Lissa Litka, of Kokomo, celebrated the release of her newest book, “My Roots are Showing,” on Feb. 20. Litka’s book is a religious historical fiction that tackles issues such as abuse throughout the Bible. 

The story follows Tamar, the wife of Judah, and the trials and tribulations that arise throughout her journey. Litka said she focuses on themes of abuse in her writing, and she writes as a survivor and beacon for her audience. 

“We need to talk about these things because in the church people don’t talk about them enough in my opinion,” Litka said. “I have had abuse in my past and so that is very dear to my heart and writing about that cause is very dear to my heart.” 

Litka believes her novels can connect people with God by highlighting stories in the Bible that people relate to. 

“People in the Bible had the same feelings that we have,” Litka said. “They suffered loss and tragedies; I think when we can relate to people in the Bible we can relate more to God and that is the goal.” 

Her inspiration for the story came from her participation in a Bible study. The study also helped inspire the formatting she decided to use when putting the piece of the book together.  

“I wrote it in a Bible study format then went back through and added the story elements,” Litka said. “It has probably taken me six months since I already had so much of the research done.” 

She said the Bible is full of so many stories, but sometimes the little details and emotions can get left out. She hopes she can help fill the gap between those stories with her own books. 

“I would love to be able to help people find themselves in the stories in the Bible because I think once you do that, you find yourself in the bigger story that God includes all of us in,” Litka said. “I think that it kind of helps people relate well to the story.” 

Litka takes most of her inspiration from the Bible and everyday life as a pastor at a small church in Kempton. She is inspired to write stories to help others identify their lives through the Bible. 

“There is so much power in the story…so when I can take stories from the Bible and help people find themselves in them it just brings it to life in a new way, so that’s my passion,” Litka said. 

Litka plans to continue this series by following the five women in the lineage of Christ and writing individual books for each of them. 

She has another book called “Community: A Welcome to the Stranger” which can be found on Amazon. For more information she can be found at https://www.stainedglassstories.net/.