We first met Nate and Daria when I reviewed “Beneath a Southern Sky,” about a couple who goes to Columbia to serve as missionaries. In “After the Rains,” it’s now seventeen years later and their daughter, Natalie, is in high school. She’s feeling confused about her mother’s remarriage to Cole, and wishes she had a closer relationship to her father, Nate, who is still in Columbia. She’s confused about who she is and how she fits into her family, and when her stepsister is asked to Homecoming by the boy she’s been in love with forever, she’s even further confused. Making a stupid judgment error, she and her friend Sara go to a keg party at a friend’s, and she has some drinks.
Sara didn’t drink and begs Natalie not to get behind the wheel, but she does anyway. The car is struck by another drunk teenager, and Sara is killed. Natalie must now face the guilt of placing Sara in that position, knowing that if she hadn’t been drinking, she might have been able to avoid the accident altogether.
A couple of years go by in which Natalie refuses to forgive herself. Sara’s family hasn’t held any grudge against her, and she feels that God has forgiven her, but she can’t allow peace into her heart, not after what she did. She makes a huge decision – she’s going to go to Columbia and live with her father, spending her life serving the people in his village. Cole and Daria are worried that she’s going for all the wrong reasons, but she’s an adult now and they love her, so they support her goals. Nate is more than glad to have her, as is David, the interpreter who has been working with Nate.
As Natalie throws herself into learning the language and the customs of the small Columbian village where she now lives, she begins to feel some of the redemption she’s sought. But it’s not until David points out her arrogance in believing that she’s the only one who can proclaim herself forgiven that she comes face to face with how she’s distanced herself from God, and how badly she needs to let go of those walls.
I really liked this novel. We see Natalie go from a self-centered teenager to a completely humbled young woman who wants to make her life into something admirable. The romance is touching and tender, and the message of God’s forgiveness is delivered beautifully without being preachy. It’s also interesting to read about life in Columbia and the foods, animals, and traditions that exist there.
(This book was published in 2002 by Waterbrook Press.)
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