My Refuge: Four Girls from Around the World, Imprisoned by Circumstances but Pursued by Hope (Follow in the Dark)

A Christian novel for teen girls learning to follow Jesus in a broken world.Four teenage girls stare out of four windows. Their gazes may fall on starkly different countries and circumstances, but each girl gradually reaches the same heart-sinking realization:I'm trapped.From the suburbs of Toronto to a sprawling refugee camp in Jordan, from a bomb shelter basement in Ukraine to an ICU in Texas, the girls of the Follow in the Dark series will pull you into the intricacies of their stories, and of their hearts. As their circumstances spiral out of control, one of them will struggle with growing anger, and another with crippling anxiety. One will drift toward despair. Another will battle surprising temptation. They wouldn't have chosen these circumstances in a million years. Is there really no way out? What refuge can they seek? What hope can they cling to?Not always at their best but also never abandoned, read along as Eden, Zahra, Mei and Katya discover that they are pursued and deeply loved by God. Their raw and relatable journeys might point your heart to fresh hope, too.Meet Eden: Her fingers were made for the piano. Her voice was made to sing harmony. But suddenly her heart stops working, and everything changes. As the life she wants to be living passes by outside the walls of her hospital room, Eden realizes that she barely recognizes who she is becoming.Meet Zahra: Math nerd. Future engineer. She's the baby of the family, but she's got big dreams... or at least, she used to. The war stole her home, halted her education, and imprisoned her in a tent far away. Now what??Meet Mei: Good girl. Optimist. Devoted member of her church youth group. Maybe a little bit clumsy. ;) But sometimes things can get really weird, and really confusing, really fast.Meet Katya: Tennis player. Big sister. Fluffy dog tolerator. Her favorite place to be is with her best friends. Life is pretty good, until the morning when it suddenly isn't. With any sense of stability ripped away from her, is there a safe place for her heart and mind?Content Warning: This book contains descriptions of panic attacks, war (although not of interpersonal violence), and peer pressure in an online setting. I have done my best to handle these topics sensitively, and in a way that is appropriate for a young adolescent audience. Read more