My newest book is now available - yay! I'm praying it will help many women to find the wonder and love of God despite hurts in their past. I hope you'll pick up a copy, read, and discover the amazing love of God for YOU.
Here's a short Q&A that I hope will encourage you . . .
1) What compelled you to write about women who were abused or treated badly in the Bible?
A: When my publisher asked me to consider writing a book about women in the Bible who experienced abuse, oppression, gender-based bias and discrimination, and more, I didn’t know what I would find in the stories of these women and how they would intersect with my story and the experiences of women today. But as I began to look deeper and to pray, what became clear was that these stories reveal more than abuse and oppression; they reveal the wonder of God in the face of even horrific acts. I thought I would find only horror in these stories, but beyond the horror I found a surprising hope; I found a God who is always, always, seeking to redeem, to heal, and to make right where mankind has broken and betrayed. And I knew I had to write Women of the Bible Speak Out to give the women of the Bible a voice in our lives so that they could show us the God that they encountered, the God who loved them and loves us. In their voices, I think we’ll find our own voice, and God’s.
2) What surprised you most in writing Women of the Bible Speak Out?
A: You know, I’ve heard people say that the Bible shows a God who turns a blind eye to oppression and subjugation, or even that he condones it. But after digging deeply into the stories in Women of the Bible Speak Out, I saw that nothing is further from the truth! Instead of winking at the repression of women, the Bible exposes it and reveals a God who not only shares in but seeks to redeem our suffering.
That surprised me. I thought I’d find depressing and oppressing stories. Instead, I found a God who loves fiercely, who defends the weak, who is passionate about true justice, and who never white-washes the sin committed against those he loves. Against us. Against the women he created, and sent his Son to die for.
I am still amazed, changed, by seeing in these stories, God’s fierce love for women. His love for or me. For the women listening … it’s breathtaking. He doesn’t turn his back; he doesn’t shrug his shoulder and say “oh well” – not then, not now. Instead, in God we find a fierce advocate and a gentle healer. We find the lover of our souls.
3) The #MeToo movement has become controversial. What’s your take on it?
A: To be honest, I wish there was no need for #MeToo. I want #NobodyAtAll. But that’s not the world we live in. This world is far too full of sin, abuse, violence, marginalization, derision, pain, and shame. I wish it weren’t. But the poor treatment of women because they’re women has been going on for millennia, since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and were kicked out of the garden. We can’t ignore it. Whether we use a hashtag or whether we simply answer God’s call to love others, we must pursue hope and healing in the face of this particular kind of widespread sin against half the world’s population.
So, as the recent #MeToo movement has given voice to millions of women struggling through experiences of gender-based harassment and/or physical violence, Women of the Bible Speak Out is meant to give voice to women of the Bible. Looking at #MeToo, I had to ask:
What if the women of Scripture could speak out in a #MeToo movement of their own?
What would they reveal about God, and faith, and life?
What can women today learn from the lives they led?
I truly believe this book is crucial in making the #MeToo movement more than just a cry for justice, but rather a means to hope and healing … through the word of God.
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