I’m excited to announce that I’ve signed a contract for a new children’s book! My biography of Lilias Trotter for young readers has been accepted by JourneyForth Books. This book is the answer to many, many prayers and the culmination of a longheld dream. Lilias was an English missionary who spent her life in North Africa, primarily Algeria, telling unreached people about the good news of Jesus Christ. She was also a gifted artist who left behind a wealth of beautiful watercolors in which she captured the beauty of the desert, its people, and its flowers. She wrote and illustrated numerous parables for the Arab people in a style that resonated with their storytelling culture. Through all this, she struggled with significant health challenges as well as various setbacks to the missionary work. Her life has long been an inspiration to me.
In 2022 the Lord provided for me to go to England and research Lilias’s personal papers and artwork at the University of London SOAS and at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. I will never forget how surreal it felt to turn the pages of delicately illustrated journals that her hands had created over one hundred years ago. The process of writing the book and finding a publisher has been a bit longer journey than I anticipated, but I’m so grateful to God that the book has finally found a home. Stay tuned for updates on its status!