Episode 80 - Mesu Andrews Author Chat

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This week, Biblical novel author Mesu Andrews joins us to discuss her fascinating new book, Potiphar's Wife. This is the story of Joseph seen through the eyes of the woman who had him falsely accused and thrown in jail. Mess imagines what must have happened in her life to bring her to that point. A not-to-be-missed book.

Potiphar's Wife by Mesu Andrews
Before she is Potiphar’s wife, Zuleika is the daughter of a king and the wife of a prince. She rules the isle of Crete alongside her mother in the absence of their seafaring husbands. But when tragedy nearly destroys Crete, Zuleika must sacrifice her future to save the Minoan people she loves.

Zuleika’s father believes his robust trade with Egypt will ensure Pharaoh’s obligation to marry his daughter, including a bride price hefty enough to save Crete. But Pharaoh refuses and gives her instead to Potiphar, the captain of his bodyguards: a crusty bachelor twice her age, who would rather have a new horse than a Minoan wife. 

Abandoned by her father, rejected by Pharaoh, and humiliated by Potiphar’s indifference, Zuleika yearns for the homeland she adores. In the political hotbed of Egypt’s foreign dynasty, her obsession to return to Crete spirals into deception. When she betrays Joseph—her Hebrew servant with the face and body of the gods—she discovers only one love is worth risking everything.

Get your copy of Potiphar's Wife by Mesu Andrews.

When Mesu Andrews was growing up, God was a central figure in most discussions. But she saw theology as a battlefield and Scripture as a weapon. In her confusion, she rejected God and His Word but was rescued by an old high school friend, who discovered and shared Jesus with her.

Life changed rapidly indeed. A month later, that friend asked her to be his wife. She and Roy were married six months later. Nine months and two weeks later, their first daughter was born. Soon after, their second daughter came along, and they began attending a small church. Suddenly, her desire for God’s Word exploded. So she began scouring the only theology books a young mother has time to read—children’s Bible stories and my Bible.

She devoured God’s Word during my days as a full-time mom, but when her family moved to seminary, her husband became Mr. Mom, and she went to work.  When her husband graduated from seminary and received his first call to ministry, she promised the Lord she would forever cherish His Word and never again take for granted the blessings of motherhood and marriage.

Their daughters are now grown and telling their own stories of journeys with Jesus. No doubt, they had joys and sorrows in a pastor’s family, their mom’s speaking ministry slowed by chronic illness and their personal questions for the Creator. It is her prayer, however, that those children’s Bible stories they used to read together have matured into the biblical novels and devotional studies she now writes. In a way, she still tells Bible stories to her girls. They just include a host of other folks who enjoy relating to the real people in God’s Word.

Visit Mesu Andrew's website.

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