To Set the Captives Free

I’ve had times where research for my novels is hard. There are days when my emotions are almost too fragile for what I need to learn about.

It’s always like this when I research human trafficking and modern slavery. Sometimes I see a picture of a trafficking scene in Budapest, or Bangkok, or Johannesburg, or Houston, and it sends me to my knees in prayer, in tears, in mourning for hearts that are torn to shreds by unfathomable selfishness.

One of the most difficult aspects for me to study is what happens to young boys and girls. When they should be protected they are violated in the worst ways. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming I can’t approach the subject without prayer.

So why did I take such a difficult subject and decide to write about it for teens?

Because I wish I knew when I was a teen.

Because I see kids who learn about this sort of thing moving mountains with God to make a difference. Take the young girl who decided to make the lemonade stand to raise money for IJM.

Or the kids who raise awareness in their local high school through Love146.

Teens just need different packaging from what grownups are researching. And so I write. I research as much as I can to get accurate information out there in my novels, but I also try to get it out there in a way that leaves you feeling hopeful.

Because the goal is FREEDOM, not information, and the goal is ABOLITION, not statistics.

I was reading about the Underground Railroad, which operated before and during the US Civil War, and I learned about this sea captain named Jonathan Walker who in 1845 was branded on his hand with the letters S.S., for slave stealer.

If I get a tattoo in the future, I hope I’d deserve this one. Slave Stealer.

The abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier put Walker’s deed into this marvelous verse: “Then lift that manly right hand, bold ploughman of the wave! Its branded palm shall prophesy, ‘Salvation to the Slave!’”

And oh, is that possible! All because of the Great Abolitionist, Jesus Christ, who bore the marks for our salvation in His hands, and proclaimed Isaiah 61 as His goal:

“He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

As His servant I proclaim liberty, and I proclaim the hope that He will come again, riding forth on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness.

The Revelation Special Ops series focuses the hope for abolition in the midst of a YA futuristic sci-fi story, not too unlike our world today.

The first book is The Elite of the Weak, where we meet Hadassah, who is a teen spy and is gripped by the plight of kids who are enslaved.

And the story continues in Pharmacia: Those Magic Arts, where we learn what insidious methods modern slavers use to keep people under control.

Book 3, Gold of Havilah, will be available in early 2014.

I also have a romance novel that’s a spin-off of the Revelation Special Ops series. UnEmbraceable traces the story of a homeless teen who has aged out of the foster care system and creates as much trouble for herself as you can bear to read…then finds a relentless and irresistible love.

Available as an ebook or paperback.

If you’ve been inspired, please visit the links page on this blog and find one of the many amazing organizations that are fearlessly working for abolition.