“We rumbled toward Georgia from the west, the direction from which all great and powerful things originated. ‘Except the sun,’ Caleb said, feeling particularly feisty as the novelty of anther revival season settled in. Ma turned and shot him the look where her dark eyes narrowed into slits. Then she spun back around, closed her eyes, and mumbled a prayer.“
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and those are the opening lines to Monica West’s novel Revival Season. Reverend Samuel Horton was a prize fighter before becoming the pastor of Living Waters Baptist Church in Texas. For twelve summers he loads his family in their weary van and travels the south holding revivals, preaching and healing.
His family consists of his wife Joanne, his teenage children Caleb and Miriam and Hannah, the youngest who suffers from cerebral palsy. The men do the preaching and the healing. The women serve. Horton has developed a following because of his power to heal, until he can’t and people call him a fraud. Their unbelief brings out his violent side and his congregation dwindles. Miriam has witnessed Horton’s healings so many times that she doesn’t realize she is repeating the steps to heal her friend until she has. But Horton believes women who attempt to heal are from the devil. Miriam heals several others in secret but its not until she heals her own mother that all is brought out into the open.
This would be an interesting book to discuss in a book discussion group...do you believe that God gives the power to heal to others? And what do you think the role of women in the church should be?
If you’ve ever pondered these questions, then you must read Revival Season by Monica West.
