Rating: 
Summary: I loved this book!!!
Review: After reading "A Moment of Weakness", I didn't think Karen Kingsbury could have written a better book. Boy,was I wrong! "When Joy Came to Stay" is such a wonderful read! I never knew what depression was all about, but now I feel I understand it better, and have deep sympathy for anyone that has ever gone through it.
Please read this book! You'll be glad you did!
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!!!
Review: After reading "A Moment of Weakness", I didn't think Karen Kingsbury could have written a better book. Boy,was I wrong! "When Joy Came to Stay" is such a wonderful read! I never knew what depression was all about, but now I feel I understand it better, and have deep sympathy for anyone that has ever gone through it.
Please read this book! You'll be glad you did!
Rating:
Summary: Author Continues to Tackle Real Issues in Believer's Lives
Review: Depression and the injustices of the foster-care system. These are the two pounding issues that Karen Kingsbury weaves into her tale of hope, love, and forgiveness. Never one to stand on the bully pulpit, Kingsbury allows her characters to speak for her and with great care explores boths sides of very difficult issues.
Depression is something that Christians have often dealt with too simply and yet Kingsbury in hilighting this problem refuses to allow psychology and psychiatry rule the day, always allowing her characters to come to realize that a vibrant relationship and dependence on Christ is the only cure for a life plagued by anxiety and doubt.
Maggie Stoval wore a mask. She tried to "appear" spiritual while allowing past sin and guilt to form a weight around her soul. Only when she finally confessed her sin, accepted God's forgiveness, did she move on to an authentic life of forgivenss and grace in God. Too often believers allow their pride and their myths that God won't forgive to keep them from experiencing God's best for their lives.
I also appreciated life from Ben's perspective. He grew up like many of us in a Christian environment with certain expectations of people and he discovered through his own hardship, the hard lessons of grace.
Kingsbury weaves a tale of suspense that takes us through the lives of real Christians facing real problems and trials. She presents, through flawed characters, the image of a God who hears the cries of His people and responds in miraculous ways.
This is another star in Kingsbury's excellent collection of well-timed Christian novels. Read it and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Finding true pure joy beneath the mask.
Review: Everyone who knows Maggie Stovall feels she lives a pleasant life. However, while her mask to the world may look nice, inside her mind Maggie wonders if she is going insane. Wherever she happens to be, Maggie sees an image of a child and that takes it toll on her leading to clinical depression. Maggie knows she is at a crossroad, but has doubts she can take a righteous path to happiness even with God's help. The depression is becoming so debilitating, her marriage and foster caring are in jeopardy. Will she give in or will she allow God to escort her back into the light? WHEN JOY CAME TO STAY is an inspirational tale about finding God vs. surrendering to depression. Surprisingly, Kate Kingsbury does not provide pat answers and simple Hallelujahs to cure the ailing Maggie. Instead, readers will feel the lead character's growing pain and actually sympathize to the point that when the tale is through, the audience will feel emotionally and mentally drained. This is definitely an inspiring tale for those readers suffering from depression and anyone who needs a lift.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic inspiraitonal tale
Review: Everyone who knows Maggie Stovall feels she lives a pleasant life. However, while her mask to the world may look nice, inside her mind Maggie wonders if she is going insane. Wherever she happens to be, Maggie sees an image of a child and that takes it toll on her leading to clinical depression. Maggie knows she is at a crossroad, but has doubts she can take a righteous path to happiness even with God's help. The depression is becoming so debilitating, her marriage and foster caring are in jeopardy. Will she give in or will she allow God to escort her back into the light? WHEN JOY CAME TO STAY is an inspirational tale about finding God vs. surrendering to depression. Surprisingly, Kate Kingsbury does not provide pat answers and simple Hallelujahs to cure the ailing Maggie. Instead, readers will feel the lead character's growing pain and actually sympathize to the point that when the tale is through, the audience will feel emotionally and mentally drained. This is definitely an inspiring tale for those readers suffering from depression and anyone who needs a lift.
Rating:
Summary: When Joy Came to Stay
Review: Excellent book. Karen Kingsbury is the best christian writer that I have read in a long time. I would recomment all her books to anyone. You can't help feeling blessed and full of faith and hope after you read her books.
Rating: 
Summary: At last--some "real" fictional characters!
Review: I did enjoy the writing of this book. There really was not a "slow" point in the entire story. Though the plot became a bit predictable at the end (my reasoning for 4 stars rather than 5), the story dealt honestly with depression and the "masks" Christians feel the need to wear to be accepted.
Rating:
Summary: At last--some "real" fictional characters!
Review: I did enjoy the writing of this book. There really was not a "slow" point in the entire story. Though the plot became a bit predictable at the end (my reasoning for 4 stars rather than 5), the story dealt honestly with depression and the "masks" Christians feel the need to wear to be accepted.
Rating:
Summary: Finding true pure joy beneath the mask.
Review: I was absorbed within two chapters of this book. Maggie Stovall was a woman living with a secret that was destroying her and compelled her to wear a mask that she was fearful to reveal. This is truly a full circle love story uncovering the realities of sin and the gifts honesty can bring through painful unveiling of these masks. You will laugh and you will cry. The scripture references brought strength to the characters and to myself as a reader. This is definitely one of the best Christian novels I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful message of God's grace and forgiveness
Review: Maggie Stovall had been living a lie for many years in both her private and public life. As she struggles to maintain the persona of Maggie that everyone knows, she gradually loses control of her life. As her depression deepens, she deserts her church life, her foster children, and finally her husband. Unable to take the pressures of day to day living any longer, she puts herself in a mental hospital and serves her husband with divorce papers. The ensuing story is twofold; plot one deals with Maggie's struggle to overcome her past and her depresson while plot two involves her husband's delving into Maggie's past while searching for answers. Entwined in these two ongoing plotlines is the story of a little girl who is "lost" is the foster care system and only wants someone to love her. Kingsbury's plots and subplots will keep you reading, and this is a wonderful story of God's redemption and unconditional love.
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