Murder, Motherhood, and Miraculous Grace by Debra Moerke

Y'all know that I love a good murder mystery, especially when it's based on a true story. Unfortunately, this is one of the most heartbreaking true stories that I've read.

This is the true story of a foster family and not just any foster family, this was the teach others how to do it foster family. They took all the tough cases and kept larger families together. They knew how to foster kids. This story is about a specific family of several kids that came into their care when their single mother ran into some problems with the law.

There was one little girl from the displaced family, Hannah, found a very special place in their hearts. It became clear during their time together that Hannah was not treated the same as her siblings by her birth mother, Karen. She showed fear and the other children distanced themselves from her. When it came time to return to live with their birth mother, Hannah begged to stay with the Moerke family. The Moerkes did all they could to keep tabs on her and to make sure that she was doing well in the care of her mother. They even offered to let Hannah live with them while her birth mother got settled in her care of her children. You can imagine the Moerke's heartbreak when they discovered that Hannah had been murdered by her mother.

It is this murder that brings the real story to the forefront, it's when Debra Moerke is given the opportunity to extend grace to Hannah's mother. It is that grace that is so mystifying and capturing as a reader. Karen, who only wanted what was best for Hannah, finds herself in a position of extending grace to the woman that stole the life of this young girl. The story goes on to share how the Moerke's were asked to adopt the infant that Karen gave birth to while in prison. And how that grace they extended to Karen grew and changed the lives of both families.

This story is such a great reminder that just because we offer grace, it doesn't mean that everything is going to turn out peaches and cream. It also gives us a very real picture of how grace not only changes the receiver but the giver. It's Debra that we see growing in her conviction of what she's supposed to offer Karen. It's what we see Debra giving up in order to extend that grace.

I really enjoyed this book, it was so very well written and a wonderful reminder that grace is difficult and it's messy and it is so very much worth the effort.

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley for the purpose of review. I'm never required to give positive feedback but I'm always thankful when I can.

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