Fiction is my favorite.  I wish I could say that I’m cultured and intelligent enough so that my preferred genre of leisurely reading was biographies or self help books.

But it is what it is, and I am what I am.  I simply love a good story.  I’ve been a fiction lover since way back, though there just doesn’t ever seem to be time for fiction in recent years.

I took a big fat NEW book with me on our trip and was simply enthralled.

It was Part I in a series by Francine Rivers called Her Mother’s Hope.

It grabbed me almost from the moment I started reading.

This two part series covers the mother daughter relationship spanning four generations, beginning in the early 1900’s and ending in 2010.

I found it fascinating that this story was loosely based on the author’s OWN family.  On her own grandmother’s life.

I loved following the life of young Marta as she dealt with sorrow and anguish and life in Switzerland in that time period. It was captivating following her journey.

There is so much more I could say, but I don’t want to give anything away, since you simply must read this series if you enjoy fiction at all. Trust me!

Reading this series gives you a glimpse into history.  Into what life may have been like during things like World War I and the Vietnam War.

Now normally, fiction doesn’t do anything revolutionary to change your life or change your thinking, but believe it or not…. THIS ONE DID.

I’m completely serious.

After we got home, I managed to finish the second one… Her Daughter’s Dream…

At various points within the two books, the narrative would switch from mother to daughter, then to granddaughter and occasionally back again.  It was definitely a unique concept, and it even more more uniquely told the narrative at certain points from the daughter or granddaughter’s perspective at a very young age.

It was appalling and scary for me to read this semi-fictional account of how sometimes simple but hurtful words and phrases, told to or overheard by the child character were absorbed and held onto for a lifetime.  Innocent expressions said by the mother without thought were painfully heard over and over by the daughter.

It was a NEEDED reminder for me to THINK about what I’m saying to my own kids.  And what they may be HEARING.

I shared on facebook this quote that I read last week from Sharon Jaynes.  It tied in with this perfectly…

Our words become the mirrors in which other people see themselves.

The biggest “other people” being our little people who hear the words we speak to them each day.

I’m sure all of us can point to a time when someone spoke words of criticism {however intentioned} that sunk deep inside and somehow have always remained with us.

That innocent comment of “Maybe you’ll grow into that forehead” or something else, perhaps even endearing to you, may sound to your child like cutting, devastating words.

I can still vividly remember in college when an adult casually asked me with a smile why I always wore my hair pulled back.  She remarked that it would look so much better down because then it would cover my ears.

My ears that had always stuck out and given me a major complex.

Rachel actually just posted recently some poignant thoughts about her own story of another’s critical words taken to heart.

I never want my kids to question my love for them.  I don’t want them to grow up full of doubt about themselves because of what they hear from me.  I want them to always hear that confirmation of love in how I speak to them and FEEL it in my actions and tone of voice.

In my desire to have high expectations for their behavior, I don’t ever want them to think that I love them less just because I’m correcting them.

Reading the raw pain woven through the story, I was gripped by making sure my own kiddos do not wrongly feel those same things.  It was such a good lesson for me and who I want to be as a mom.

Just the other morning, Chris casually told Wade in passing that he was smart.   I don’t even remember why.  It was for nothing big, but later in the day, Wade informed me he COULD do xyz because Daddy said I was SMART!   He puffed up so big and important and  said it again… “Daddy said I was SMART!” Like the whole world was hung on that verdict from Daddy.   Casual words in a hurried morning that somehow sunk in deep.

Our words matter!

These were such good books, and I HIGHLY recommend them for you to read!!

What are your thoughts?  Do you have any memories of well intentioned comments from your past?

*Rafflecopter has me totally confused on the giveaway ending time, but it looks like you’ve got until tonight at midnight to enter for Loving God with all Your Mind!