Embracing Love: A Review of Francine Rivers' Her Daughter's Dream
Sometimes, we just have to put fear aside in order to share the hurt that lives inside of us. Understanding love is a crucial aspect of life. While most children want the physical and wordy affection of love from their parents, many parents believe that their good works to their children covers all the aspects of love. Also, in most situations, we all have to let go of our past and lay hold of the present in order to secure our future. Becoming aggressive or hard towards others as a result of your past experiences won't deliver your life from being continually wrecked.
It's really nice reading books that has to do with me in one way or the other. I've battled with loneliness for a very long time in my life, and I never understood what love is or what it means to be loved. Infact, I never loved me. I see myself as different and weird and this hatred and resentment flowed through me and everything around me. I wanted to be like others. I wanted to have the same life they had. "Why didn't I get it?" I questioned myself and questioned God also. "Why have you created me in this mess?" I cried so much asking myself these questions.
However, reading Her Daughter's Dream by Francine Rivers has made me realise that although we can't change the past, we are still able to redirect our future. If we let past experiences take hold of our emotional and psychological sight, then we may never be able to see or feel what love truly is even when there is a thousand people around us loving us for whom we truly are.
Francine Rivers' Her Daughter's Dream is a story of strained mother and daughter relationship that cut across five generations, beginning from Martha and ending with Faith. Martha(Oma), a loving but stern mother, shaped by her childhood experiences with her uncaring father who hit her at the slightest provocation, and pushes her out at a very young age to make money for the family, refuses to go easy on her first daughter, Hildemara, in order to prevent her from growing feeble like her sister, Elise, who died at a young age. This leads to a strained relationship between mother and child.
Hildemara gives birth to her second child, Carolyn, and as a result of unplanned circumstances, she keeps on pushing her daughter away from her until she falls into the hands of a pedophile who abuses her. This event marks the beginning of Carolyn's trauma, timidity and low self-esteem. Carolyn and Hildemara's relationship is shaped by various misunderstandings until Carolyn meets Rachel Altman who becomes a bad influence to her in the university.
Carolyn indulges in various immoral activities while in the university. She disappears for two years, and finally returns home pregnant. She gives birth to Dawn and as a result of fixing her shattered life together, she leaves her child with her mother to take care of, thus, leading to an unhealthy relationship between mother and child. Dawn grows quite beautifully, makes her mistakes and learns from them. She gives birth to Faith and became the bridge of reconciliation in the family.
The story is of love, sacrifice, forgiveness, purpose and God. I cried so much while reading this story because there is a connection between my story and Dawn's story. I've realized that before you can love others, you have to love God first, and then yourself. Like I said earlier, we can't change the past, but we can redirect our footsteps into a correct future. Therefore, you have to let go of your past, be in the present, reshape your future and embrace love.