The Designer Bag at the Garbage Dump: A Novel

What a wonderful read! Written along the same vein as The Shack, this book takes the reader on an adventure from the perspective of on-looker to a coming to knowledge story of o rd relationship to God, even if gone unacknowledged forever or for years. A story that clutches at your heart, made me laugh and cry. This story is not "far out" or weirdly written. It's from th perspective of a woman that I think many could relate too...someone caught up in the everyday business of life, the mater ial possessions surrounding us, yet weighing us down, and someone who's struggling to fill a hole only Something greater can..God. This book shows you God's heart for you. This book is a great example of how God often meets us where we're at ( and revealing we rarely know what 'where ' really is, until we are at our end. But beyond that, it shows, through descriptive, gentle detail, how God will use our lows to reveal His glory and love for us, turning our difficult times into times of beautiful growth, revelation, healing and new found identity in Him. This is a book beautifully written, for anyone who enjoys missions and different culture, this will grab your attention. Full of scripture, used in good context, you will be highlighting like mad!

I picked this book up and did not put it down until it was done. I am an avid reader and was so pleasantly surprised by this author. I LOVED this book. I laughed and cried with the characters. I don't often highlight parts of books, but with this one I did. It shows Christ's love for us in a way that I could relate and made my soul dance. When I read, "to get the knowledge from your head... to your heart...confess...frequently out loud", was an answer to one of my prayers. I have the head knowledge but have trouble getting it to my heart. Yes, it is fiction and reminded me of "The Shack" in some ways (My all time favorite book), so don't go into this book thinking scholarly, but think real. God's real love for us is portrayed in "The Designer Bag at the Garbage dump". It was well written and easy to read. I will read more from Jackie MacGirvin. Hats off to you Jackie and thank you for reminding me of God's most precious gift, His amazing love for us. God gave you a precious gift of being able to write. Keep the books coming!

This was a beautiful story about a woman who is persuaded by Jesus to take care of a bunch of orphans. She went kicking and screaming but eventually discovered the love that God had for her and the children.

To be honest, I would probably rate this 3.5. I'm somewhat torn in my opinion. On the positive side, the message of this book was challenging and somewhat convicting. I could relate, in some ways, to Julie's initial reaction to her circumstances, and her journey did make me stop and evaluate my attitudes.On the negative side, from my perspective alone, I struggled with suspending belief enough to actually become completely absorbed in this story. As a parable, it didn't really work because parables tell a spiritual truth without actually making it an obvious story about God. This was completely and utterly about God, including two meetings with Jesus himself. But if read just as Christian fiction, again, I had that battle with accepting the premise enough to really be able to become immersed in the story. I also found the writing a bit cheesy (for want of a better word) and heavy handed.The other negative, again purely my own opinion, was that the author wrote Jesus into the story as a character. That sort of thing, putting even very good words into His mouth, always troubles me.And yet, strangely, I cared about these characters, and although I found the ending to be perhaps the cheesiest part of all, it was still a very nice way to wrap things up.Laying all that aside, the story is still worth reading for the possible challenge to the reader's attitude alone. It made me think, and it made me uncomfortable at times regarding my attitude toward mission work. That is why, ultimately, I gave it 4 stars.

Pros: 1) Encouraged me so much through the "conversations" with God. That's why it gets 5 stars. I've served as a missionary abroad and still live abroad; though often Julie's complaints seemed whiny and extreme, the responses of God were great (with links to Scripture references). Really helpful to me. Lots of Scripture but used gently in these conversations (with links to the references available). I highlighted various passages (and I almost never do so), and have already gone back to reread portions.2) The story (starting with chapter 5, see below) kept me reading to see what would happen next, though in some ways this may be a story that should be read more slowly, to let the truths percolate through my mind.Cons: 1) When I went to read the description after seeing this book for free a few days ago, I discovered I had already purchased it almost 3 years ago. I opened it and started reading. Only at the end of the book did I realize that I started reading at chapter 5, not the beginning! So apparently 3 years ago I read the first 4 chapters and quit. When I finished the book I wanted to check something, so went back to the beginning to check it. That's how I discovered I hadn't (this time) read the first 4 chapters. Got a nice little bonus by reading them! However, I must not have liked them so much if I started then quit 3 years ago.2) I guess it was hard to connect with the rich life of Julie in the first chapters. Maybe that's why I quit at that time?3) Some things seemed much too simplistic. But take it as more of an interesting fable, which conveys truths about God and ourselves.

Excellent read - opens our hearts and minds to.the love of Jesus Christ and what we can do for ourneighbours

I really, really, really loved this book!!!! I could rave on, but you should read it yourself - do yourself a favour.It is very heavily Christian in outlook, but don't let that put you off. The book is simply written, and entails a wealth of inspirational thoughts and references (Biblical) and gives advice for living our Christ filled lives. I wish I could say I read it in one sitting - well, I would've if I could've, but I have a life to live at the moment, and couldn't. It is one of those books that you just know you are going to read more than once, or twice. Pick it up, read from anywhere to anywhere, and go away totally uplifted. Truthfully.It deserves about 2x5 stars minimum. Well done, Jackie.

A gripping story. Very interesting way of dealing with some difficult needs in a believer's life as well as seeing the needs in our world and being able to be used by God to do something about them.

A fictional book but worth opening your heart to embrace the truths found in its pages. It’s both challenging and inspiring.

Outstanding. I agree with those who struggled with the beginning, but it was necessary to show how shallow & insecure the main character was, and just how difficult it was for her to do what she did. It was a timely reminder of just how easy it is to become self-reliant when we live such comfortable & privileged lives, compared to those living on the streets in India and other such countries. It was also an eye-opening revelation of just how much Jesus loves us, cares for us, and wants us to partner with him in loving and caring for those who don't know him.