Atonement child

 Atonement child by Francine RIVERS.

  

The Atonement Child is a 1997 novel by the American author, Francine Rivers. It deals with the "themes of unwanted pregnancy and abortion" which came as a result of rape that is now endemic in every part of our Society and rendering people helpless in such situations.

  

 The main character, Dynah, thought that her future was secured and perfect. In a moment, everything changed as a result of rape.

  

She was in a Bible College, engaged to be married to a pastor in a few months time untill the unthinkable happened.

Prior to this time she went with her fiancé on awareness about abortion and she was also plagued with the same incidence.

The resulting pregnancy and reactions from her family and friends may in turn shatter her faith. As her pro-life fiance suddenly finds abortion acceptable, and her pro-life school informs her that she will be expelled unless her pregnancy disappears, she is forced to wonder about their views of the world, what God has said in the Bible, and of her own unsteady pro-life views.

  

The question I asked myself while reading this book was: was it her fault? And why is her whole family seeing her as the bad person instead of the victim?

  

Finally her fiancé started acting up and getting irritated around her.His advice was indirectly pushing her to abortion.

  

 The school inturn  tells her to announce to the school what happened to her unless they will expel her.Dynah was in a state of dilemma. She broke off her engagement and dropped out of school.

  

She forsook all and headed home where she thought she will find succour in the arms of her family.At home she finds her family torn apart as her mother admits to an abortion before she had Dynah that made her incapable of having children for several years. She also learns that her grandmother was forced to have an abortion for "health reasons."

  

At this juncture we can see that there are some generational similarities here.We need to be very prayerful and learn to ask questions from the elderly.Her dad was bent on her having an abortion.Finally she left home heavily pregnant.

  

Dynah is eventually driven to isolate herself so that she can make the decision on her own. As her mother's "Atonement Child", Dynah must come to the decision on whether or not to have her own "Atonement Child."

 The joy about having the Holy spirit is that He always speaks to us in the calmness of our hearts. Dynah was able to prevail through the crisis of faith when she stopped thinking in her own ways.

  

During all her crises, God was able to put someone physically to comfort her.All her family members forsook her, but a friend who wasn't her fiance but her fiancé's friend was able to support her.

  

So,brothers and sisters, it doesn't matter how many people are pointing accusing fingers;what matters most is Jesus who is ready to carry your burdens.

When she was about having her baby, she went to the doctor who wanted to carryout the abortion at first and she was able to convert him to christ.

  

Finally she put to bed and kept the baby, thereby breaking the yoke of abortion in her family.She also fell in love with her friend that supported her.

 There are endless lessons to be learnt from this book and of which,I will like to encourage you to go read it.

#Reviewed by Abimbola ADEREMI