then, consider having a conversation about the true source of our food, clothing, and yes, even our health and employment. Perhaps this holiday season would be a good time to gather your children in the living room, turn off the computer games and the television set. Take advantage of the opening this story gives you to learn more about God and the salvation He freely gives us through his Son, Jesus Christ. It’s bound to open the eyes and provide a tiny glimpse into the reality faced by those living in many parts of today’s world. Make this Christmas season, a time of renewing your faith and acknowledging the true source of all you possess today.