Hidden Rainbow

This book focuses on the lives of John and Anna Olesh as they raise their family together in a strongly Catholic village in pre-WWI Yugoslavia. It's based on the real life story of this couple, whom the author knew after they moved to America. After being visited by a Protestant missionary and being offered a New Testament (which they refuse), John and Anna struggle for years, searching, wanting to know the truth about God and how they are to serve Him. Eventually, Anna does accept a New Testament, and she and her husband end up reading it in secret. In the end, they come to be baptized and to follow Jesus, trusting in Him, rather than being caught up in obedience to the priest, sprinklings of their house every year, baptizing their babies to save them from hell, the witch doctor coming in times of illness, and all the other forms of bondage and fear they experienced. Of course, they face much persecution from family and neighbors, as well as from the local governement, for leaving the Catholic Church. But, they keep their eyes fixed on Jesus. I found this story very encouraging, how John and Anna kept searching, as the Lord kept drawing them to Himself, and how, after coming to faith, they trusted in Him whatever came. I plan on reading this book aloud to my children (all under 7) some time in the next year. I highly recommend this book.

This fabulous book gives you a look into the life and struggles of a young Yugoslavian couple back in the turn of the century. It shows the strong ties families had to their religion as well as the persecution those who found and accepted Christ went through. As you read this suspensful page turning book, you can't help but smile and remember that God always keeps his promises to those who truely believe and fully trust in Him.

Hidden Rainbow is a book about struggling. Its about standing up for what you believe in, because its right, even when your whole community shuns you and your family avoids you. The only choice it seems is to flee the country and leave everything behind. Why risk it all? What could make a person so sure that they would give up the only life they ever knew? Trust. If there is only one thing this book teaches, it is to trust. trust that God has everything in control and no matter what happens He will guide you, keep you and protect you if you trust. A powerful novel, its hard to put down and hard to forget.

John and Anna Olesh, a hard working Yugoslavian couple, struggle to raise their family in the poverty of pre-WWI Serbia. Their difficulties increase when they turn from the superstitious sprituality they have known their whole lives, toward the Light and Truth that they know they must embrace.

This is an intimate portrait of a family and their search for God as they stuggle with tradition in a small Yugoslavian village at the turn of the century. It was one of the best books I have ever read to my children.