MY REVIEW ON THE PENNY BY DEBORAH BEDFORD AND JOYCE MEYER

 

     I had no hopes or expectations as I found the book in fact I read it because it was a Joyce Meyer book and I like Joyce Meyer. I personally love books told by a character because I get to read about a character’s intense opinion. I get to view life through his/her eyes. It shows how God could prove his presence and love through little things we may not be aware of. Miss McShaw and Jenny were in so many ways alike. None of them could have realised that but for that penny. That almost invisible penny that caused a chain of events that changed her life. Jenny was a girl abused in all aspects of life and having to deal with an angry sister and an intuition to protect her friends from what she suffered. She was a child too young to be broken. One who had not seen any beauty in life.  Miss Shaw was not too far away. She had suffered several abuses from her mother and had her hand cooked (literally by her mum). She had found Christ, found grace and healing but she was holding unto shame and guilt. Jenny found her way to salvation and with each penny realisation dawned on her how much she meant to God but in the tough times, times when she saw her dad slip into her room she lost it. The pennies didn’t matter. Nothing did but as she took a look at Miss Shaw’s scarred hand. She couldn’t hold unto the pain and all the years of fear came out in a few hours of shared secrets. God wasn’t through with her; he thought her strength through Garland a young boy. He thought her to trust as Garland trusted her, love as Garland loved her and to hold unto him as Garland clung to her. Her connection with this people changed her life. Garland’s healing was the last straw. It was all it took for her to find her faith and then as everyone gave her pennies, pennies for the hope she gave them, pennies for the act of love she showed them. All her father’s hurtful words seemed meaningless all of it had lost its taste. For a Christmas gift she gave her dad a penny he couldn’t understand but she made him understand. Her penny was the beginning of hope and she wanted her father to start afresh. He had never been so dumbfounded as the day his wife and daughters stood up to him and moved out. They learnt forgiveness in so many ways. While Miss Shaw learnt to let go Jenny learnt to hold unto the one who showed her the penny. This book I would recommend for any going through abuses any one with so much low self-esteem ,anyone trying to understand what a relationship with God meant. Anyone trying to find hope or looking for someone to cling to.