"Of the people, by the people and for the people"

"He will rescue the poor when they cry to him.
 He will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them."
(Psalm 72: verse 12)

"And the government: of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
These famous words, known as the Gettysburg Address, were proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln during the one of the bloodiest battles of our nation at the time of the Civil War.
This declaration uttered by President Lincoln contains the core principles that establish and govern a true democracy and serve as a model throughout the world of what true government looks like.
I have a friend named Sahar who lives in Tehran, Iran. Her dream is that one day she will live to see a Free Iran that is free from oppression and tyranny and is governed by these principles.
Freedom. My Iranian friends long for true freedom where they are free to assemble, think and speak without fear of imprisonment and torture. Since the 2009 Election in Tehran where there was bloodshed and violence, there have been thousands of arrests, hundreds of deaths and to date there is still over 600 political prisoners still imprisoned. Just recently in the national news, Iran is determinded to execute a Christian Pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani. What is his crime? Converting from Islam to Christianity. In Iran that is known as the sin of apostasy which is punishable by death from hanging.
A well known Woman's rights activist, Bahareh Hedayat, is serving a nine-year sentence in Evin Prison for protesting for equal rights for women. And the list goes on.
The oppressive tactics of the government in Iran seek to put an end to peaceful protests, rallys and assemblies and those who participate are caught and arrested and undergo psychological torture and solitary confinement in prison.
What then is the answer to this government oppression? The first response is to speak out and refuse to be silent and bullied by an oppressive government. The second is prayer. Psalm 72, verse 12 reveals that God indeed hears the cry of the oppressed and will defend their cause. God is there and He is not silent as the late famous Christian Theologian Francis Scaheffer once proclaimed.
A true government is for the people, establishing laws for protecting society and defending them against evildoers. Government is by the people. We have the right to vote and choose our leaders and if they fail to do the job, we can fire them. Government is for the people. True government is a servant for the well being and prosperity of our society.
The famous words of Abraham Lincoln still serve today as a true model of how government should function. My Iranian friends are crying out for this type of government in Iran. They long for what you and me take so much for granted. Democracy!

Lets speak out for freedom and democracy and most importantly, let's pray. If we do these things, My Iranian friend Sahar will one day realize her dream come true for a Free Iran. Lets let our prayers and voices be heard!

"But that is my right!"

Lord, You know the hopes of the helpless.
Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them
You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed
so mere people can no longer terrify them
(Psalm 10: Verse 17)

"But that is my right!"
.How many times have you heard that from someone at a protest rally? Or in a heated debate over a controversial subject? Living in a democracy, we have a first amendment right to free speech, to say what's on our mind and voice our opinion. Our founding fathers took careful measures to guarantee this God-given privilege to speak our mind when they drafted the Constitution. Freedom of speech and voicing our opinion is a privilege that we take for granted. In Iran, this special privilege is almost non-existent.
Bahareh Hedayat, a student and women's rights activist was arrested and sentenced to nine years in Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran for speaking her mind and voicing her opinion. She was a leading member of Iran's pro-democracy movement and was active in the one millions signatures campaign for women's equality. She spent three months in solitary confinement suffering under harsh and grueling conditions in the women's ward at Evin Prison. Bahareh is being punished for disagreeing with Government policy and speaking out against the oppression of women in Iran.
This is the harsh reality of living in a non-democratic society where speaking out has severe consequences. Yet The Lord knows and understands the hope of the helpless. Psalm 10 says, He hears their cries and will comfort them and bring justice to the oppressed. I pray daily for my Iranian friends that they will one day have freedom and the priceless privilege that you and me have, the right to freedom of speech.

On my facebook page is a special petition that I urge you to sign in behalf of Bahareh Hedayat. Bahareh desires to have the freedom one day to disagree with the government and not have to suffer such harsh consequences. Please take a moment to sign the petition and lift your voice in prayer to our Great God that he will speedily bring justice to Bahareh and all Iranians desiring freedom. They want to one day be able to freely say without fear, "But that is my right!" Let's together pray that will soon happen.

Hungering for God

Ramadan is a very special and holy month for Muslims all over the world. They will spend from sunrise until sunset in prayer and fasting and reading the Quran. For me as a Christian, a month of prayer and fasting is a tremendous challenge and an example to me. Prayer and fasting requires much discipline. But why do we pray and fast? To grow closer to God? To challenge our sinful habits?

When I think of praying, I have an image in my mind. In our new book, "Tears in a bottle: seeing though their eyes," which I am writing with my Muslim friend Avianne, there is a scene in which Ariel is explaining prayer to her Muslim friend Esther. Ariel describes prayer as sitting on her father's lap and telling Him what is on her heart. She tells Esther prayer is having an intimate relationship with God. You can talk to God from your heart at anytime and at any place and He will listen. Esther is fascinated by Ariel's description. Do we As Christians visualize prayer that way? An intimate time like that with God? Do we believe God looks forward to our praying like a child talking to his father? This might revolutionize our prayer walk!
When I mediate on fasting, I have an image of hungering for God. I remember what Jesus declared. "I am the bread of life. Whoever believes in me shall never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty again." (John 6:35)
In fasting, we are hungering for God. We want to draw closer to God and are saying that food will not rule my life and my passions. We shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of God's mouth!

These images tell us something about God. He longs to hear our prayers and satisfy our hunger and thirst. This month we too should fast and draw closer to God. He will indeed satisfy our hunger and thirst with himself!

Hungering for God

Ramadan is a very special and holy month for Muslims all over the world. They will spend sunrise to sunset in prayer and fasting and reading the Quran. For me as a Christian, a month of prayer and fasting is a tremendous challenge and example to me. Prayer and fasting requires much discipline. But why do we pray and fast? To grow closer to God? To challenge sinful habits?

When I think of praying, I have an image in my mind. In our new book, "Tears in a bottle: seeing through their eyes," that my Muslim friend Avianne and I are writing, There is a scene in which Ariel is explaining prayer to her Muslim friend Esther. Ariel describes prayer as sitting on her Father's lap and telling him what is on her heart. She describes prayer as intimate fellow-shipping and talking to God. Esther is fascinated by this description. Do we as Christian visualize prayer that way? An intimate time like that with God? Do we believe God looks forward to our praying like a Father to his child? This might revolutionize our prayer walk!

When I meditate on fasting, I have an image of hungering for God. I remember what Jesus declared. "I am the bread of life. Whoever believes in me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty again."(John 6:35)

In Fasting we are hungering for God. We want to draw closer to God and are saying no to food ruling our life and our passions. We shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of God's mouth!

These images tell us something about God! He longs to hear our prayers and He desires to satisfy our hunger with his unfailing love and presence.

We can learn something from our Muslim friends this month. We too should fast and pray. God meets with us in prayer and fasting. He promises to satisfy our hunger and thirst with himself!

The Promise: Trusting in the providence of God

"My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my purpose.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass.
I Have purposed and I will do it."
( Isaiah 46:10, 11)

My new book, "The Promise: We will meet again," is filled with examples of God's sovereign providence and how He weaves together the circumstances in Hannah's and Rachel's life to accomplish His purposes. With the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of Poland, Hannah and Rachel's lives are rudely interrupted and turned upside down. The Nazi's enclose the city with a huge concrete wall and barbed wire fence and seize control of their lives. Eventually, The Nazis begin calling up the Jews to be transported to nearby labor camps. When their classmates fail to show up for school, Hannah and Rachel are gripped with fear and anxiety. One afternoon after school, Hannah and Rachel retreat to their favorite hideaway in the park by the lake.They sit down together on the park bench facing each other. Hannah tears a picture of them taken together in half. They each promise to keep each others picture until they meet again. With the reality of capture and death looming in their minds, both girls make a solemn vow and promise that if they survive the war, that after its over, they will never give up until they find each other again. Hannah gently holds Rachel's hand and looks her intently in the eyes saying, " I promise you on this day, no matter how long or far away, I'll find you. I"ll search for you." With tears streaming down her face, Rachel looks Hannah in the eyes and vows, "I promise to keep you in my heart. No matter how long or far apart. I'll find you. I'll search for you."
Within an few days after their promise, Both Hannah and Rachel are captured by the Germans and separated. However as the book unfolds, The reader sees the hand of God protecting and sustaining these incredible friends until they meet again after the war.

When life seems completely out of control and senseless, God says, He is in control and directing the events of life. My new book is an example of  how God keeps his promise and directs the events of life amidst the evil and suffering that is taking place. We can take refuge in the promise of God and rest in His unfailing providence. God honored the promise made between two frightened Jewish girls. He can be trusted to do the same for you and me. When the world looks dark and desperate, God shines His perfect light and shows us the way.

God is in the midst of my suffering

All of us at one time or another have cried out "God where are you? Why is this happening to me?"
In the midst of our trial we are wanting answers.

In my upcoming book, "The Promise: We will meet again," this is the situation that Hannah finds herself in. Hannah has just been arrested by the Nazis. She watched in horror as they executed the Christian family that hid her right before her very eyes! Now she has been taken prisoner and shoved into a railway car full of Jewish people bound for Auschwitz to be exterminated. Inside the cramped railway car, there are Jewish people moaning, crying and praying, unsure of what exactly is happening to them. Inside the stuffy, dirty and hot railway car, a few shafts of light peep through the slits at sunrise. Hannah is terrified and filled with anxiety. Suddenly, she sees a group of people huddled together. She walks over to them and they give her a Bible to read. Hannah has never read a Bible before. Hannah's hands begin to tremble. Ironically she turns the pages to Isaiah Chapter 53. Her eyes gaze upon the words, "He was despised and rejected- a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief."
The words began to speak to Hannah heart. She has heard those words before when she was in hiding with the Christian family. At one time they had read this passage to her.
Hannah continues to read. " But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be made whole. He was whipped so we could be healed."
"Who is this speaking of of?" Hannah ponders to herself, whispering out loud.
The next words grip Hannah's heart. "He was led like a lamb to the slaughter."
For the first time in her turmoil and fear, Hannah feels a sense of peace. She can relate to and understand the graphic descriptions of Isaiah 53. Hannah feels like a lamb being led to the slaughter. She feels despised and rejected . Reading Isaiah 53, Hannah is gripped by the fact that God understands her suffering first hand, because He endured it! Gazing around in the tiny, crowded railway car, after reading Isaiah 53, Hannah recognizes that God is in the midst of their suffering. He was despised and rejected! He was acquainted with Grief. He was busied and beaten!
In the midst of her grief and suffering, Hannah kneels down in prayer and cries out to Yeshua for the first time.
I am very excited to begin writing this book in the Fall. I want my readers to hear, feel and experience the tremendous suffering the Jewish people experienced in the Holocaust. We need to do everything we can to stand up against hatred and intolerance. My new book will demonstrate how love and friendship can truly overcome the greatest of evils.

The Promise: We will meet again

During vacation, The idea for my fourth book came to me. The diary of Anne Frank has had a major impact on my thinking and writing. Growing up as a young teenager, I read the diary and watched the movie and was moved to tears and compassion for Anne and her family when they were finally discovered by the Germans and subsequently carted away to the death camps. In my first two books, "Beyond the Veil," and  "Shining Star" Nadia keeps a journal of her key life events very similar to that of Anne Frank.
Because I have been so influenced by the diary of Anne Frank and the horrors of the Holocaust, the idea of writing on this subject flashed upon my mind while I was lying on the beach at the Gulf Shores of Alabama. The story is about two young Jewish girls named Hannah and Rachel. They are the best of friends. The story opens in Krakow, Poland in 1939. They are attending a Jewish wedding and enjoying the festivities when suddenly the German Invasion of Poland begins. Fast forward two years later. Both Hannah and Rachel are at school and notice their classmates are quickly disappearing. One by one, their friends are being called up and ordered to report to the train stations where they are separated and hauled away to the labor and death camps. In desperation and fear, Hannah and Rachel make a solemn vow to each other, a promise, that if they are captured, that after the war they will meet again.
Through a series of circumstances, Hannah is captured by the Germans but manages to escape and is taken in by a Christian family to hide her from the Nazis. Eventually Hannah ends up in Auschwitz, the infamous death camp. Through some friends she learns the whereabouts of Rachel.
 Miraculously, both Hannah and Rachel meet again after the liberation of the camps and have incredible stories to tell each other.
I cannot wait to begin writing this story. The images of the holocaust and the horrible discrimination against the Jewish people has motivated me to compose a story of an enduring friendship against the backdrop of evil and suffering. I am writing this story to remind us to learn from the horrors of History and to demonstrate how love and friendship ultimately conquers the worst of evils. The name of the book will be, "The Promise: We will meet again." I encourage you to go to my profile page and click on the link that will give you the virtual 3d tour of the secret annex, the hiding place of Anne Frank and her family. Amidst the hatred and discrimination by the Nazis, you will discover how love and courage ultimately triumphed over evil. The diary of Anne Frank has sold millions of copies and has been published in several languages all over the world. If you have never read her story, please make this your summer reading. It is my prayer that my upcoming book will also demonstrate that love and friendship overcomes the evils of hatred and discrimination and makes the world a better place to live in.