When Mercy Rains
The Zimmerman Restoration Trilogy, Book 1
By Kim Vogel Sawyer
She left, heavily weighted with secrets. But God reveals all things, in His timing. And He redeems them.
Suzanne Zimmerman was only seventeen and pregnant when her shamed mother quietly sent her away from the Old Order Menonnite community in Kansas. With her old home, family, and first love firmly behind her, Suzanne moved to Indiana, became a nurse, and raised a daughter, Alexa, on her own.
Now nearly twenty years later, an unexpected letter arrives form Kansas. Her brother asks her to bring her nursing abilities home and care for their ailing mother. His request requires that Suzanne face a strict faith community and a family that may not have forgiven her. It also means seeing Paul Aldrich, her first love.
Paul, widowed with an eight-year-old son, is relieved to see Suzanne again and to have the chance to beg her forgiveness for his past indiscretion. But when he meets Alexa, his guilt flickers in the glare of Suzanne’s prolonged secret–one that changes everything.
Suzanne had let go of any expectation for forgiveness long ago. Does she dare hope in mercy–and how will her uncovered past affect the people she loves the most?
As I read When Mercy Rains, I was deeply moved by the characters’ thoughts, feelings and actions. I could actually feel their sorrow, fright and joy. The storytelling and descriptions, as only Kim Vogel Sawyer can do, carried me into the world of the characters. In fact, during those moments when it was necessary for me to “leave” Arborville to return to my life, I would anxiously await my next visit to the Zimmerman farm and anticipate reconnecting with my “new friends.” There were times, although I had put the book down, when the characters and their struggles would stay with me, well into the night and the next day.
In her ever present style of clearly human and relatable characters, Kim weaves a tale of suffering souls searching and finding the ever present WELL of forgiveness from the One who has always known their hearts and has always loved them. Through His Grace and Mercy, they are able to discover the same forgiveness for themselves and within themselves. Kim’s characters show us life, as we live it, and the truth of how we can come to the Throne of God and find the Grace we all need. It is a true testament to Kim’s abilities, as an author, to create such endearing and realistic characters. Friends that become part of your heart that you take with you, wherever you go.
I would suggest that anyone who is a fan of books that offer readers a chance to feel, live, and connect with its characters, even for a little while, to pick up Kim’s book, When Mercy Rains, and experience, as the characters did “A mercy rain. . . [and learn that] . . .when mercy rains, lives become fresh and new.”
