What Literature has done for me.

Since I was a little girl I enraptured myself in all kinds of stories that would leave me thinking about it for hours after I was done. Literature has had such a tremendous impact on my life. The first stories that I ever really remember reading was the story of Esther and the Little Mermaid. I didn't even rely on my mom to read it to me, instead I just picked up the book and looked at the pictures imagining what the story was about. I put all kinds of scenarios in my head from all the different colors and pictures, because that was the best way for me to grasp on to the content of the book and fully understand it. From as far back as I could remember, I always remember having some kind of book in my hand. This is still the case for me today. For every extra minute I try to get, I put all thoughts aside and wisk myself away to a whole different world in the books that I read. These books are usually christian historical romance or mystery novels. I love the feeling of being able to take myself into a whole different time zone and to be able to feel the culture. To be able picture the style of the clothes or imagine what the landscape looked like 100 years ago. There is nothing like it. No history book will have the capacity to let you grasp what the feelings and emotion people had when they were used as mercantile brides or the fear of the woman who was all alone during the San Fransisco gold rush. Historical fiction books like that are able to give a little insight of what women just like me went through back then. One of the most influential books I have read so far is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. This story is parallel to the story of Hosea in the bible. Its about a man who is told by God to marry a prostitute named Angel. Throughout the story she kept leaving him and yet he kept chasing after her, letting her know that his love is unconditional. This is a reflection of the story of the love Hosea had for his wife in the bible. This book really pulled at my heart strings because it reminds me of Christ's unconditional love for his children and how even when we keep hurting him over and over He still pursues us to be back in his arms. Literature has a way of pulling at my heart strings and making me see things in at a whole different approach.