Return To Me by Lynn Austin (Bethany House)

It is a joyous time for the Israelites. After seventy years, they are free. They were enslaved by the Babylonians. Solomon's temple was destroyed. All the gold and other riches were stolen from the temple by the Babylonians. King Cyrus of the Persians degrees they can return to Babylon. They also have his permission to rebuild the temple. However, after returning to Jerusalem, the Jewish people decide it's more important to build their houses. Then, later they can rebuild Solomon's Temple. Only Zechariah and a few others in the tribe feel it is far more important to rebuild God's Temple first before doing other activities. One theme of Return To Me by Lynn Austin is how much do I really love God and how do I prioritze that love in my life. Also, do I realize that loving God first will lead to Him fighting my battles and making me successful?

To help the Jewish people learn these lessons God made the Samaritans the neighbors of the Jewish people. These are people who once murdered their babies for sacrifices to their gods. These neighbors would test Saba and Safta, Zechariah, Yael and Hodaya.  Those who truly loved God never succumbed to the Samaritan's established views about life and religion.

To me, Yael the adopted child of Iddo and Dinah became an interesting character. Yael had a Jewish father, Mattaniah, and a Samaritan mother. Yael learned through her mother the pagan ways of the Samaritans. These idolatrous ways seemed easy for Yael to love and become passionate about in her daily life. Every day she carried star charts with her. Soon, all the Samaritans came to Yael to find out whether the stars were lined up right for them. When not using the star charts, Yael kept her star charts hidden. Not wanting any of the Jewish people see her reading the stars instead of consulting the one True God.

Yael made me think about how easy it is to become passionate about what is not important in our lives. Leaving what is important undone because it does not seem exciting. What is good for a person versus what is not good for a person is a constant battle. Choosing less important priorities over important ones can lead to terrible consequences. The battle became far harder for Yael because her best friend is a Samaritan.

Yael didn't ask herself wise questions. Should I choose what my parents have told me? If I don't do what they've told me, what could happen? Yael just followed her heart. She chose what seemed more exciting and popular. I'm sure she must have felt some importance when women came to her and asked what did their futures look like? So I need to focus on my desire for self importance and my desire for excitement. Who wants to be bored? Yael's example along with the examples of other characters helped me to see that life is a daily journey down the road called "choice."  As the Jewish people discovered, the right choices can be made if we are willing to trust in faith.

Not all families left Babylon to head back to Jerusalem. Some had become settled in their new lives. They did not want to pull up stakes again. Lynn Austin does not share much about what happened to the families left behind. I would love to have known whether they regretted their choice of staying back. Also, were their lives very hard and how did they worship the gods or God. Perhaps these questions will be answered in future books of the series. Overall, I truly enjoyed the novel. It made my heart want to "return to Him." The novel is like a wake up call. It's a very powerful Christian novel.lynnaustin