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about the book
What if you fall madly in love on the brink of eternity?
Singing Through Fire invites readers into the Job-like true story of a young woman who loses everything—and dares to ask why a good God allows it.
When Stanford Law graduate Lara Palanjian collapses on her dream job, she never imagines it will lead to four years bedridden—or to the love of her life.
Enter Matthew Silverman: a witty, wise, and impossibly joyful youth pastor and professor facing terminal cancer. What begins with a few random encounters soon ignites an extraordinary, God-written love story that neither of them saw coming.
As their unlikely romance unfolds between medical crises, late-night laughter, and unexpected musical performances, Matthew’s unshakable faith challenges everything Lara thinks she knows about God’s goodness—and what it means to walk with Christlike faith, resilience, and joy in the face of overwhelming grief and suffering.
But with time against them, one question looms louder than the rest: What if this gift is only for a moment?
Shockingly funny and spiritually rich, Singing Through Fire is a modern-day Job meets Lucille Ball. It explores what it means to suffer, love, and even laugh and make music while your life is burning down around you. It eloquently gives voice to the aching questions many sufferers quietly carry—then takes readers inside the breathtaking story of two people who found miraculous love and defiant joy amid heartbreaking loss.
It reveals how God can use even our deepest pain to write the most beautiful love stories—even on the cusp of eternity.
publisher: isaiah 4320 press
release date: august 26, 2025
excerpt
What do you do if you fall in love right before you die?
I don’t know.
I do know that when misery strikes, its timing is often impeccable.
Indeed, today, it strikes with the precision of a scalpel.
“But you can’t die now. Everything is about to change next month.”
The words claw their way out of me.
Raw. Desperate. Comically futile.
Yet they taste like ash—bitter, burning.
I lie flat on my back in bed, blinking back tears, staring at the blank ceiling of my dimly lit bedroom. My mind is a freight train, barreling through thoughts I can’t control.
He sits across from me in the corner like a shadow, his back stiff against his chair. He silently meditates, his left hand resting on his chest, his eyes fixed to the floor as though the weight of his own thoughts might anchor him there.
The silence feels like an accusation. Heavy. Suffocating.
We’re just one month away from the biggest day of our lives, but hope is now a cruel illusion—like a key that fits but refuses to turn.
Minutes pass.
Finally, he speaks.
“I know.”
Two words.
Flat. Resigned. Final.
Silence again. The kind that stretches wide. The kind reserved for elevators after someone sneezes, but no one says “bless you.”
I finally shift my gaze from the ceiling and look directly at him. And then I see it—a single tear slipping down his left cheek. His empty gaze meets mine, communicating a vast, endless void he’s lost in.
“I don’t know why I’m not a match for this last clinical trial,” he says. “I was so close. But it’s too late now.”
He pauses.
Then—“I can’t fight with a dead end.”
His words land between us like a deflated balloon—useless, lifeless, yet refusing to disappear.
A respectable person might let this moment breathe.
I, regrettably, am not that person.
Before I know it, a dam breaks within me. “Well, either you’re going to die or I’m going to die. Fantastic.”
The sarcasm rolls off my tongue like cheap wine, bitter and unsatisfying. Lara, reel it in, I tell myself. Take a deep breath.
I inhale sharply, then try again, softer. “What are we going to do now?”
He shifts uncomfortably in his chair, tugging at the tubes tangled with the chemo pump around his chest, adjusting them out of habit.
“I don’t know.”
I try again, as if pleading for an answer I’ll never get. “My whole life I thought God wants to bless us, not torture us. What am I missing? That’s not too much to ask of a loving God, right? God created logic and reason. He should play by His own rules, shouldn’t He?”
Silence.
Thirty seconds later, he exhales hard. “A lot of times, we just can’t understand what God is doing on this side of eternity. His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways, right?”
I don’t answer.
I don’t want to.
“But,” he adds, “when we do get to see cool glimpses of His redemption on this side, those stories help us trust Him in situations where we don’t get an explanation here.” His voice is now steady, firm. As if he’s trying to convince me. Himself. Both of us.
It’s no use. The cold weight of doubt presses into me. Don’t cry.
My voice wavers, and a tear escapes down my cheek. “So, you honestly still believe God has a purpose for all this? This makes about as much sense as a 2 a.m. infomercial.”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he does something absurd.
Something indecent under the circumstances.
Something downright irritating.
He smiles.
“Listen,” he says, his tone now carrying something dangerously close to a faint optimism. “We just might make it. You never know.”
He straightens in his chair, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. There’s a flicker of something new in his eyes—resolve, faith. Maybe just sheer audacity.
“I mean, God can do more than we ask or imagine. I know He can.”
Is that—was that a smirk on his face?
Honesty compels me. “There’s just one thing I can’t understand.”
He raises an eyebrow, waiting.
“If God is good, why can’t He just…be good?”
He exhales long and slow, pats his legs, and stands abruptly. He grabs his scraggly, navy hat off the bed and angles it on his head—with the air of a man who just sold sand in the desert and left with a profit.
“Just wait and see, Lara.”
He walks to the door and grabs the handle.
Then—he stops.
“Look,” he says, turning back with some hesitation. “I may not know what’s going to happen tomorrow…or even next month.”
He looks down at the ground a second, almost lost in thought, then lifts his gaze and looks me straight in the eyes.
“But I do know one thing—God always writes the best stories.”
about the author
Lara Silverman is a Christian author, lawyer, jazz singer, comedic actress, and violinist. She holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in both Economics and Political Science from UC Berkeley, where she was one of six finalists for the University Medal, Berkeley’s highest academic distinction. Before falling seriously ill in 2018, Lara worked for two federal judges and practiced high stakes litigation for three years at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, where she specialized in intellectual property, antitrust, and contract cases of all kinds.
In 2023, Lara co-founded The Silverman Show—a multifaceted comedy, music, and theology show—and released her debut jazz/pop album as her own music producer in February 2024, even while bedridden. In September 2024, she debuted as Mrs. Serious in her solo Armenian comedy show online. Lara’s writing has been featured in various respected Christian blogs, where her reflections on faith, suffering, and grace have encouraged others. Even as she remains mostly bedridden today, she anchors her unwavering hope in God.
Connect with Lara by visiting her website, Facebook, Instagram, and her YouTube channel.
giveaway
(1) winner will receive a $30 Amazon gift card!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight September 15, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on September 22, 2025. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
tour schedule
thank you for sharing about Singing Through Fire today!
ReplyDeleteI am so excited to check this book out.
ReplyDelete