Diana Wallis Taylor

Dear Readers,

It is nice to just immerse yourself in a good book.  Sometimes it is just to get away. But sometimes reading one that is well written after having read a few not so well written ones is a treat. 

Mary Magdalene by Diana Wallis Taylor is that book for me.  It is very well written about a woman of the Bible that I can't wait to meet.  I want to hear her side of a story that so many have guessed about through the ages.  She has been misjudged, misunderstood, and just not known for years.  Which does seem to drive everyone who studies, reads or knows the Bible crazy (No pun intended). 

Mad Mary as she becomes known to her family and friends was a beautiful young lady, the apple of her father's eye.  She was well known in Magdalene because of her father's ship building company.  So when she is struck down by headaches, seizures and other mental illnesses the town knows and suddenly no one is interested in marrying her or even standing by her family. 

I probably don’t have to go into any more of Mary’s story.  She is probably one of the best known women of the Bible.  Like I said before she has had her entire life guessed about and people believing they have the answer to who and what she was.  The Catholic Church declared her a prostitute, even though there was nothing written about it in the Bible.  In recent years people have decided that she was married to Jesus again with no evidence to that fact (ok that is not a new idea).  

This book is not meant to answer those questions. Diana will be the first to tell you she doesn’t know either. However it does paint a picture of a woman that Jesus freed from her mental illness and she loved him for that and followed him to the cross.  This was just a nice book to read.  I really enjoyed the gentleness of it and yet the beautifully written story of a forgiven soul.

Happy Reading

Diana Wallis Taylor

Dear Readers,

 

There are a few people in history that we all know by one name only.  Madonna, Cher, Bono, Oprah and for those with even just a small knowledge of the Bible, Martha. 

 

I have always wondered about Martha.  Most people view her in a negative way because Jesus actually corrects her after she makes a complaint to him.  So we mostly think of her as a work-a-holic who also happens to be a whiner.

 

Martha by Diana Wallis Taylor got me thinking more and more about her.  Ok I can already hear the Bible scholars out there having a fit, just stay with me on this. 

 

I have always wondered what Martha's story really is.  Why is she single?  How old is she really?  Is it a bad thing she is single or was she only 15 or 16 and so far hadn't had been betrothed?  How did she really feel about what Jesus said to her in front of everyone? 

 

I will say this is a fictional book, but it did make me think more about this.  Martha would not be considered a heroine by any standards, but maybe she should.  She was doing what she did best, taking care of her family and guests.  She maybe even would have said she was doing God's work, but Jesus still told her that Mary was doing what was right.  To me that means it becomes more of a message of balance.  Yes we must be about the jobs he gives us to do, but we must also spend time with him.  Life is busy but time with HIm alone is way more important than anything else.

 

So without telling you much about this book, I am going to say that it is a good read.  I enjoyed it even though I kind of knew what was coming (we all know the story).  It is a quiet little story that really makes you look at the Bible story with new eyes.  There is something (for me anyways) that really puts a face on someone who is so familiar and yet I know so little about.

 

Happy Reading

Diana Wallis Taylor

Dear Readers,

This book actually made me go back to the Bible to make sure I hadn't read something incorrect in the account of the Samaritan woman. Diana Wallis Taylor in Journey to the Well puts her story in a whole different light. I guess that the reason I thought she had 5 husbands and the man she was living with wasn't her husband was because she had no morals, and yet Jesus has his longest individual conversation with her.

This intrigued Diana many years ago. She for several different reasons never got it published until this year. It was well worth the wait. The Samaritan woman is one of those characters in the Bible that has always made me want to know more about her. Why did she have 5 husbands, why was she living with someone not her husband, what brought her to the point that she got water from the well in the middle of the day when no one else would be there?

Marah is only 13 when her aunt decides that Marah is ready to marry the local sandal maker. Marah is not ready to be an adult yet, she still wants to play in the street with the other children. But obey she must. It is the law and one never goes against what your elders tell you to do. Zibeon has lost one wife already and he is not a gentle quiet man. He is known for his temper and Marah is afraid of him even before she gets to know him.

So starts the story of the woman at the well as she is known in the Bible. No name no history of why, just a woman at a well. It is not a easy story but it is hers. I know that this story could be completely different than this is written, but why not think of it this way. This could be any of us as we face Jesus at our own well. We don't show our sins to others for fear of what they would say to us as we walk down the street. Marah already knows what they would say, that is why she is avoiding them.

I really liked this story. I was worried at first that Diana was going to make her a victim the whole story. That she has 5 husbands through no fault of her own, but that is not how this story goes. She makes decisions on her own and it is not always the right one, but she does try her best to make the right ones for herself and her child. It is so interesting how God orchestrates her life to keep pointing her to her encounter with Jesus. I know it is fiction, but it sure does speak to our own lives.

Happy Reading