I have not logged on to this blog since January. Since then, blogspot has changed some things. Among the things they've changed is that I can now get details about the locations of people reading or at least, viewing my blog. Relax, it only tells me the country that visits, not your actual location! :)
Among the countries reading here is Russia. There have been eleven hits recently and two in the past week. Why am I sharing that with you? Because it blesses my heart. Why, you may wonder?
It's a long story and one I don't think I've shared here. A year ago this month I attended a play my church's Christian School performed, entitled "No Place to Flee." It was about Georgi Vins, and other Baptists of Russia who stood for Christ and suffered persecution. It spoke to my heart in a special way.
I love Baptist history, but I've mostly studied early Baptist history and Baptist history in America. I knew very little about the Baptists of Russia, but that was about to change. I had just published my third book and was praying about whether I should write another or not. I was actually working on a sequel to my second book at the time, but I could not get away from those dear saints of God who had lived a world away from me.
I knew if I were going to write about the Baptists of Russia there was so very much I had to learn. Their culture, their history, their personal stories and so much more. Finding all of this information wasn't as easy as it sounds. Since the fall of the Iron curtain and the end of the Cold War not a lot has been written. What had been written was from the fifties to the seventies, and though that wasn't long ago, some of it was out of print. Friends and missionaries began suggesting books and sources for me, and Amazon became a very good friend! (I could find a lot of the books I was looking for cheaply!)
So I spent the next eight months reading everything about the Soviet Union, Russia, and the Baptists of Russia that I could. My heart was broken. My heart was encouraged. My heart was blessed!
Most of the people I read about are now with the Lord, but I'm looking forward to meeting them in Heaven one day. Those men and women stood for God at all costs and to me they are heroes of the faith and men and women I gladly number in our great Baptist heritage. I could sit all day and talk about individual stories, but one that I love best is that of Georgi Vin's daughter Natasha.
As her father, a Baptist Pastor of an underground church and leader in a Bible printing ministry, was sentenced to prison for the second time, she climbed on top of her chair and shouted above the crowd: "Without Christ there is no freedom, but with Christ you are free in prison!"
At the beginning of this year I finished my book, and just a few weeks ago it came back from the publisher. They did such a great job! The book is titled, "Faithful in the Fire," and it is a work of historical fiction dealing with a Baptist family and their trials and victories in Christ.
I actually didn't title the book until I'd finished writing, and of the four books I've written, that is the first time I've done that. The title actually came from the last few sentences of the book. Those dear Christians were faithful to God in their fiery trials, but God was also faithful to them!! That is what I wanted to share with people.
Through the research, reading, and writing I've done in the past year, I have come away from this experience with a deep love for a country I've never been to, and a group of people I've never met. I don't know anyone there, not even missionaries currently serving there. However, I know for a fact that I don't have to know God's people personally to love them!
So dear friends from Russia who are visiting here, I hope you'll continue to do so, and know that I pray for you and for your country. And if you don't already know, I want to tell you that God loves you very much.
Among the countries reading here is Russia. There have been eleven hits recently and two in the past week. Why am I sharing that with you? Because it blesses my heart. Why, you may wonder?
It's a long story and one I don't think I've shared here. A year ago this month I attended a play my church's Christian School performed, entitled "No Place to Flee." It was about Georgi Vins, and other Baptists of Russia who stood for Christ and suffered persecution. It spoke to my heart in a special way.
I love Baptist history, but I've mostly studied early Baptist history and Baptist history in America. I knew very little about the Baptists of Russia, but that was about to change. I had just published my third book and was praying about whether I should write another or not. I was actually working on a sequel to my second book at the time, but I could not get away from those dear saints of God who had lived a world away from me.
I knew if I were going to write about the Baptists of Russia there was so very much I had to learn. Their culture, their history, their personal stories and so much more. Finding all of this information wasn't as easy as it sounds. Since the fall of the Iron curtain and the end of the Cold War not a lot has been written. What had been written was from the fifties to the seventies, and though that wasn't long ago, some of it was out of print. Friends and missionaries began suggesting books and sources for me, and Amazon became a very good friend! (I could find a lot of the books I was looking for cheaply!)
So I spent the next eight months reading everything about the Soviet Union, Russia, and the Baptists of Russia that I could. My heart was broken. My heart was encouraged. My heart was blessed!
Most of the people I read about are now with the Lord, but I'm looking forward to meeting them in Heaven one day. Those men and women stood for God at all costs and to me they are heroes of the faith and men and women I gladly number in our great Baptist heritage. I could sit all day and talk about individual stories, but one that I love best is that of Georgi Vin's daughter Natasha.
As her father, a Baptist Pastor of an underground church and leader in a Bible printing ministry, was sentenced to prison for the second time, she climbed on top of her chair and shouted above the crowd: "Without Christ there is no freedom, but with Christ you are free in prison!"
At the beginning of this year I finished my book, and just a few weeks ago it came back from the publisher. They did such a great job! The book is titled, "Faithful in the Fire," and it is a work of historical fiction dealing with a Baptist family and their trials and victories in Christ.
I actually didn't title the book until I'd finished writing, and of the four books I've written, that is the first time I've done that. The title actually came from the last few sentences of the book. Those dear Christians were faithful to God in their fiery trials, but God was also faithful to them!! That is what I wanted to share with people.
Through the research, reading, and writing I've done in the past year, I have come away from this experience with a deep love for a country I've never been to, and a group of people I've never met. I don't know anyone there, not even missionaries currently serving there. However, I know for a fact that I don't have to know God's people personally to love them!
So dear friends from Russia who are visiting here, I hope you'll continue to do so, and know that I pray for you and for your country. And if you don't already know, I want to tell you that God loves you very much.
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