When your life is built around a father’s wrath, how can you trust in the love of Father God? Mercy Roller knows her name is a lie: there has never been any mercy in her young life. Raised by a twisted and abusive father who called himself the Pastor, she was abandoned by the church community that should have stood together to protect her from his evil. Her mother, consumed by her own fear and … consumed by her own fear and hate, won’t stand her ground to save Mercy either.
The Pastor has robbed Mercy of innocence and love, a husband and her child. Not a single person seems capable of standing up to the Pastor’s unrestrained evil. So Mercy takes matters into her own hands.
Her heart was hardened to love long before she took on the role of judge, jury, and executioner of the Pastor. She just didn’t realize the retribution she thought would save her, might turn her into the very thing she hated most.
>Sent away by her angry and grieving mother, Mercy’s path is unclear until she meets a young preacher headed to counsel a pregnant couple. Sure that her calling is to protect the family, Mercy is drawn into a different life on the other side of the mountain where she slowly discovers true righteousness has nothing evil about it–and that there might be room for her own stained and shattered soul to find shelter. . . and even love.
Mercy’s Rain is a remarkable historical novel set in 19th century Appalachia that traces the thorny path from bitterness to forgiveness and reveals the victory and strength that comes from simple faith.
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Mercy’s Rain
Mercy’s Rain is a riveting tale of a young Appalachian girl who endures the “unthinkable” at the hands of her pastor father. When Mercy Roller takes justice into her hands, the freedom and peace she covets continue to elude her. Consumed with escalating anger, bitterness, and guilt, Mercy’s quest for sanity and survival leads her down a volatile path toward unconditional love, hope, and redemption.
It’s hard to believe this is the debut novel of author, Cindy K. Sproles. Her vivid portrayal of the characters and their heart-wrenching journeys combined with her skillful description of the hills of Appalachia transport the reader into the heart of Wadalow Mountain and the lives of its residents.
Though portions of Mercy’s Rain tempted me to turn away, the author’s gift of story won out and kept me turning pages till the end. —Starr
I don’t remember the last time a book had such an emotional impact on me. Mercy’s story is a hard one to read, especially in the beginning. But, oh, if you keep reading you’ll find the reason why. Many of us can relate in one way or the other with Mercy’s suffering and pain. And it is heaped on. Some might find it hard to believe that one person could get away with such cruelty and viciousness. But, some of us know too well, it happens. While those acts play a major role in this story, so do love, grace, forgiveness, and yes, mercy. Our sweet Mercy wonders why she was given that name, and why the word is thrown around so much. She certainly has never received much of it in her lifetime. But the act that frees her, and those she loves, sends her reeling, and running to find answers to her hearts cries. When she meets people, including a “man of God’ – a title held by her abuser – who long to show her love and kindness, she feels she should keep on running. Surely what they offer can’t be real. Not if she goes by previous experience. She becomes wrapped up in their world, and they in hers. In so doing, she finds not only a loving family, but also a loving, merciful God. Both are waiting to show her the love and mercy she has long yearned for. And in the end, Mercy rains down.
“Ain’t nobody should have to learn life like I did. No soul should have to claw their way back from the bowels of hell, scared and scraped up like I was.”
Mercy Roller is in her own words, “. . . a busted bowl that leaks.” Having survived unspeakable abuse from her father, “the Pastor”, in the name of the Almighty God, she is finally released from his tyranny, but it costs her the only home that she has ever known and the sting of guilt upon her open palm. Fleeing with only the clothes on her back, she sets out across the mountain to find the source of the river, hoping that life’s answers might be found where pure water rises out from among the rocks. Instead . . . . . she is found; by an entirely different sort of preacher, a man who demonstrates remarkable kindness coupled with a loving determination to lead Mercy to the One who gave her, her name.
It’s an unforgettable story featuring the cries of a tortured soul; “O Lord. My heart is broke. My life is shattered. My soul is lost. Mercy. Lord. Mercy”.