Would God really use a
wet-behind-the-ears baby Christian to further His Kingdom and to serve others?
Does God ever get tickled at the well-intentioned but misdirected new believer
who might occasionally move before praying, speak before thinking or wind up
with a proverbial “foot in the mouth”? Absolutely! In Come to the Table (Thomas
Nelson), best-selling author Neta Jackson crafts a humorous but
spiritually significant novel that portrays the willingness and delight of God
to gently lead His children to maturity.
The second volume in
Jackson’s second novel in the SouledOut Sisters series, Come to the Table
features the charming but realistically flawed characters that readers will
recognize from the Yada Yada Prayer Group and House of
Hope novels, as well as some new faces. Skillfully weaving together
these characters in a plot that is both lighthearted and intense, this
faith-affirming story is sure to keep Jackson’s fans asking for more.
Kat Davies admittedly
feels most comfortable in the driver’s seat, but she is more inclined to steer
with her heart than with her brain. Even after her commitment to follow Jesus,
Kat’s take-charge personality and insatiable zest for life often lead her into
one sticky situation after another.
New in her faith and
eager to exercise it, Kat embraces the more radical implications of
Christianity with reckless abandon. She invites Rochelle, a homeless mother,
and her son to move into the apartment she shares with two other housemates. At
the same time, her feelings for Nick are getting harder to ignore. The fact
that he’s the pastoral intern at SouledOut Community Church and one
of her housemates makes it complicated enough. But when Rochelle shows interest
in Nick as a father-figure for her son, their apartment starts feeling way too
small.
And she finally finds a
practical way to channel her passion for healthy eating by starting a food
pantry at the church. But not everyone thinks the food pantry is a good idea.
When the woman she thought would be her biggest support just wants to “pray”
about it, Kat is forced to look deeper at her own motives. Only when she begins
to look beyond food as an issue does she see people who are hungry and thirsty
for more than just food and drink and realize the deeper significance of
inviting them to “come to the table.”
Kat must do some serious soul searching to
determine where God is asking her to use her talents and passion… and what role
she wants to play in Nick’s life.
With the affirmation and encouragement of the
spiritual mentors in the Yada Yada Prayer Group and the congregation at
SouledOut Community Church, Kat begins to grasp God’s heart for the homeless,
the poor, the struggling, the addicted and the hungry. As the implications of
Matthew 10:42 take root in her spirit, “If you give a cup of cold water to one
of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded,” Kat freely
surrenders her own strong will to the perfect will of God—a giant step on the
road to maturity.