Book Review: First We Have Coffee

A wonderful friend sent me this book knowing that I was going through a bit of a struggle, and the stories inside the cover have encouraged me greatly! The book was written by Margaret Jensen whose father was a pastor.  Her mother was such an inspiration to the whole family through the Great Depression, difficult moves, health scares, and all other types of burdensome problems that would make most women crumble; yet, she handled each situation with love and always with a scripture verse on her tongue. I loved the story of how during the Depression, Margaret's mother was always given the paycheck, and she would frugally purchase the amount of groceries needed for a family of eight for two weeks and dole out money for other household necessities. One week, the paycheck was given directly to Margaret's father, the pastor, and he spent it on a pearl necklace for his wife never considering the necessities that needed to be purchased. I loved the response Margaret's mother made, "Mama never flinched.  Tenderly she thanked him for the generous gift and promised to wear them always. She did! Later she told me, 'There is a time and place for everything. Sometimes we need pearls more than potatoes. That was the time for pearls.' Mama somehow saw that we survived until the next payday."  We live in a world that tells us that when our men do something like this, we as women should put our men in their place with no consideration as to how small we can make a man feel when treat him this way. When I read this part, I prayed, "God help me to have this same type of wisdom and restraint. Help me to be thankful to my husband and realize when he is showing me his love." One of my favorite books it The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. Even though, First We Have Coffee is a very different story, the style, to me, is reminiscent of the way Corrie Ten Boom writes--very honest and insightful; always learning lessons from the gift of life that God has provided. You can purchase this book for yourself on Amazon.com.