The Way Home: God's Invitation To New Beginnings By Tessa Afshar

The Way Home: God's Invitation to New Beginnings
by Tessa Afshar
Publisher: Moody
ISBN: 978-0-8024-1983-5

I was so thankful to be chosen to participate on the launch team for Tessa's study on the book of Ruth. I was given access to a .pdf version of the study in exchange for my review. Grateful to Moody Publishers for granting me that access.

Summary:

Enter the Story of Ruth Like Never Before through This 6-Week Bible Study

Ruth was a vulnerable, widowed woman starting over in a foreign land. While Naomi was returning to community, Ruth was setting herself up to be the odd one out her whole life. What gave her the strength to do it? Could it be that she sensed all along that her journey away from Moab was a journey toward home?

The story of Ruth is a remarkable tale of bravery, calling, and God's provision, and it will come to life in new ways as you dig deep in this 6-week Bible study. Tessa Afshar, author of award-winning biblical and historical fiction, teaches you how to study the text, discern meaning, pray through it, and live it out. She'll show you how to draw on the same strength and courage that Ruth did and accept God's invitation to new beginnings in your own life.

This Bible study also includes optional teaching videos that can be purchased separately to enrich your study.

My Review:

I was looking forward to doing the Bible study of The Way Home after I read Tessa's book "Daughter of Rome" and found out she was doing this study on Ruth. I've always loved the book of Ruth as it shows such a beautiful example of God's great love for us. Diving in, in a deeper way, was something I was looking forward to.

While I knew I was going to learn more about God, I didn't realize how starkly I was going to see myself in relation to many of the people we study in The Way Home. It reminded me over and over again how desperately I need God! It's somewhat hard to put into words how much I learned about God through this study as well. His care for us, His protection, His love, etc are shown over and over again. I also saw myself sadly, in the many examples of people she used in her teachings. Whew, how often is it difficult to see how much we haven't changed from the times in the Bible?

Often times I felt like Tessa was speaking directly to me as she guided and directed our study. I appreciated her straightforwardness and her encouragement. Through God's word and Tessa's prompts, over and over again I felt such a strong and palpable need for more of Him.

The amount of time Tessa took to research the Scriptures and bring everything together in a wonderfully cohesive study makes me thankful to her all the more! I was able to make connections I'd never seen or fully understood before. One of the pieces that really gave me insight to Ruth was to where Moabites and Ammorites came from! I don't know how I didn't make this connection in the past and have a better understanding of where Ruth's heritage came from.

I also really took to heart taking in the word study that Tessa does throughout The Way Home. Dabaq, hesed, gilbowr, and go'el are just some of the words we dive into during this study. Honestly, there's just so much depth to this study, I can't recommend it enough.

The end of the study has a fantastic section of recipes from Old Testament times. Along with the paperback study, Tessa also has a set of teaching videos that go along with it. The last part of the book has a section that goes along with the video to answer questions as you follow along.

While I realize this is a study intended for women, by the time I was halfway through the study I realized it was something I wanted my boys, my husband, and I to go through together. Usually I'm not one to redo a Bible study. I'm one and done, but this one, I'm happy to go through it again. And hopefully we'll be able to do it with our women's small group at church! They can count me in for a 3rd time around!

About the Author:

TESSA AFSHAR is the award-winning author of many biblical and inspirational historical fiction books, including Harvest of Gold which won a Christy Award and In the Field of Grace, a biblical fiction on the life of Ruth. Born in the Middle East, Tessa spent her teen years in England and later moved to the United States. Her conversion to Christianity in her twenties changed the course of her life. She holds a Master of Divinity from Yale, where she was co-chair of the Evangelical Fellowship. She served in women and prayer ministry for twenty years before becoming a full-time writer and speaker.