Many years ago God gave me a prophetic scripture through which He named me Hephzibah (meaning ‘My delight is in her’). Some time after that, life happened and for a long while I felt unworthy of that name.  But, God showed me grace in this area for the nearly ten years that followed and, although I never aspired to be a writer, I wrote my first ever book on a bucket list whim in December 2017. Somehow it evolved into a series, but, while writing the fifth book in my Alex Hunt adventure thriller series, I felt the Holy Spirit nudging and directing me into using my God-given talent for enhancing His Kingdom instead.  I obeyed and wrote the final book in that series, The Caiaphas Code, as my statement of faith before switching to writing Christian mystery and suspense instead.  Two days later, the idea for Every Good Gift was born and the day I finished writing the last sentence of this book, I heard the Lord whisper in my ear, Hephzibah, Hephzibah, over and over.  That has been the most noteworthy highlight of my short career so far: knowing that I have pleased God.

My heart and soul went into writing Jacob’s Well. I have three teenage sons, and raising them in a world filled with all kinds of temptation is not easy. They have to cope with so much more than we had to as kids: social media bullying, peer pressure to fit into a pretentious world that seems to intensify overnight, the lure of riches through online gaming or videos instead of education, to name but a few. But through the years, the pull of narcotics has remained the primary evil that threatens to destroy our children. I am blessed to have boys who aren’t scared to share their struggles with us and upon hearing a few of the stories about kids in their schools and our town, one of the main characters in Jacob’s Well was born. On the flip side, I have a mother’s heart and imagining what it would be like to watch your child go down the wrong path added in an entirely different element to the story, especially if that mother was a Christian. The spiritual and emotional battles that would rage within, the helplessness and desperation that come with wanting to do whatever it takes to save your son, the pride within your church community––these are all human responses. And that is how Mary-Jean Foley’s character was born.

Throw in a lawman and a villain in a coastal town where everyone has a secret and Jacob’s Well spilled out onto the pages!