More than Writers

I recently had the enormous pleasure of interviewing Francine Rivers for Premier Christianity magazine. Having devoured most of her books, getting a chance to meet Francine was definitely up there on my bucket list! The magazine article featured in the November issue, but, as Francine rarely gives talks or interviews anymore, I wanted to share with you some of the other insights she gave into her writing life that we simply couldn't fit into the article. Francine began her writing career as a writer of steamy historical novels. She reminisced about how, once she became a Christian, she experienced writers’ block – and it changed the focus of her work: “I couldn’t write for about three years and I couldn’t figure out why and I think that writing had really become an idol in my life…In that three year period that’s when I started reading the Bible and seeking the Lord, and I realized that he was basically saying to me: ‘You say you want to be my child but you don’t ev...

Homeless people are human. You may think that is obvious but at one time they were invisible to me. They first came on my radar when I read John Grisham's The Street Lawyer . The idea that they are far more than a vague figure covered by a tatty blanket percolated away for a while, and then God added a little of His compassion to the mix. I eventually found myself chatting with Big Issue  sellers and getting involved with social justice. Francine Rivers in Redeeming Love made prostitutes human. It's never as simple as just seeing a woman selling herself on a street corner late at night. There's a whole back story of gut wrenching misery that drove her to that dark place. No little girl dreams of growing up to be a prostitute. Jesus told stories to break down our natural racist inclinations. The Good Samaritan can sound all nice and cosy to us but I bet in that culture it was shocking and outrageous. Jesus made the desp...