“Chasing Shadows” by Lynn Austin … and a GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to Friday Reads!

 

You can enter to win a print copy of Chasing Shadows by Lynn Austin, courtesy of the publisher. (US ONLY). You can enter by using the Rafflecopter link at the bottom of this post. (Contest ends June 25, 2021.) Click To Tweet If you’re the chosen winner, I’ll contact you for your information. 

 

About the book…

Amazon purchase link

Q&A with Lynn…

 

Q: Have you always loved books and reading? What about your formative years informed your love for reading and books?
A:  Books have been part of my life for as long as I can remember, beginning with bedtime stories when I was a child. My mother was the town librarian in the village where I grew up, so it’s not an exaggeration to say I was raised in a library. Over the years, I helped with everything from processing books to reading aloud for story hour, and I developed a deep appreciation for all sorts of books. In addition, my grandmother was a natural-born storyteller whose tales kept my sisters and me spellbound for hours on warm summer evenings.

Q: How did you become a writer?
A:  I loved to read, but after a while it seemed like so many well-written books offered very little hope. Too many themes seemed to be “Life is hard and then you die.” I agree that life is hard—but God is good! So I sat down one day thirty-five years ago (I was a stay-at-home mom with a new baby at the time) and decided to write the kind of book I enjoyed reading—one that makes me laugh, makes me cry, and helps me learn something about myself and my life. I knew nothing about getting published (that would come later), but I quickly discovered how much I enjoyed writing. Eventually God brought a wonderful Christian author into my life who asked me to join her writers’ critique group, where I learned the basics of writing and publishing. As the years passed, I struggled to figure out if God was calling me to be a writer. I decided to persevere, and eleven years after I first sat down to write, my first novel was published.

Q: What made you want to write historical fiction? What about that genre do you enjoy?
A: I write historical fiction because I love history, especially the little-known stories of ordinary people. For me, reading about the past and how people like me lived lives of courage in difficult times helps me live a life of faith and grace with God’s help. When we travel back in history through novels, I think it’s easier to see how God used tragic events as part of His redemption story. And that gives us faith to believe that He is still working now and that our lives can play a part in His story today.

Q: What motivated you to write a story line about three women in the Netherlands and the challenges they faced due to the Nazi invasion in WWII?
A:  My inspiration was the book The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. I read this book years ago and it had a profound effect on my Christian walk. Corrie’s family had a deep faith and love for Christ, which led them to hide Jews in their home, at great personal risk, after the Nazis invaded their country. Corrie’s testimony of faith and of God’s faithfulness in spite of all that she endured in a concentration camp made me long for a relationship with God like hers. In another inspiring autobiography, Things We Couldn’t Say, author Diet Eman tells how she and her fiancé worked for the underground in the Netherlands during this same time period, propelled by their Christian faith. Christians in the Netherlands suffered a great deal during WWII, yet accomplished brave, heroic deeds in Christ’s name. I wanted to honor them by telling their story.

Q: Please tell us a bit about the setting of your novel. What prompted you to write about the Netherlands?
A:  Chasing Shadows takes place in the Netherlands during World War II, primarily in and around the city of Leiden. All of my books have been translated and published in Dutch, and my publisher has kindly invited me on book tours in the past to meet my readers in the Netherlands. I fell in love with that beautiful little country and wanted to write about it. I got to know it even better when our son Benjamin lived there for four years while earning his PhD from the University of Leiden. Also, my husband’s maternal grandfather immigrated from the Netherlands, so that added to my interest in learning the country’s history.

Q: Please tell us about your main characters in Chasing Shadows and what specific challenges each one of them faces.
A: Lena de Vries is a wife and mother who loves her life on a farm in the country outside of Leiden. But after the Nazi invasion, her Christian faith compels her and her husband, Pieter, to fight against the Nazis’ evil, putting her and her family at great risk. Lena’s daughter Ans de Vries is unhappy with her life on the farm and with her parents’ Christian faith. She takes a job in Leiden as a companion to Eloise Huizenga, who struggles with depression. When the Netherlands is invaded, Ans will need to find strength and renewed faith in order to keep Eloise and herself from despair, while walking the dangerous path of opposing the Nazis. Miriam Jacobs is a Jewish woman who flees from Germany to the Netherlands with her father to escape persecution. After falling in love with Avi Leopold in a refugee camp, she and her new husband and child will need to go into hiding in order to survive, with help from Lena and Ans.

Q: Who was your favorite character to write and why?
A: I think I related to Lena the most because she is a wife and mother of three children, including an adult daughter. She had to make many difficult choices during the war and needed to consider not only her own safety and survival, but her family’s as well. She was forced to lean on God and to trust Him in impossible circumstances—something many wives and mothers must often do. And she had to learn the hardest lesson of all—not to hate, but to love our enemies as Jesus taught us to do.

Q: What lessons can be learned from your main characters?
A:  All three women found themselves plunged into impossible circumstances that they never could have foreseen. Not only were their lives turned upside down overnight, they lived in daily suspense, never knowing what would happen next, how long the war would last, or if their lives would ever return to normal. One lesson I learned while writing this book was not to take my life for granted in the good years. And not to take my relationship with God for granted when things are going well, either. We never know when or how life could change, so the faith that gets us through the hard times must be cultivated and nourished in the good times. We’ll never know how strong we are, how strong our faith is, or how faithful God is until we endure hardship.

Q: How much research did you have to do on the WWII period in the Netherlands?
A:  I was able to find timelines and history books that detailed the history of this era online and in the library. And I traveled to the Netherlands to do research on-site and in museums, taking lots of photographs and notes. Visiting the Westerbork concentration camp was an especially moving experience. But my favorite resources were the true stories of men and women who lived through this time period. Because I live in a community with a large Dutch immigrant population, I was able to interview people and read their memoirs and combine many of their firsthand stories into this novel. I asked my Dutch readers to send me their stories as well. Those true stories brought the story to life more than any history book ever could.

Q: What is your hope for Chasing Shadows? How do you hope this story resonates with your readers?
A:  We’ve all been “at war” with the COVID-19 virus this past year, and the fear and
uncertainty and isolation we’ve experienced has many parallels with an enemy invasion like the one my characters endure in this novel. It’s my hope that Chasing Shadows will lead readers to take a closer look at their own faith, just as I did after first reading The Hiding Place years ago. I remember wanting a faith like Corrie ten Boom and her family had, one that would sustain me through unforeseen trials and hardships. I pray that this novel will inspire readers to pursue a closer walk with God and a commitment to serve in His Kingdom with whatever gifts He has given them.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions, Lynn. I’m sure my readers will enjoy learning more about you and your book. 

 

Four Tips for Remaining Steadfast When Your Faith Is Tested

By Lynn Austin

I can only imagine how chilling it must have been for the disciples when Jesus told Peter, “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). Yet isn’t it reassuring to know that testing is part of every Christian’s life? We all have seasons when we find ourselves in a wilderness of doubt and God seems very far away. He isn’t answering our urgent prayers, causing fear to arise and our faith in a loving God to be shaken. In my novel Chasing Shadows, which takes place during the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in World War II, the three main characters, Lena, Ans, and Miriam, find their faith faltering. “Where is God?” they ask. “How could He allow this to happen?”

Maybe we’ve asked the same questions in moments of panic and fear. Maybe our faith faltered a bit during the recent COVID-19 pandemic when our lives were suddenly changed, bringing financial worries and fears for ourselves and our loved ones. Maybe an upsetting medical diagnosis has challenged our faith, or we’ve been betrayed by someone we loved. It’s difficult to remain steadfast at times like these, but here are four ways that my characters—and all of us—can stand firm when our faith is put to the test.

1. Remember—In times of testing, our imaginations often peer into the future and our fears multiply. But most of the things we lie awake worrying about never even happen. Instead of fretting about the future, try looking back. “Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given . . .” (Psalm 105:5). God commanded Israel to celebrate Passover each year to reenact His deliverance from slavery in Egypt as a faith-building reminder—and we can do the same. Scroll back through your life and list all of the ways God has proved faithful in the past. That’s what my character Lena de Vries did in Chasing Shadows, and she found strength to continue trusting Him, in spite of how grim her present circumstances appeared. One practical way to arm yourself for future tests of faith is to begin keeping a prayer journal. Record all your prayers and document God’s answers, along with examples of His perfect timing.

2. Read—When our faith is being tested, the enemy often fills our minds with lies such as “God doesn’t care about you.” By reading Scripture, we learn what is true about God and His love for us. Jesus responded to the enemy’s temptations with Scripture, saying: “It is written . . .” (Luke 4:1-13). The Psalms are an excellent weapon when our faith falters. In Chasing Shadows, Miriam uses Psalm 22 to give voice to her doubts and fears, crying out to God, “Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?” God hears our cries and never condemns us for being honest with Him. Miriam had her faith renewed by the psalmist’s trust in God. A friend of mine battled despair during the recent pandemic by filling a pocket-size notebook with every Bible verse she could find about hope. She carried the verses on her prayer walks and turned to them on sleepless nights, allowing Scripture to combat her fear and doubt.

3. Redirect—Instead of asking why during times when our faith is tested, change the question to what. “What lessons are You teaching me, Lord? What changes do I need to make? What are You asking me to do next?” Let your faith test be a time for growth—like lifting weights to strengthen weak muscles. God sometimes allows our faith to be tested so we’ll see what’s in our hearts and better understand ourselves. Moses told the Israelites in the wilderness: “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” (Deuteronomy 8:2). In Chasing Shadows, Ans’s faith wavered when prayers to protect her homeland from invasion went unanswered. Instead of asking God why the Nazis occupied her country, she began asking what God wanted her to do in response. With His help, she found the courage to take new risks of faith. When your faith takes a beating, try changing the conversation, asking different questions of God: What . . . ? Who . . . ? How . . . ? Where . . . ?

4. Reach Out—We should always feel free to bring our doubts and fears to God. They aren’t hidden from Him, anyway. But after that, reach out to someone for help. The Bible says, “Two are better than one . . . If either of them falls down, one can help the other up . . . Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). It’s hard to admit that we’re struggling with faith questions. Our pride bristles at letting others know we’re weak and vulnerable—and maybe not such a hotshot Christian after all. But when Jesus faced His hour of need in the garden of Gethsemane, He asked three of His disciples to pray with Him (Matthew 26:37). In times of testing, we need each other more than ever. All three women in Chasing Shadows relied on each other to calm her fears and bolster her courage. Find a pastor or a friend or church leader who will listen without judging. Our faith is also strengthened by reading Christian books and listening to Christian music. I find it hard to focus on my doubts and fears when praise music is lifting my spirits.

It’s natural for even the most steadfast Christian to have times when our faith wavers. It doesn’t mean we’re failures. Jesus forgave Peter for his fear and denial and Thomas for doubting. God listened to Job’s cries and complaints and then commended him for remaining steadfast. If you can memorize only one Scripture to help you through times of testing, let it be this promise from Jesus: “I know [my sheep] . . . I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).

 

About the author…

 

Lynn Austin has sold more than one and a half million copies of her books worldwide. A former teacher who now writes and speaks full-time, she has won eight Christy Awards for her historical fiction and was one of the first inductees into the Christy Award Hall of Fame. One of her novels, Hidden Places, was made into a Hallmark Channel Original Movie. Lynn and her husband have three grown children and make their home in western Michigan. Visit her online at lynnaustin.org.

 

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