A Secret Hope (Sword and Spirit Series Book 1)

By Renee Yancy

Description:

Ciara of Tir Maic is living a lie. She's an imposter. For most of her young life she's hidden a secret that means death if it’s discovered. Although she is studying to become a druidess, she doubts the power of the gods she is to serve and dares to hope there is more to the universe than the spirits of fire and water she has been taught to worship from her childhood.

In 5th century Ireland, druids were the priests and prophets, physicians, and teachers. The ancient gods needed to be appeased constantly and woe to the man who unknowingly offended them. When Patrick brought the Gospel to Ireland the idea of one God was revolutionary. Even more so was the notion of a God who sought His people and longed to do good for them.

It is a historical fact that the High King's druid received a prophecy about a strange man who would come from across the sea, bringing knowledge of a foreign God who would displace their own pagan gods.

One day in a dream, Ciara receives what she thinks is a line of poetry. But it’s the work of the Holy Spirit, who has given her the same first line of the druid's prophecy about Patrick.

What would it have been like to live in a nation hearing the Gospel for the first time? Did the Holy Spirit breathe an intimation of the momentous event coming? I think He did, and that is Ciara's story.

Book Takeaway:

God always has a will and a plan for your life, even when you can't see it.

Why the author wrote this book:

Before I became a Christian in 1975, I had a strange feeling of expectation that entire spring that something momentous was coming. I had read a letter of St. Patrick's in which he mentions that he had the privilege of baptizing an Irish princess. I began to wonder what it might have been like to live in a world where the gospel was unknown. I thought perhaps the Holy Spirit might have given certain people an intimation of something to come, and the story was born.