Behind the Veils of Yemen: How An American Woman Risked Her Life, Family, And Faith To Bring Jesus To Muslim Women

I will be the first to admit that I prefer a good fiction novel to a non-fiction book. But something about Behind the Veils of Yemen called to me to choose it first from the stack of books sitting on my desk waiting to be read. I am so glad I picked it up, as the author's heart-felt, grace-filled writing captured me from the first page. Shelby's book is unbelievably moving, a very well-written account of a true story that has the potential to change lives. I got so wrapped up in the story that I read it in one sitting!

What I appreciated most about this book is that the author does not attempt to hide behind religious platitudes, doesn't attempt to pretend to be the "perfect" Christian who is untouched by earthly worries. Instead, her writing is honest and raw, and reveals the depth of the emotions of her heart, her struggles to believe in moments of crisis but also the triumph of God's grace and the power of the name of Jesus. The truth contained in the pages of this book will need time to mull over, to think about what God is trying to reveal to us personally through it's message. And it would be impossible to read this book without coming away with a new appreciation for those living in Muslim countries, people like you and I, people desperate to know that God loves them and that his love is not dependent on their own actions.

I love what the author writes near the beginning of her book, where she states about God that "He had chosen me not because of who I was, but because of who He is". Now, there is a God worth serving, a God who loves us just the way we are, but who doesn't leave us there either, a God who chooses to use us to change the world, even when we don't deserve that honor. Thank-you Jesus!

I highly recommend this book and give it 5 out of 5 stars. If you don't plan on reading anything else this year, please do read this book!

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Chosen, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

This is a great inside view of what it is like to interact with those who cover themselves with a veil on the outside, but are genuine human beings within who need the same that any person needs - love, interaction with others, etc. It will help you "look behind the veil" to see the real humanness of all of the people God' loves.

Behind the Veils of Yemen by Audra Grace Shelby manages to be informative, entertaining and inspiring all at the same time. Without falling into the trap of either sentimentalism or demonization, she puts a human face on the Muslim women she met in Yemen--women who run their lives according to Islam, and who know nothing about Christianity.

One of the things I found the most surprising about the book is how normal it was. Audra is neither a mystic nor a militant. Even when she is actually quietly heroic she makes it sound natural. Having lost her own mother on the mission field, she was surely acutely aware of the dangers of being away from good medical care, and indeed she and her family had to consider these issues. How risky is too risky? When do you need to return home? Is it fair to subject your children to not only a different culture, but different safety standards? She and her husband navigated these tricky questions with grace.
She influenced the women around her by actually becoming their friends. The watched her and became interested in her strange faith. In reading this book, I kept thinking that this is probably an example we can follow in many situations. If we really show love to the people around us, they will see Jesus in us, and become curious about the difference.

And reaching out to Yemen women involves not just learning a bit of Arabic, but learning how to wear a headscarf, and behave appropriately in the local culture.
This book should interest anyone who is interested in what Islam looks like behind closed doors, from the perspective of women. This is a very different picture from the common assumptions either that all Muslims are terrorists, or conversely that they are all the same as us. We see through Audra's eyes, realize that in certain ways the women are indeed the same - they want a healthy happy family. But in other ways there are drastic differences, and they seem peculiarly resigned to their lack of freedom or opportunities.
All in all, it was a well written and interesting book, that gives me a lot of admiration for the author.

[Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Chosen Books Publishers as part of their Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ]

This is a riveting story of one missionary families journey to Yemen. The stories were very heart wrenching and evidence of the need that missionary families have for others to partner with them for support. You can do this through financial contributions but more importantly through your prayers. Have you ever thought about that? A simple thing you can do is take a moment and pray for your missionary families who are in foreign countries serving on the front lines. Prayer can help them in ways you cannot even begin to know. Have you thought about this?

This book is a wonderful read for you to see this. It is very informative. It shows how partnership in prayer does indeed help and is needed. It also gives you a good glimpse into one families life in the middle east. There are tons of families serving abroad. Tons. Do you take the time to understand what challenges they are facing? This book would help you to see this in the middle east especially Yemen. It gives a good insight into the Muslim culture and people.

I really recommend this book. It is worth your time and was very well written. Most importantly all the way through out it continually pointed you to Christ.

Audra Shelby with her husband and three children lived nine years as missionares in Yemen. This is an account of their journey into a far away place-not only globally but also culturally and religiously- as they attempted to share the love of Christ and His good news to Muslim women.

Shelby writes in an exceptionally good style so I was not surprised to find out that she, in fact, is a professional writer in addition to being a dedicated missionary. I found this book easy to read and hard to put down.

At the get go suspense is created when Shelby describes her husband's tangle with a life threatening but mysterious infection that almost wasn't discovered until it was too late. After he recovers they continue with their trip to Yemen.

As Shelby learns the Arabic language, she develops a special relationship with Fatima, her language instructor. Fatima is a strict Muslim who faithfully makes a huge show of her traditional cleansing and praying-all the way down to greeting the two angels that "sit on her shoulders." She is openly scornful of Audra's Bible that is "corrupt" and Audra's lack of cleansing rituals before her prayers.

However, Audra and Fatima develop a special relationship and Fatima is Audra's door to a culture and people that she would not otherwise have access to. Because of Fatima, Audra attends a wedding (all three days of sweat soaking dancing "just shake what you have" and waiting for the bride) and visiting family members and others-all who have never met an "infidel."

Fatima comes to rely on Audra in ways that she can not turn to her fellow Yemenites, not even her family. Life in the Muslim world is not filled with joy but with fear and hatred. Whatever happens, no matter how unjust or cruel, is viewed as, "Emsha'allah," God's will). Girls are openly physically abused by their own brothers while their qat-chewing fathers calmly look on. Audra is angered and horrified to see an eight month old baby girl lying in the dirt in the middle of the street, screaming with no one attending her. Although this was not normal, apparently it was acceptable to treat a baby girl like this if it was believed that she brought ill fortune to her family. Every woman she met had lost a child before the age of five.

Fatima draws a strength from Audra that she cannot get from anyone else. Still, she wants the hope and joy she sees in Audra without truly surrendering to the One who is the source of that hope and joy. We don't know what becomes of Fatima because after their language training, Audra and her family move to another area of the country.

Audra struggles to overcome her own discouragement and distaste at the ignorance and impoverished living conditions of these Muslim women and reach out to them with the love of Jesus. This is exceptionally hard as family and friends back home are unsupportive and the few European and American women in Yemen shun her when they see her wearing a bulgar and head covering and interacting with the poverty-stricken Muslim women.

Also, Audra sees such a desperate need for missionaries to come to a land that is darkened by fear and superstition. Frankly, she doesn't paint an appealing picture. I myself would prefer to be a missionary many places other than a Muslim country. She doesn't sugarcoat the hardship.

One thing I found wanting was her naming any fruit that she and her family produced. Audra focuses on her relationships with the Muslim women she encountered even her family is kept in the background) but never mentions if any come to salvation. I would have liked to have read whether any of the Muslims became Christians.

Other than that, this book is an eye opener and I recommend it to anyone considering the mission fields and for all of us because we need to know and understand how many people across the globe live. Not everyone lives in an air conditioned house and drives an SUV.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Audra Grace Shelby's Behind the Veils of Yemen: How an American Woman Risked Her Life, Family and Faith to Bring Jesus to Muslim Women is an account of an average family who stuffed everything into a crate and moved to the conservative Islamic country of Yemen to be missionaries.

Shelby describes her family's struggle with health issues, with family who thought they were crazy, a foreign language, loneliness, Yemen men's treatment of females, and the inability to break through barriers the Islamic community keeps in place between foreign "infidels" and themselves. As she says of one woman she became guarded friends with, "She wanted my prayers, my strength and my hope, but she wanted to get them her way" (163).

Unlike some of the biographies of my childhood, Shelby's text gives the living breath of autobiography. She's a living testament who shares honestly, sincerely, those personal struggles with her own wavering faith in Christ, a concept I tend to forget when I hear the almost hallowed term "missionary."

Shelby shows the power of prayer, the difficulties of giving people to God when all you've done is planted seeds that seem to fall on hard earth, and most of all, how even being in the center of God's will does not exempt Christians from experiencing difficulties that try our faith.

More than anything, Shelby's book is a call for other Christians to pick up the gauntlet and search their own souls for whether God would have them serve in any way within oppressive Islamic countries like Yemen. She directly addresses the fear Western Christians have about working in such countries, describing a scene where she told her Yemeni friend she should visit America:

"'Oh no!' Amal's eyes grew wide. 'I am afraid of Amerika. They will rob me on the street or shoot me there!' Her voice trailed to a whisper. 'They will rape me...My friend tells me. She watches the news from Amrika on the television. Every day there are killings and robberies and raping of women!'"...
"I paused and cleared my throat. 'Amal, do you know that my friends are afraid to come to Yemen?'
She was astonished. 'But why?' she asked.
'They are afraid they will be killed by terrorists.'
"Oh! But we are not like that, Audra. Only a few!' she exclaimed.
I smiled. 'Aywa [Yes]. And Amrika is not like all the bad news you hear. Only a few.'" (213)

It makes me wonder what joy Satan gets from spreads the contagion of fear across the airways, fear that binds Christians, keeping them from sharing the gospel on hard soil that needs someone to help till it.

**For my review, I receive no compensation from Bethany House Publishers other than a complementary copy of the text.

I recently received Behind the Veils of Yemen by Audra Grace Shelby in the mail to review for Bethany House publishers. I was anxious to read about the women of Yemen who live their public lives dressed in a shroud. It didn't take me long to read this book from cover to cover as the author engages the reader as if you are chatting with her over coffee.

Audra's story begins in the United States where her family is boarding the plane for Yemen to leave everyone else behind.

"I thought back to the predawn fight we had boarded in Texas the day before. I had not realized how hard it would be to tell our families good-bye. Our pain in leaving had doubled when we saw their pain in letting us go. -Audra Shelby

She goes onto tell of near death experiences for one of her family members before reaching the mission field. She would learn throughout her experience in Yemen and the US that God would be enough for all they would go through. Audra and her husband followed God taking with them their two-year old son, five year old son, and seven year old daughter. As I read I was reminded of Matthew 10:37

The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.

I had refused to accept that not only did God love my children more than I did, He also had created them for His purposes, not mine. Audra Shelby

This book was very educational as the author takes the reader along with her through language study, the culture of Yemen and the intimate lives of Muslim women. I found it especially eye opening that the women only veil themselves in public with some of them dressing like westerners underneath. They also always cover their hair without exception around any man that is not their husband. I would encourage you to read this book to understand the dress, language, religion and culture of Muslims. It was a fast read and I was encouraged by this devout woman who followed God to one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Audra Shelby found and recounts in this book, how the "grace of God touches the lives in the midst of an Islamic stronghold."

A must read.

I received this book free from Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Poorly written

Another great book about the persecution and God's love and protection for them!

A well written and interesting book, but she cried a bucket of tears. Tears were welling up in her eyes, running sown her cheeks, she was sobbing and crying all the time.