Thank you” always seems like an understatement when it comes to writing a book, but here is my humble attempt to give credit to those who were such help and inspiration to me along the way.
Thank you to all of the people at Revell, particularly to my editors, Lonnie Hull DuPont and Jessica English; my marketing manager, Michele Misiak; and my publicist, Claudia Marsh. Also to Twila Bennett and Cheryl Van Andel, who do more than I can imagine—and Cheryl, your covers are always phenomenal! Thanks always to my agent, Wendy Lawton, who loved Deborah before I did, and who prays for clients and makes them feel like friends.
Super thanks go to Jill Stengl, Kathy Fuller, and India Edghill for help with this story. I can’t even find words! This story needed you. I needed you! Thank you for reading early drafts and later editions and helping me find the problems I couldn’t see.
Thank you to my readers who patiently wait while I plug away at these stories, who pray for me, because I honestly don’t know where I would be without the Lord’s guidance every step of the way. My prayer team—you know who you are—I really appreciate you.
To my friends who are there when I need coffee or lunch or just long to “phone a friend”—you are some of the most precious gifts God has put into my life. Thank you for being there.
To my family, immediate and extended, who willingly share their lives with me. I don’t take you for granted for a single moment. Randy, Jeff, Chris and Molly, Ryan and Carissa—you are my heart and soul.
Adonai Elohim, my Lord, my God, my Creator, the giver of creativity, the one who inspires us to dream—I don’t know if my version of Deborah’s story comes close to Yours, but I’m grateful You shared her life with us in Scripture. For however little there is recorded, there is surely something she can teach us—things she has already taught me of Your holiness and grace. And her song of victory, of thanksgiving, of joy, is one that isn’t necessarily easy to understand in every detail, but it is one of the few You have chosen to record in history. Songs of thanksgiving after a great victory are a wise way to share in Your glory. And after completing this difficult story, I share in her song.
Thank You.