Forgiven (Light in the Empire)

By Carol Ashby

Description:

Are some wounds too deep to forgive?

With a ruthless father who murdered for the family inheritance, Marcus Drusus plans to do the same. In AD 122, Marcus follows his brother Lucius to Judaea and plots to frame a zealot for his older brother's death. But the plan goes awry, and Lucius is rescued by a Messianic Jewish woman. Her oldest brother is a zealot and a Roman soldier killed her twin, but Rachel still persuades her father Joseph to put his love for Jesus above his anger with Rome and hide Lucius until he heals.

Rachel cares for the enemy, and more than broken bones heal as duty turns to love. Lucius embraces Joseph's faith in Jesus, but sharing a faith doesn't heal all wounds. Even before revealed secrets slice open old scars, Joseph wants no Roman son-in-law. With Rachel's zealot brother suspecting he's a Roman officer and his own brother planning to kill him when he returns, can Lucius survive long enough to change Joseph's mind?

Forgiven is the first volume in the Light in the Empire series, which follows the interconnected lives of the members of three Roman families during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. The eight novels of the series will take you around the Empire, from Germania and Britannia to Thracia, Dacia, and Judaea and, of course, to Rome itself.

Book Takeaway:

When we’re caught in the struggle between hatred and love, vengeance and forgiveness, obeying Jesus’s command to love the enemy can unleash the power of forgiveness to heal the wounded hearts of former enemies, leading to friendship and love.

Why the author wrote this book:

With all the horrible things going on in our world today, I’ve been thinking a lot about how Jesus called us to acts of forgiveness and love, not vengeance and hate. But how do I do that when something seems unforgiveable? I wrote Forgiven to show how our love for God can give us the power to live in forgiveness even when our heart struggles against it.