This is a book that you may not pick up because of the title and thickness of its pages…or you will because of the title. I certainly didn’t. This book is over a year old and I featured this last September of 2015 and I regret not reading it earlier. Too bad because it is really an inspiring piece of Christian literature, something where you will come out more encouraged than when you started reading.
When A Good God Allows Rape is a thought-provoking work. It tells of the author, Joy Tan-Chi Mendoza’s journey, coming out of being raped by home invaders. I must say that I unexpectedly shed some tears at few parts of the book because of how intense the ordeal was for Joy. She takes you on the path to forgiveness, healing, and restoration that can only be described as supernatural and Holy Spirit enabled.
One can only imagine how Joy must’ve felt when writing the book because she had to go back to that fateful night when her purity and innocence was taken away from her. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.
Getting to know the story not just from her perspective but also from the point of view of her parents, her husband, Edric, the community of believers that supported her through it all was simply amazing. I cannot help but be inspired by her faith in God. She is truly an amazing woman.
This book is not just about telling a story about how Joy overcame the damage wrought on her. It shows how faith in God can bring healing and restoration even if the situation is truly unimaginable. Someone reading this may not have been raped but the process Joy undertook can be applied to almost all difficult situations. Romans 8:28, the most quoted scripture in the book, was surprisingly refreshing when it was told by the author and the people involved…and I want to quote it here, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (NLT)
This book is available at all OMF Literature shops and online at passagesbooks.com. I bought my copy using the Buqo app for iOS for 99.00.
About Joy Tan-Chi Mendoza
Joy Tan-Chi Mendoza is happily married to Edric Mendoza. She is a mother to five children and is delighted to be in the trenches of homeschooling three boys and two girls. She is a graduate of Ateneo De Manila University with a degree in English Literature.
Prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom, which she considers the most rewarding “job” in the world, Joy worked for an international PR company, Fleishman-Hillard, and for the first homeschool program, called TMA Homeschool, to receive accreditation by the Department of Education of the Philippines.
Currently, she is the author behind “Teach with Joy,” a popular site which celebrates the joys of marriage, parenting and homeschooling. Through her writing, she gives a very honest picture of the challenges that come with each of these priorities while highlighting the grace that God provides. Her blog and her life story have been featured on television, the Internet and various local publications. Besides homeschooling and writing, Joy speaks around the country with her husband Edric on marriage and parenting, and together they are very involved in the discipleship and family ministry of their church, Christ’s Commission Fellowship (CCF).