Loving Leah: Concepts & Characters
Loving Leah, book 2 of my Healing New Hampton series, brings us back to New Hampton with a whole new batch of characters to love! Let’s take a look at what we can glean from their lives.
Grandma Havi (Ava Jane Wilkes Davison)
We meet Leah’s grandmother in the prologue of our book at a time in her life when she was a brand new believer in Jesus. Her co-worker, Mary McAllister, had reached out to her, listened to her, counseled her, and led her to Christ. In the prologue we see Leah’s grandmother struggling with old mindsets—yet when we read about her influence in the life of her granddaughter many years later, we see how much Ava Jane Davison had matured. In fact, the neighborhood party that the Glendes’ held every summer had been her vision—all for the purpose of sharing Christ with others.
The takeaway:
1. If you’re struggling now, know that this segment of your life is only part of your story. Keep moving forward. Storms in life come, but storms in life go. Circumstances change. You will grow if you keep pressing into God!
2. Don’t underestimate your influence in life! Your choices can affect generations! Do you have children? Grandchildren? Neighbors? Even the little things that you do can influence people for Christ! So, read that Bible story to your kids or grandkids, deliver that casserole to your neighbor, pay for a teenager’s Bible camp, go to that block party—you never know what God will do through you!
Warren Glende
Leah Labanora’s next door neighbor, Warren Glende, known in our story as Brother Warren, lived in the love of God. Years of spending time with God had made him wise and perceptive to the needs of others, so when he met his new neighbor Leah (Ava, then), he was able to minister to her out of the overflow of God’s love in his heart. Leah knew there was something extraordinary about it—it was supernatural. Yet Brother Warren didn’t simply shower Leah with warm fuzzies. He spoke the truth to her: You know God is pursuing you, don’t you? God is pursuing you because he loves you! Brother Warren’s gentle spirit was key to Leah opening her heart to God again. One of his main messages to Leah was to “relate to God”—to pursue a friendship with him. The Christian life isn’t about obeying a set of rules perfectly (or God will smack you); it’s about abiding in Christ and living to please him.
The takeaway:
1. Do your best to be relational with God. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit—each wants to fellowship with you in a deep way. Read the Bible to get to know God. Over time, you will have a deposit of God within you that you can share with others.
2. Truth spoken in criticism or judgment can harden people. Truth spoken in love can open doors. Be truthful but be kind.
Danny DeSoto
What made Danny DeSoto such a decent guy? First, although Leah heckled him for being so “principled,” it was obvious that Danny had set some priorities in his life and lived by them. His top priority was loving God and obeying Him, and he had kept this as first over the long haul. I think this was why he was so secure in himself and wasn’t intimidated by Leah, who tried her hardest to scare him off. Second, you always find Danny treating others with respect, even when he disagreed with them. Plus, Danny was a servant. He’d been hired to do Brother Warren’s writing project over the summer, but we see him doing far, far more than that. Finally, at the end of the book, we see that Danny had to face some big disappointments in his life. But Danny made the choice to trust God in those disappointments, and in time God rewarded him.
The takeaway:
1. Give your life to Jesus and decide that you will make him your very first priority. And then stick to it—always! Invest in knowing Him. Give the first and best of your time, talent, and treasure to Him.
2. Don’t be afraid to serve. In the kingdom of God, it is the path to greatness.
3. Turn to God in your disappointments and trust that he sees you and knows you. He is for you and not against you. He will work things out for his glory and our good. It may take time, but God is working.
Jackie Burke
Jackie was not a super spiritual woman, but she did love God, and she expressed God’s love through her kind speech and acts of service. Right off the bat she welcomed Leah to the neighborhood with a meal. Although she didn’t really know Leah, she still opened her home to her, welcoming her into her heart and life. It’s risky to love and serve people! (Would you let a new neighbor sleep at your house?) In her disarming way, Jackie took on a mothering role with not only Leah, but also Kyla Watkins too. She excelled in being a safe person.
The takeaway:
1. Your small outward acts of kindness toward another can make a huge difference! So, write the card, make the meal, give the hug—whatever little thing God calls you to do, do it out of a heart of love for God and watch what He can do through it!
2. Think about how much it means to you when someone gives you an encouraging word. Then be that voice in the lives of other. Don’t just say fluffy things that aren’t true—be sincere. But do it. It means so much. Above all, point the way to Jesus!
Leah Labanora
At the onset of our story, Leah Labanora was wounded and closed to God. The pain from what her fiancé Jake had done to her caused her to build thick barriers to keep God out. But God in his wisdom had a plan to help set her free—even though initially it made her mad. After Leah moved to New Hampton, the kindness of her new neighbors helped her soften to God and recall commitments she had made to him in her youth. Then she encountered Danny, Jake’s brother. Through a series of events their relationship was miraculously restored. Melted by God’s kindness to her, Leah eventually surrendered to him—although this was just the beginning. She still had a huge mountain of bitterness toward Jake and his wife Rachel. In the process of going there, Leah also had to face issues with her parents. God, however, gave her the grace she needed to walk it all out.
The takeaway:
1. You can’t run away from God. He knows exactly where you’re at.
2. Holding onto bitterness will snuff out your relationship with God. You may be religious and know a ton about God, but if you are walking in unforgiveness, your spiritual life is stunted. How can you fellowship with a holy God whose mission is reconciliation when you refuse to extend it to others? (Ask him for help today!)
3. God, in his mercy, knows how to pursue us and woo us back to him, for he loves us and wants relationship with us. His methods of doing so, however, aren’t always so pleasant to us!
4. We must make a choice to repent from our sin and turn back to God. To keep refusing him creates a hardened heart. The Bible says that God will eventually give people with a hardened heart over to their sin. Any delay only makes it harder to return to him.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Photo Credit: Joan Crombie