Her Source of Strength: Raya's Story

Her Source of Strength: Raya's Story is the twelfth book in the Ordinary Women of the Bible fiction series.

After years of childlessness, Raya has come to accept barrenness as her lot in life…. Until, one day, she meets a man (but no ordinary man) who tells her she is going to have a son and he is to be a Nazarite, set apart from birth to serve God. The prophecy is fulfilled, and nine months later Raya gives birth to Samson.

Samson changes Raya's life, and she loves her son with all her heart. She teaches him about God and instills the ways of a Nazarite into his mind—and hopefully his heart. But as the years go by, Raya's heart aches as her beloved son breaks each of the vows he promised to keep.

Can Raya pray her prodigal son back to the Lord? Is that even possible? What will she do if he never returns? If she never sees him again? Was she right to trust God? Is God stronger than Samson's stubborn will?

Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Wives of King David, Wives of the Patriarchs, and Daughters of the Promised Land series, as well as The Heart of a King, Star of Persia, and the nonfiction books When Life Doesn't Match Your Dreams and She Walked Before Us. Her research has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times.

When she isn't writing, she loves to spend time with her family and friends, read stories that take her away, ride her bike to the park, snag date nights with her hubby, try out new restaurants, or play with her lovable cats. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.