Sharon Hinck

Dear Readers,
I have just finished a book that was surprising to me. Sharon Hinck's newest Stepping into Sunlight is a very good and interesting read.

Her main character, Penny, moves from to Virginia from her home town. Her husband has just left on his first deployment with the navy and she has witnessed a murder and narrowly escaped with her own life.

This is a story of her journey back to normal. A new normal. She can't figure out why she can't just do normal stuff. Going out to the grocery store is an experience in terror for her. She runs out of gas for her car because she is unable to get gas. Her son is mad at her because she can't volunteer to help at the school play. Life is not what it is suppose to be.

I found this an interesting journey through any stress that can happen. Why do we assume that when we have large stresses and tramas in our life we expect ourselves and others to just go on normally? Penny could be any of us. I don't know about you, but if someone held a gun to my head, I may never leave my house again.

Sharon stresses several times, that there is no timeline to recovery. It can take years or not. It can be something that is gradual and sometimes it happens quickly. She just doesn't want you to think that the timeline in the book is the way it is. It is only that way because of the time constrants of the book.

I really did like this book. It was a really good way of looking at something like this. Sometimes we do ask to much of ourselves and sometimes it is hard to find God in all that is happening.
I liked all the different people Penny came into contact with. I loved the project that she started on her own to help her recovery. She tried to do one nice thing for somebody everyday. What fun & a neat thing to do. What a good way to help yourself. I know there were a couple of times I wanted to tell Penny to "just do something," but that is the same thinking of why we don't let people a chance to recover. There is a difference between recovering and holding on to something without a thought of ever letting it go.

Happy Reading