Kathi Macias's Red Ink ~ Reviewed

RED INK
By Kathi Macias
Published by New Hope Publishers
ISBN# 9781596892794
315 Pages

Back Cover:

A young Chinese woman, Zhen-Li—raised to observe the party line, including its one-child-per-family doctrine—falls in love with and marries a Christian, and adopts his faith. Though the couple downplays their Christianity in an effort to survive, Zhen-Li’s family is appalled, and she and her husband are ostracized.

It is then Zhen-Li decides she must live up to her name—"Truth"—and take a firm stand for her faith, regardless of the consequences, and so she begins to regularly teach children about Zhu Yesu ("Lord Jesus")

Based loosely on the life of Christian magazine editor Li Ying, currently serving a ten-year prison sentence in China, the story of Yang Zhen-Li tells the desperate tale of her incarceration and separation from her family, as she continues to minister to other prisoners, and even to her guards.

Review:

I anxiously awaited the review copy of this intriguing third book in the Extreme Devotion series by Kathi Macias. The realism and hope are the two things I really enjoyed in this book and continue to be encouraged by this series. God says in his word that if we trust in him, He can do far more than we could even imagine. The bible is full of stories like that. The Lord is alive today and doing things in the lives of His people that don’t seem possible; not in this day and age. All things are possible if we put our trust in God.

Zhen-Li’s a woman who put her complete trust in God when everything said that it was a crazy thing to do. But her heart kept telling her mind it was the right and the only thing she could do. She prayed for strength.

Not only does Kathi go into the rough conditions in China and their prisons, but Kathi Macias describes a different prison young girls find themselves in if they are not careful here in America. Sex trafficking is very real and a multi-million dollar business here in the USA and abroad.

Maggie is a young rebellious girl set on not graduating high school, but running off with Jake, a handsome guy she’s fallen for. He promises to take her away from all of her troubles. It will be just the two of them forever.

Maggie has a grandmother in River Valley nursing home. Maggie’s hit up her unsuspecting grandmother to help support her drug habit. Her grandmother has issues of her own, but feels for her disturbed granddaughter. What has come of her and why?

It’s encouraging to see how the Lord lays people on your heart to pray for that you don’t even know. Kathi does a great job of portraying people that are willing to get out of their comfort zone and do what the Lord lays on their hearts, whether they feel up to it or not. When the Lord wakes Julie up in the middle of the night to pray for a women she’s never met in China, she is faithful to do it. Then the Lord lays on her heart to pray for Maggie, Margaret’s granddaughter, who she knows at the nursing home. Julie says to God, “If You don’t stop keeping me up praying all night, Lord, I’m going to drop dead from exhaustion.” She had to laugh. “I’m sorry, Father. Forgive me my impatience, please. It’s a privilege to pray for all these needs, but I must admit that I do get a bit tired at times.”

I enjoyed this story of extreme devotion. It reminded me of bible stories I’d read about Paul’s trials and God miraculously intervening on Paul’s behalf. Those and the stories in this book are amazing stories of faith, courage and devotion. I can’t wait to read the last book in this series called People of the Book, out early 2011.

Reviewed by: Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network