Love's Abiding Joy

Love's Abiding Joy is a western Christian-based television drama movie based on the Love Comes Softly book series, by best selling author Janette Oke. It is the fourth movie in an ongoing series that includes Love's Enduring Promise, Love's Long Journey, and Love's Unending Legacy.

The debut theatrical release from FoxFaith, Fox's newly formed subsidiary dedicated to Christian-themed pics, is a repurposed made-for-TV drama likely to play better on the home screen. Originally intended for cablecasting -- the telltale credits reference a "teleplay" based on a "television story" -- "Love's Abiding Joy" intends to be uplifting, but more often is enervating, as it slowly catalogues triumphs over adversity on the frontier plains circa 1885. Blandly sincere pic may appeal to auds seeking family-friendly entertainment with religious underpinnings, or movie buffs desperate for anything that even remotely resembles an old-fashioned Western. — Variety

The result is a nice story, nothing more, nothing less. It's wholesome. It's full of healthy spiritual expressions. It's anachronistic. In all honesty, it's as good a Hallmark Channel movie as we've seen in a while. — Plugged In