Linda
Fergerson’s third book
A
Royal Father: The Lion and the Butterfly
Dodge City’s own Linda Fergerson has just
published the third book in her “The Lion and the Butterfly Series.” Drawn to
Israel and to serving other women with God’s message of redemption and
restoration, Linda weaves the story of her own healing into series set in tumultuous
times of the First Century Church.
For Linda, it all
goes back to Israel. Israel in New Testament times, but also Israel today.
It was during her
first trip to Israel about 10 years ago that His touch and message were
received, as God used her time with Him to help her move into her calling and
receive clarity about her mission. Then and now, she believes she is called to
bear witness to God freeing her from shame and darkness, and to help other
women who also need this light-giving message.
Her journey with
God, bringing her out of her own personal darkness into healing and light,
resulted in her starting to write her own story.
A Royal Father,
takes the character of Jerusha into other winding
paths and challenges, as she has a heart-rending decision to make about her own
future and her family’s protection, even as her older adopted sons approach
manhood.
Jerusha, a young Jewish
widow in first century Jerusalem, needs a father for her sons. Effah, a powerful and dark figure from her childhood, offers
marriage. His proposal will save her inheritance from being ripped away by the
corrupt Jewish priests. But she cringes at the thought of him being her sons’
father. Or her husband.
Antonius, an aloof
Roman soldier with ghosts in his past, befriends her sons and is a follower of
the Way. He waits in the shadows for her love, while she wrestles with trusting
Father God’s mysterious plan. Will she succumb to Effah
and marry a man she despises, to save her sons’ inheritance? Or, in a culture
where Roman soldiers are hated by Jews, will she risk the loss of everything by
reaching out to the aloof Roman soldier?
Linda experienced
sexual abuse as a young girl and has known the dark secrets of being an abuse
victim suffering in silence. Then many years later in her marriage, she
experienced the heartbreak of empty arms longing for children as she faced
years of infertility. Eventually she and her husband adopted three sons, and
now Fergerson continues to walk through the love and challenges of raising
children and seeing them launched into adulthood.
To her surprise,
eventually she was led to tell the painful parts of her story by weaving
elements of it into her first novels, the Lion and Butterfly Series. The series
is set in first century Jerusalem and her fist novel,
A Royal Dance, begins in the days when some Jews are starting to believe a
teacher from Nazareth may be the promised Messiah, and a young Jewish girl
named Jerusha bears a secret that breaks her heart
and threatens to break her spirit.
The second book in
the series, A Royal Family, continues to follow Jerusha’s
path to healing through faith, and to establishment of her own family.
Now in the third
installment, A Royal Father, which was released in April, Jerusha
will face other winding paths and challenges, as her old adopted sons approach
manhood but the family needs protection and guidance.
She admits to
being surprised by God’s use of writing in granting her healing. She says she
resisted the instructions from God until they became so insistent
she gave in – and began writing her first novel. “I fought God on this for so
long, couldn’t imagine I could write a novel, couldn’t see this was the path He
had for me,” Linda says candidly. “Finally I began
writing out of obedience to God, and it was in the writing that I began to know
I was being healed.”
Linda is also a
speaker and has been awed by the women who tell her how powerfully the stories
she tells-her own as well as those in her books-have been used by God to help
them heal of the hurt in their own lives. Today, Fergerson speaks, dances and
ministers to other women in Kansas as well as around the world, such as in
Israel and Russia.
And now she’s
heading back to Israel. In March 2020 she will lead a trip she designed for
women only called the Women of Destiny tour. Of the tour, Linda says she
believes:
“Father God is
calling his Royal daughters to come away from all distractions, to step out of
their comfort zone and answer His call to bless the nation of Israel by
carrying the light of His Kingdom love to a land and people thirsty for a
revelation of Yeshua the Christ.
As His sent ones,
each one will encounter Father God in a way that will be unique to the design
He has for them and will unlock a portion of their own destiny.”
A Royal Father:
The Lion and the Butterfly Series, Book Three was released in April from
Carpenter’s Son Publishing. Along with A Royal Dance: The Lion and the
Butterfly Series, Book One and A Royal Family: The Lion and the Butterfly
Series, Book Two, it is available at The Christian Bookhouse
in Dodge City as well as other selected book stores and online retailers.
A resident of Dodge City, Linda is now
planning additional books in the series. For more information about Linda and
her writing and speaking ministry, as well as the trip to Israel, visit
www.LindaFergerson.com or www.thelionandthebutterfly.com.
She may also be reached by phone at 620-255-6161.