Review of All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti

Cynthia Ruchti’s book All My Belongings  is a book you will want to read.  It has characters you will want to get to know and situations you or someone you know has faced. All of us want to know we belong somewhere or to someone. The story will speak to your heart.

The story follows the main character as she leaves what is familiar to find a new life far away from what was home.  The shame she was running from wasn’t even her own. She was fleeing her past, but it was a past that would follow her unless she took drastic measures to change who she was. What her father did haunted her in her present life and seemed to project itself into her future. Would she ever be free?

How would Becca ever feel like she belonged? She had lost everything in her past and finally when she starts to let down her guard to trust again, events happen that make her want to run again. As she battles to put it all behind her and to look forward, an unexpected request forces her to a place where she must choose between bitterness or forgiveness. She chooses to be free even though the choice is hard and changes her future again.

Throughout the story, through all its twists and turns, its hurts and disappointments, a foundation of faith is what holds the characters together. Their strengths are found when they seek God’s will. Their hope is renewed when they learn to trust and then act from that faith.

I highly recommend this book because it touches the heart as well as challenging the will. We all have choices to make that will affect our future and others, too. The themes of adoption, family discord, care giving, and wondering how we belong will resonate with many. The cloud of grace that is over all of it will reassure and give peace and hope.

Thoughts on a book: All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti

All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti is a book that really touched my heart. Its focus is on the themes of adoption, caregiving for a family member, and difficult family relationships. Because I have experienced all of these things in some form, this book really resonated with me. I felt the emotions of the characters and understood the conflicts they were facing.

The story can affect you on many levels. You feel for the characters in the book and relate to them personally. I sometimes got stuck in my own emotions and remembering my own similar situations as I read. Parts of it were hard to read as they hurt, but the hope found in Christ is prevalent without being forced. The hope offered is part of an underlying foundation of strength that is present and real.

I don't want to tell you the story because it is best read and savored within your own experiences. This book will make you think. It may make you remember. You may cry. You will also come away knowing about servanthood, forgiveness, and love. I recommend you read it and feel it.