Title: In This Moment
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Rating: 5/5
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Description from Goodreads: “From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a brand-new Baxter Family novel about a beloved high school principal who starts a Bible Study to improve the lives of his struggling students, only to become the national focus of a controversial lawsuit.
Hamilton High Principal Wendell Quinn is tired of the violence, drug abuse, teen pregnancies, and low expectations at his Indianapolis school. A single father of four, Quinn is a Christian and a family man. He wants to see change in his community, so he starts a voluntary after-school Bible Study and prayer program. He knows he is risking his job by leading the program, but the high turnout at every meeting encourages him.
A year later, violence and gang activity are down, test scores are up, and drug use and teen pregnancy have plummeted. The program is clearly working—until one parent calls the press. Now Quinn faces a lawsuit that could ruin everything.
With a storm of national attention and criticism, Quinn is at a crossroads—he must choose whether to cave in and shut down the program or stand up for himself and his students. The battle comes with a high cost, and Quinn wants just one attorney on his side for this fight: Luke Baxter. In This Moment is an inspiring, relevant story about the nuances of religious freedom and how a group of determined people just might restore the meaning of faith in today’s culture.”
Review: This was such a sweet, powerful, and important story and I loved every second of it. It was well written, had a very important message, and the characters were so filled with faith and love.
I loved the message in this book. Now days, everybody fears offending someone so we don’t discuss God or Jesus in public. In this book, people actually thought that it was illegal to mention God in public. I fear that this is the way things will go if something doesn’t change soon. Every time we shrink back from talking about God and Jesus, some of our freedom is erased. This book showed just what can happen when we give up those rights.
This book was very well written. I loved the descriptions and I truly felt like I was there with Wendell and Luke through this entire thing. Some parts of this book were so powerful I got goose bumps even teared up a bit. The stories of the kids in the Raise the Bar club were so heartbreaking and inspiring that I couldn’t help but get emotional.
The characters were the type of people I wish I could be. I love the way the Baxter family relates to each other and how close knit they are. The way the adults sit around the table and discuss Jesus and religious freedom is something I would love to be able to do with my family.
Wendell was so strong and never wavered from what he knew was the right thing. Even when it seemed the cards were stacked against him, he knew God was with him and he never lost his positive attitude. The strength and courage it took for Wendell to put his faith in God above his job is something I long for. We all need the strength to stand up for God and our freedoms.
The most important thing I learned in this book is that if we don’t exercise our rights, no matter what they are, it will be far too easy for people to take them away. Never let fear stand in your way of doing what’s right. We are never alone in our battles, God is always with us.
*I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. A positive review was not required. All opinions are my own.*
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