Thursday, April 21, 2011

STORY BEHIND THE COVER OF SHADOWED IN SILK--By Christine Lindsay


Some might say there are disadvantages in being published by a small press. WhiteFire may be small---and I certainly am---but that means we need to lean on God all the more. Because of that, I’ve been astounded by what He’s done. But nothing could have amazed me more than the way the Lord arranged the front cover of my book.

I have to go back 32 years to when I gave birth to a little girl. Not married at the time, I felt God urge me to relinquish her to a Christian couple unable to have children. I named my baby, Sarah, in the hope that one day I would see her again.

Twenty years later Sarah and I were reunited. But though our reunion was a good one, I began to relive my original loss of relinquishing her. My husband encouraged me to work out my emotional pain by writing. A little later the Lord urged me to write out the emotional healing He had given me in fictional stories to help others.

And now my debut novel about the British Raj in India will be released May 1, 2011—a story that has nothing to do with adoption (at least not much).

WhiteFire and I were excited as we discussed the design of the cover. One day I suggested the sari material I had purchased in India on a missions trip. Roseanna and David White loved the idea but said to hold off on mailing the silk across the country as it was pretty heavy with gems and beading.

It was then I noticed that the model they suggested resembled my birthdaughter. On a whim I suggested Sarah for the model, and the publisher agreed. Sarah was shy at first, but she pitched in on this step of faith with me.

WhiteFire wanted 2 costumes—-a western one for 1919 and the sari that my character Abby wears in the novel. A friend loaned me a straw boater hat, and I was sure I had a tan linen skirt up in my closet. But when I went to look . . . it was gone. I’d forgotten that when we moved last year, I’d given the skirt to a charity. On another whim I decided to go to the local second hand store to search for something similar.

As I walked across the parking lot I prayed the Lord would help me find the perfect skirt. I was not 5 minutes in the store, walking down the aisle and I found my very own skirt which I then purchased back for $9.99.

I could go on and on about the details that just seemed to come together---the background photos taken by a friend in India...and so much more. I’d asked the Lord to put His fingerprints all over it, and He did.

It wasn’t until later that I realized—that without my ever planning or imagining it—He had not only inspired me to write because of my sadness over losing my first child to adoption, but He then placed the face of my beautiful muse on the front cover of my book.

Only our Heavenly Father can do something so intricately tender.

We have to remember that we serve a God who delights in working with little people and small things—-a shepherd boy and a few smooth stones. A child with a lunch of fish and bread for one. A babe in a womb that rocks the world.

If you’d like to read more about my journey as an unwed mother, the relinquishment of Sarah, and of our emotionally racking reunion, go to www.christinelindsay.com

And here for the fun of it is the back cover of Sarah as Abby wearing the Sari.


And thank you to George and Ashley Weis of Tekeme Designs for the awesome job of designing this cover.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful story, Christine - and a beautiful cover. Thank you for sharing your story.

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  2. I agree. Both are wonderful, the story and the cover. And Sarah look beautiful!

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  3. Thank you Mary and Maureen. I am constantly amazed at what God does in our lives when we relinquish ALL to Him. Blessings on your day.

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  4. A beautiful cover and a beautiful daughter. No wonder you are thankful.

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  5. Thanks for sharing your cover and its story. That cover is one of the most beautiful I've seen--big congrats to the designers of it! And how beautiful, too, how everything came together for Sarah to be the model. God is good!

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  6. Thank you Alice and Val. It's hard to describe my joy over how God wraps everything up in due time, if we trust our heart's desires to Him. The older I get, the more amazed I am at His kindness.

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  7. Thank you for sharing this awesome and beautiful story of how God left His Fingerprints on your book.

    And yes, I agree, the cover is stunning.

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  8. That's exactly it, Ruth, I asked Him to leaves His fingerprints all over it, and my goodness did He ever. Still praising Him for that.

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  9. Someone close to me is considering adoption right now. It touches my heart to see God's care both for the adoptive family and the birth family, and of course, his concern for the child herself. I rejoice with you having this precious relationship. May this book touch many lives.

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  10. I am always amazed at how tenderly God watches over the adoption process. Not that everything always goes perfectly. But I know from experience that the process is very dear to His heart. It is through seeing how much Sarah's adoptive parents loved her, and my own love for her, that I've come to understand God's great love for me.

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  11. Christine, great post! Thanks for sharing your beautiful story and lovely book cover - I can't wait to read Shadowed in Silk :)

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  12. Lovely story, Christine. Thanks for sharing it.
    God is so great at working out the little details and blending them all together beautifully.

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