I have a ministry, A Voice for the Persecuted. I help persecuted Christians here in the United States. That is code for Muslims who convert to Christianity and are under the threat of death. Like my heroine, I know the importance of helping them find safety. That can be challenging and sometimes dangerous. But I believe that when I serve them, I serve Christ.

No, I didn’t in the beginning. I was naive in many ways. I had heard about honor killings, which is the practice of family members killing one of their own for bringing dishonor to the family name. I knew leaving Islam was a capital offense. I also knew that it isn’t always about a Muslim converting to Christianity. Sometimes they leave the teachings of Islam by embracing the culture of the west.  I felt I had to do something. I couldn’t just sit by and read another report in the paper about a Muslim, or Muslim who converted, being murdered because they had encountered Christ or because they desired to pursue life and liberty on their own terms. As my experiences grew, I felt compelled to share what I learned. Some of it was shocking, some frightening, all of it opened my eyes to the reality of spiritual warfare here on earth.

Yes, it could happen here. But I think it is unlikely if we remember that when working with Muslims it is a friendship ministry. We form friendships with those who live and work among us, model the love of Christ to them through friendship and service. Then with the leading of the Holy Spirit we give them what Islam can never give. This was what Austia did, but there was something in play that she didn't know about. That's what made her the next target.

My previous novels were women’s fiction, but the subject matter of this one, an ordinary Christian who just desires to serve Christ finds herself in the crosshairs of a fanatical Islamist, demanded a suspenseful presentation. Women’s fiction is about relationships and is character driven. Suspense is plot driven. I found that my experience in writing complex characters allowed me to deepen the story by showing how the tragedies in Austia’s life shaped her commitment to the Muslim community in her city. Her husband was killed in the Middle East for sharing the gospel, she had friends who died in the Twin Towers. She had to decide how she was going to let these events affect the rest of her life. The reader is allowed to experience her struggle with the hatred that those experiences sparked in her and see how she comes to realize that the only answer to spiritual blindness, the only way to stop the killing, whether it be for honor or for jihad, was to seek the hearts of the Muslim people. I believe readers will find that the heroine’s inner journey is very thought provoking.

Like my heroine, I have been in situations that force me to ask myself what price I am willing to pay to serve Christ. One in particular involved someone who converted to Islam. He was in a terrorist cell in a southern state here in America. He contacted me because they wanted him to train to be a suicide bomber and now he wanted out. I won’t go into any more detail but when he called me on my cell phone in the middle of the night I found myself questioning the calling I believed God had put on my life. It was actually the words of a Muslim apostate I had helped in the past that gave me the perspective I needed. He said to me at one point in his own journey to escape a Middle Eastern country, “I don’t care if I have to die here. I already gave my life to Christ.” Those words returned to me. And I found it to be truth. I already gave my life to Christ, what was there for me to fear?