Over thirty years ago, when I was writing Redeeming Love, I had no idea of the story’s connection to sex trafficking. I wanted to share my new-found faith in Jesus Christ. Soon after I became a Christian, Rick and I had opened our home to a Bible study and our pastor began teaching the life story of a minor prophet, Hosea. The book is an allegory about God’s love for His wayward, unfaithful people. I identified strongly with Gomer. Hadn’t I spent most of my life turning my back on God and going my own way? That study opened my eyes and heart to what God wanted from me: everything. Complete surrender. I hadn’t been able to write for three years, and I felt God’s call to write this story – His story – to show the difference God had made in my life and in what I would write.
Redeeming Love is an historical (western) romance with four sections: defiance, fear, humility, joy in the morning. The plot line and main characters all come from the book of Hosea. Just as Hosea is an allegory about God’s love for His unfaithful people, I intended Redeeming Love to be an allegory about Jesus’ passionate love for each of us. Michael is a man after God’s own heart. God tells him to marry Angel, a prostitute. It is a story of a sinner’s redemption and I placed it in California during the 1849 Gold rush.
Angel was a victim of “white slavery”, something I thought had ended. I knew nothing about the mental and emotional toll complex trauma takes upon a person who has been enslaved, used and abused. I relied on God. I prayed constantly and opened myself to insights into the character of Angel. As a writer, I needed to get inside Angel’s heart and mind as a child and grow up with her. I needed to think and feel what she did. Frankly, I resisted because I didn’t want to feel that kind of fear and pain.
While I was struggling with writing the book, I saw an article in a women’s magazine about a little girl who had disappeared. There were three pictures of her; a school picture when she was about six or seven, a second shot from a confiscated pornographic film in which she was clearly terrified, and a third picture of the same girl at 10-12 wearing a seductive expression. Her eyes looked dead. That child became my Angel. I pinned her pictures on a bulletin board in front of me and continued writing the book for her. I let go of my fears and let God reveal this broken child He loved and wanted rescued. It took seven painful drafts before I felt the book was ready for submission.
The manuscript was rejected by several publishers because it was clearly an allegory about Jesus Christ. A fiction editor who was a Christian offer a contract and published the book in the women’s fiction genre. I began to receive letters. Readers longed for a strong, faithful, sacrificially loving man like Michael in their lives. Who doesn’t long for the kind of love only God can give? I was able to write back to many and tell them they could have Michael in their lives. His real name is Jesus.
Other letters came as readers poured out their stories — women and men in love with unfaithful spouses, prostitutes who had been abused and used as children connected with Angel and felt hope from her story. Women being trafficked and longing for a way out. I responded and tried to give hope. In truth, I often felt helpless. Some of the stories haunted me and made me wonder how people survive such unspeakable abuse. I wanted to help, but how?
I considered Redeeming Love my “first fruits” as a Christian writer, and Rick and I decided to give the proceeds (minus taxes) to ministries that helped people who wanted changed lives. I began to notice stories in the newspaper and become more aware that not only had sex trafficking not ended years ago, it now thrived.
Nita Belles, founder of the In Our Backyard ministry and author of the book, invited me to speak at the International Conference on Prostitution. Every attendee was on the frontlines of fighting sex trafficking and running various ministries and organizations and I had no idea what I could possibly offer them and she told me attendees wanted to know why and how I wrote Redeeming Love and told me how the novel was being used in ministries around the world. I shared my experience of writing the book and had the opportunity to attend classes and talk with numerous warriors in the fight to end sex trafficking. I bought and read books and became involved in a local ministry where I met survivors.
Over the years, my agent received numerous inquiries from individuals as well as companies wanting to make the book into a movie. The book was optioned several times, but projects came to nothing primarily because the contract gave me script approval, and the script writers did not understand the main character of Michael.
A friend attending a retreat with Holly Caruso handed her a copy of Redeeming Love. She read it, took it home, and told her husband, D.J. Caruso, a successful director, to read it and think about making it into a movie. We gave the option to Cindy Bond (Mission Pictures) and D.J. would director. Holly, D.J. and Cindy are all strong in faith. They understood Michael, but I wanted to show them what I was looking for in a script. I bought a couple of books on how to write one and worked on an example. Much to my surprise, Cindy decided to use it. D.J. and I worked together to strengthen it. One of my favorite scenes is one he wrote. It was a good collaboration. We all hoped the movie would help viewers see what sex trafficking does to a person and how God can bring healing and new life no matter what we have suffered.
I told Holly what Rick and I had been doing with the royalties from the book and intended to continue doing with anything we received from the movie. She and I brainstormed ways we could help survivors and decided the most effective way would be to set up a foundation that would give grants to Christ-centered organizations and/or ministries with a track record of success in helping sex trafficked survivors heal and build new lives. The Redeeming Love Sanctuary Foundation was born, the name shortened later to the Redeeming Love Foundation. We have been making contacts and giving out over thirty grants since 2022.
God has introduced me to amazing people fighting sex trafficking and finding ways to help survivors. I now serve om the Redeeming Love Foundation board with Nita Belles, Holly Caruso, and Cindy Bond, along with Paul Lauer, Lana King and Leah Rivers (my daughter-in-law). You can read their bios on our website: www.redeeminglovesanctuary.org.
The frontline in the battle is prayer. Then let God lead you into what your next step might be. We hope you will join us in the battle against human trafficking and the good work of helping survivors heal and build new lives.
To God be the glory!