Hosanna Emily's Blog, page 2

and Now You're Weak (but that's okay)

  


Hello, dear reader!
It's nigh six months since 2024 began. Halfway through the year. Six months of more beauty and growth and seasons to come...
When 2024 began, I considered picking a theme word for this year but couldn't. Instead, I found that as I lived through the pages of a calendar, God found themes on His own to adorn my months (perhaps He knows what I need most to grow), ;) and these last 6 months, it's been grace ... and  w e a k n e s s.

utter inability. ineptness.

Funnily, I learned "inept" in ASL before I knew it in English. ;) The professor showed us the sign and defined it as the opposite of skilled.

... and being inept this year has been so good.

Because we ended 2023 by saying goodbye until Resurrection to a dear friend who died. Then there were days of family in the hospital. Ups and downs and heart-tearing, and as I sat before my laptop with the start of a novel tumbling in my mind with so many plot holes I couldn't even fill, I felt completely inept.

I like to picture my writing desk as a warzone. It's a place where beauty is created, like snippets of Eden in the brokenness of this fallen world. It's where the enemy is fought and defeated by ruthless prayer.

But my desk is more like a messy meeting place with Jesus. I try to arrange my candle and mug full of pens, the letters from friends which mean so much, and the honey jar for tea, but it always remains disorderly with stray pencils and papers by my elbows.

In this place, I pour out my heart to Jesus and beg for inspiration. I write out of weakness and ask for His strength. I create chapters that may need to be completely rewritten later and poems that may never be read.

I'm inept without Jesus.

And I love that. Because it makes me pursue Him, seek Him, and in my season of weakness, His strength is beautiful and tender and... well, strong. =)

In my weakness, I learn the beauty of God being a God who hears.

I cry out to the LORD with my voice;With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.I pour out my complaint before Him;I declare before Him my trouble.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path... 

Psalm 142:1-3

I found myself poised with fingers on the keyboard and no ideas to go forward as I just begged for help; in His amazing Storyteller way, Jesus came through and whispered character arcs and names and adventurous cliffhangers and purposes. As I drafted, it's like He read over my shoulder, offered ideas, and it's okay that there's loads of editing to be done later, because this is a first draft that I get to write with the One I love more than life itself who literally is the God who hears.

His promises to Israel are especially beautiful,

And they did not thirstWhen He led them through the deserts;He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them;He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

Isaiah 48:21

If God had His people then, He is still trustworthy, beautifully faithful.

Yes, in loss and fear and inability, I'm broken and weak.

And I'm so glad, because it produces dependency on Jesus! I look back now on the time of drafting the novel as 2024 began, and I see victories overruling the struggles to produce beautiful words because He was (+ continues to be) strong.

Yes, this year is one marked by weakness... and strangely, strength. It's His strength, His grace, ascribed to me because of the redemption of the cross and Jesus in me! 

And it's okay. It's not shameful to weep tears to our Father. It's okay to sing brokenly, to pray desperately, and to not understand but trust anyway.

I wonder if that's as beautiful as when we dance in ecstasy, because in both ways,

we l o v e + t r u s t  Him.

Our Jesus is coming to make all things new, and the ending of the story will be magnificent! Like when this novel I began is finally published, the result will be beautiful.

But today is the middle. In it, He is the God who hears.

It's the waiting faithfully until He returns. It's the drafting of a novel that didn't have an end, and the characters hurt and struggled and h o p e d.

I love this,

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea."

Isaiah 48:17-18

There is victory in Jesus—His finished work on the cross, His Spirit today in us, and His coming return to bring restoration to all that's good and recompense to all that's evil!

Victory.

If today feels weak or strong. Broken or whole. Sensical or confusing. Inept or skilled.

My identity and strength and hope is in the One Who makes all things new. And I can pour out my heart before Him, for He is a refuge for us (Psalm 62:8).

Hold on, you broken warrior, and keep fighting, even if it's messy and looks like desperate prayers.

His strength is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

(( + spoiler alert, Jesus will rule as King in the end! )) ♥

As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 47:4

~♥~ 

 

a spider + ant || a poem

a spider + ant || a poem

a spider + ant are nigh the same thing:

segmented bodies + spry, nimble feet,

unnoticed, unseen, no beauty to boast

yet bold to live freely from forest to coast.

a spider weaves tapestries; fine silk she spun

while ants build a castle in growing, dry mud.

+ one drinks the blood of foes she demised

while ants humbly gather a lost picnic prize.

we trod on their homes + tear down their wall;

the ant + the spider constantly fall.

like high-ranking kings + poor peasant folk

who boast of their glory or handle revoke;

like fog in the night may linger a breath

+ vapor ascend, then die a quick death,

the ant + the spider could boast of their feats

then wither to die in summer sun's heat.

so rather, the two have beauty to show:

their humble + quiet service alone.

to daily fulfill the task set before:

the call of the faithful, king or the poor.

Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

Surely men of low degree are a vapor,
Men of high degree are a lie;
If they are weighed on the scales,
They are altogether lighter than vapor...
Power belongs to God.
Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy;
For You render to each one according to his work.

snippets of Psalm 62

~♥~

 

expectantly || a poem

expectantly || a poem

funnily, last year i learned to love running:

beginning with muscles stretching, heart pounding in anticipation,

then taking off with adrenaline speed

to settle into rhythmic breathing + focused motion.

yet a race is a battling fight

for weakness pulls at me to slow,

+ i hear lies—like every passing tree—

pulsing in my gasping breaths + flushed face;

i resist with feet planting firmly + eyes set:

every pain pushes me closer to the Prize

so i fight on.

winter settles to ice the air in frost,

+ i fight daily,

yet only grow weaker.

i learn in the everyday

strength isn't in pushing harder, like a race,

it's in the Strength Giver.

when i spring up a hill, i whisper:

this is what He trained me for

yet when the run is over, i maybe train hardest

by waiting on the Lord, eyes set

on Him, my utter Prize,

waiting for His springtime.

He fights as i follow in submission.

Jesus is the body; i am the feet simply obeying,

+ He never grows weary or slumbers,

so with His Spirit in me, why should i walk in defeat?

is there victory in g r a c e ?

i run hard in races + will to be the feet of Jesus in today,

to achieve the ultimate Prize.

not because of my strength

(which, if i boasted in, would fall flat in the first competition)

but because of His,

                                expectantly.

And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

For though (Jesus) was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, 13:4

Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength...
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-29, 31 

~♥~

what beauty || a poem

what beauty || a poem

i heard that light only has definition

in the face of darkness,

+ i wondered if beauty too

was only beautiful in the presence of distortion.

for i hold the dying hand of a flower kissed by frost's poison--

+ the loveliness wilts in the curse's winter,

melts like ice.

but it's not the death that makes life--

life was the first,

the lovely before mar,

+ though darkness was in the beginning,

the Spirit of God was hovering,

the God who made l i g h t;

life, beauty, light formed in the fingerprints of Almighty Beauty.

all nobility is defined by the Day

the Maker made something good,

+ all today that looks like Him or His work,

that is beautiful:

the healing in dirty, mechanic hands

a waterfall thundering like heaven

fellowship unbroken,

what true beauty!

defying any serpent's attempts

to turn good into evil,

the Almighty will crush his head,

so we praise

+ become full-time beauty seekers

in a faulty world.

even the Deaf sign beauty before their face,

+ i wonder if it's the glory of a soul created

or the unsurpassed wonder of the Beauty Maker Himself.

Yes, in the way of Your judgements,O LORD, we have waited for You;The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.

- Isaiah 26:8

 

~♥~

is the Bible the Fallen Weapon of the Faithful?

Hello friend! ♥♥♥
It's the 5th-week-bookiversary of The Way of the King being published (yay!), and as my brother enjoyed the story for the first time, he made a comment:
"Sometimes, it seems like the followers of the King are weak; they're always losing the fight."
I thought about that, knowing the beginning to the end of the story, and remembered a favorite character.
He was a young man who was trained thoroughly. He was ready. Prepared. If his weapon was in hand, no enemy could defeat him, no knife come against his bowstaff.
But one day, he lay it aside and went out empty handed.
He was defenseless.
If every character in the book took up their weapon and allowed themselves to be trained under the hand of their King, they too would be ready to fight in all situations that besieged them.
Yet I wonder if, as Christians, we're faltering like the young man and dropping our own weapon--the weapon of the Word of God.










The enemy is telling us--telling me--to lay down our weapons.
Sometimes for our persecuted brothers and sisters, it's with another weapon pointed at their heart, and to hold onto the Bible means literal death. But for us, the threat is just as deadly.
Like a river tugging at us to simply float and coast beside the shoreline, admire the sun and flowers and cool water. "Stop fighting," it whispers, "to drift is easier, and you deserve the break. You can't keep swimming forever."
It bids us lay down our weapons.
Because if we're not actively pursuing Jesus, we're falling away.
Like another warrior in my tale who thought he was following neither the King or the Prince, but, unknown to him, a person is always on one side or another, and there is no indecision.

Choose your side
Then keep the loyalty.

I hear the enemy's lies, trickily trying to deceive me into laying down my bowstaff, and sometimes it sounds good.
Like, 

I just don't have a desire to read the Bible.
It's hard for me to understand.
I too busy.
I can only spend time in the Bible if I can set aside a long time to study hard.

When the enemy whispers those lies, my sassy self wants to lift my eyebrows and say, "Oh yeah? Then I'll just read it more. Take that." *giggles*
But do I realize the lies are from the enemy and thus identify the lies and attack them with truth?
Do I let the scriptures actually define my life?
Do I let Jesus transform me?

Oh fight, dear warrior!

And if you don't have a love for the scriptures, if you don't have time to sit and read, if it's hard to understand, and you don't consider yourself a good studier, fight anyway.
I am encouraged by a dear friend who is beginning her walk with Jesus. She plays the Bible on audio and doesn't understand it all but keeps persevering and is excited to share verses she memorizes because she knows it's important and is learning to love it.
And I remember times when reading the Bible was hard and dry, and I asked Him to increase my love for it, and He did.
Because our God wants to speak to us. Encourage us. Teach us. He is a Father in Heaven who loves His children and wants to spend time with us and have us be His children because He treasures us.
He knows we live in a world besieged by a treacherous Prince who desires our destruction, so He offers His own Spirit to live inside us, handing us all we need for life and godliness, and the scriptures are a weapon.
He knows the current pulls us downstream, so He rows up a boat and says, "will you join Me?"
Oh, let's fight! Let's treasure His Word. May it be precious to us.
I've been praying this for me and for the Church. And I beg us, don't listen to the enemy's lies. Make time to dig into the Bible. Let it transform you. Fight with it.
I'll sign off with sweet verses that have been an encouragement to me as of late, and may they be a blessing as we pursue our Jesus. ♥

I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love.

The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.

I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have given me life.

 

Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

 

How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

 

Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

 

I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure.

// snippets from Psalm 119 

~♥~

The Way of the King || book release!

 

once upon a time, God whispered a little story into a writer's heart. and for four years, He walked with her through every step of the way--encouraging, loving, prodding her forward--through giddy excitement, messy mistakes, and tearful moments until one day the release came. even then, it was a battle, but He was the King who always wins.
and she's here to celebrate a victory of the King she gets to call Father.



The Way of the King is released!!!!



*dances in the rain with girlish excitement*
*runs back to the computer to tell everyone about it*








If I said it in a sentence: God used me to write my favorite book, and I'm blown away. ♥
As I put on Instagram this morning, He did everything in this book, and it's full of:

epic adventures as He grew me to embrace that Jesus is worthy of it all

warrior souls in ordinary characters as He also bids to fight through surrender

hunting tales in which He drew me to the woods to hide away in orange with my brother

fantastical creatures He gave us to invent during the deep darkness of tenting with my young friends under a million shooting stars

the most adorable, little characters based off my own siblings I love, so many moments to praise

and stories of heroism, danger, gentle love, forgiveness, fiery passion, unyielding loyalty, mysteries to solve, and a purpose worth laying down one’s life for. HIM

all in the stories of a warrior-defector sister to orphans, a musician missing an arm, and a brother to the tyrant Prince.

And even though it seems I'm two days late to the release, that's another entire set of desperate prayers He answered.

I simply asked Him to produce fruit in this book as it released on August 1...

Instead of my plans, the paperback didn't come out until today.

And that produced so much fruit. Because in the surrendering of the book to Him (again), I relearned that my Father in Heaven is good. His plans are higher than mine. I can trust Him.

(so I choose to say that I'm not late... I just celebrated for THREE days instead of one!) *giggles*

But that's my deep heart for this book:

may it strengthen and encourage every reader

may it glorify our Heavenly Father who is our King

I could go on and on, but I'm gonna stop talking and just say, I'm praising Jesus! He did all this, and He is worthy of all glory and honor.

Now go enjoy the story! *wink*

You can officially purchase The Way of the King on Amazon:

Paperback
(for the lover of stories in their hands)

Hardcover
(for the reader who wants the long-lasting book and the deleted scene only in this copy)

Kindle
(for the one who can't wait and wants to bring the story wherever they go)

Happy reading, dear Friend! I've waited so long for the day I could share this with you, and may the Lord use it in beautiful ways! ♥






about the book

As the Kingdom of Érkeos collapses in revolution, three unlikely heroes must keep the loyalty through the darkest of days.

Three months after The Torch Keepers ends, Kadira, a warrior-defector from the Prince’s Liberation army, flees into the mountains as a big sister to a family of orphans. Her eyes mark her as a Torch Keeper for the King, an enemy to the Prince.

Behind her, Rekém rises to power over the city that was once the children’s home. As the Prince’s brother, he is forced to become a leader yet is drawn to humble hunting trips where he remembers dreams he once had. In mountain forests, Rekém discovers dangerous secrets he can’t escape from.

And deep in the throngs of cave tunnels, a musician missing half his arm builds his own fortress, not knowing that two armies close in. When the sides collide, the heroes must decide if the one they follow is truly worthy of every sacrifice. It seems the future of Érkeos is in the hands of a King who's never been seen.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
Isaiah 55:8-11

~♥~

What Book Release Week Looks Like for an Author

The Way of the King releases tomorrow!!! *claps* *dances around*
If I described the themes of the novel in a nutshell, it would look like this:

is the King worth losing everything for,
and what does it mean to keep the loyalty?

In my own life, the question has crept in like that side character you don't notice but who changes the entire course of the story:

will I be a disciple of Jesus?

This book release week has been one of the craziest and most blessed weeks ever where that question was closely personal. Read on to discover what release week looked like for this girl, + may it encourage you to be a disciple of Jesus deeper.








When this author anticipates release week, there's a few ideas that come to mind.

giveaways • signups for people to share on release day • social media posts • last minute things that drive me crazy ;) • lots of prayer • and then the bittersweet emotions of releasing a book that's been intimately mine for so long but now is vulnerable for the entire world to explore

But this week has been so different.
I felt God calling me to hand away the busyness and step out in faith.
So no signups. No giveaways. Instead, this week was an adventure.
Through a series of events, I found myself facing an adventure that terrified me and was too hard, but I said "yes" anyway and left the results to Him.
It ended up with me being in a hotel in a big city alone during the days with a half-week of strangers, traffic, and so many buildings... and I didn't know what God would do.
(hard for this planner, no-surprises, introvert, county girl)   ;)

And God did incredible things.

He supplied all I needed for my book release in moments of sweet quiet. With cool air pulsing the shimmery curtains and wall hangings that sweetly matched the book covers, I finalized the novel, snapped pictures, and curled on the couch with Jesus to write out snippets of the heart behind the story.
But book release week challenged me to be a disciple of Jesus myself.
I got to meet my hotel cleaning lady who spoke only Spanish and do my best to love her with my limited language. When we left, God prompted me to write her a Google-translated thank you note and shared how Jesus changes lives, and she gave me hugs.

God answered a dream (I seriously always wanted to do this!) to go to a restaurant alone and sit with a lady I’d never met, enjoy a meal and conversation together, and give her a Gospel tract.
He gave me an opportunity to share how following Jesus has transformed my life with a beautiful Muslim girl from UAE.
There was a woman in the mall who got to share her testimony with me. My sister who was on a work trip had multiple Gospel opportunities, and we gave out Gospel tracts, and there was so much more God did!
And then there were days farmsitting for a friend where I explored with my siblings, made memories, dropped in on friends randomly, and even though I couldn't wait for home, He made it fruitfully beautiful (hence, the pictures for this post).
I look back on those days and can declare, I was on mission for Jesus, and He was glorified in that.
Not that I wasn't scared or had all the right words. And thinking of doing that again is scary too. He simply was strong in the midst of my weaknesses.
I just followed Jesus. It turned out beautiful.






I share all this to say, you can be a disciple.
If you're home away with littles. If you're in the thick of the mission with missiles whizzing past your head.
He asks us to follow Him.
I'm just an ordinary girl with the Holy Spirit inside me, which changes everything. And if you have that relationship with our God on His throne in the heavens, you can be a disciple too.
Not that I was strong or capable (I was terrified).
We can be disciples today.
There's a theme verse of The Way of the King that graces the pages before the story begins:

And (Jesus) said to him, “Follow Me.”

Matthew 9:9

During book release week, this is what it looked like for me.

And my characters--Kadira, Rekém, and Othniel--have to decide if they'll follow their King.

The novel releases tomorrow (!), and you can preorder Kindle to read it right at midnight! *wink* 

...so that through patient endurance and through the exhortation of the Scriptures, we may have hope. Now may the God who enables you to endure and who exhorts and strengthens you...

Romans 15:4-5

 

~♥~

How God being our Father Changes Everything

 

Recently, in preparation for The Way of the King's release, I went back and explored the prequel, and in the last pages, I found a hidden gem that's strangely exactly the same as one in the new book.

I thought to take it out. To edit it. To make sure the heart of the story wasn't repetitive.

But I couldn't.

Because the phrase is a singular key that brings

so

much

hope.

It's one of my favorite parts about this two-part series.

It reveals the Father-ness of our God in the Heavens. And that simple fact changes everything.

In this new book, the enemy is on the rise, and the entire Kingdom is falling prey to his schemes. Life for the faithful is desperate. They have two options: flee to the furthest reaches of the Kingdom to possibly hide out the war until it eventually would find them and squeeze out all life... or face it head on and watch their children and families be slaughtered one by one.

The treacherous Prince mocks, talking of the King,

"You've allowed this Kingdom to suffer for hundreds of years, let your children die, and you watched, uncaring. Your people hate you."

Sometimes I feel this ache in the world today.

Jesus feels so far away. The world gets dark, our bodies hurt with the pain of sin and death, we see people we love die, there's tears and fear and horrible things.

My heart cries out,

Jesus, when will You return?

I miss You.

Because I do.

The pain was in the first book too, when Kadira stood up to her adopted father, brokenness on every side.

I raised my stiff jaw toward Father's face. "You already did. You left me that day in the desert. You turned around and left without saying goodbye." My voice rose to a shrill cry. "Why is this any different?"

His answer makes this heart break:

Tears lingered in his eyes. "My child," he said, "that was the hardest thing I ever did."

That was the hardest thing I ever did.

Oh, soul that's hurting and broken! Oh heart that's sliced by knives this evil world slashed! You have a Father, and He hurts for you!

Sometimes the waiting is so hard.

Sometimes the pain hurts, and we want to give up.

Sometimes the battle looks lost, and the lies surrounding us scream so loud we can't hear anything else.

Why does He wait? Why doesn't He do something?

But as I read Hosea, I see the picture of a loving Father who is yearning passionately for His children and hurts right along with their pain. It's a Father who must allow punishment for wicked deeds, but I wonder if it's harder for the children or for Him?

"When Israel was a child, I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called my son...

So they went from them;
They sacrificed to the Baals...

I taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by their arms...

I drew them with gentle cords,
With bands of love,
And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
I stooped and fed them...

How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?

... My heart churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.

Hosea 11

This is a heartfelt message from God to His people, Israel. After He delivered them incredibly from Egypt, they were unfaithful, and here He painfully recounts His love to his straying children and the hardness of punishing them when He truly wants to gather them up like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Luke 13:34).

He was their Father. He hated the pain. And one day, He will rescue His children.

And whatever you're facing today, you have a God to call Father.

Yes, there's trials. But joy - He even allows those trials to produce perseverance, character, and hope, and the lovely thing is that HOPE isn't in some far-off dream but in a concrete reality He promises that WILL come to pass.

Jesus will come back.

He will restore this broken world to something beautiful and Eden-like.

He will give us resurrection bodies of glory.

No more pain.

Tears.

Loneliness.

Fear.

Sin.

Death.

All that will be removed with this earth's curse because God will win and defeat the enemy once and for all.

But right now, He painfully waits, knowing we hurt. And He bids us believe.

That's what The Way of the King is about. It's about keeping the loyalty in the darkest of days. It's about holding onto Hope. It's about the King being worthy.

((the book releases in SIX DAYS! Preorder here!))

And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

~♥~

 

Meet the Character on the Book Cover

 

The Way of the King releases in 11 DAYS, and today I get to introduce you to the character on the cover--a man who's a warrior who doesn't know he can fight, a musician who lost his music, and a once-boy who forgot he has permission to dream and that laying his life down for the King's dreams can change the course of the Kingdom.

Meet Othniel.

As I reread The Torch Keepers after so many years, I got to be introduced again to little Othniel.
In a barren desert with arid heat and blasts from sandstorms, a little city rises up, and in the very center is what Oth's heart loves best: the dancehall.
Marbled floors and ceilings with skylights adorn the hall, and tapestries of woven colors tell stories of the Kingdom. But he always finds himself running with eager legs to the elevated dais where instruments wait. Even with child fingers, the upcoming protégé tunes woodwinds, polishes their glossy sides, and makes the laude-chorda fill the room with music that stirs hearts. In hours, the city will rejoice in the new year celebration with feasting and dancing, and Oth gets to make music as they worship the King.
The celebration never happens.
Enemies besiege the city. Death ensues. 
And as The Torch Keepers ends, we never hear from Othniel again. This story seems lost.
But it's only the beginning.

As The Way of the King opens more than a decade later, you get to meet the man on the cover.

Oth's broken--a one-armed man with a broken past who gave up music forever and rejected the King.

After years of pain and suffering, he banded together with wanderers who established their own fortress deep in the western mountains, carving out an intricate network of cave tunnels to be their place of safety.

He's a leader. He's strong. He has an army beneath him but gets to enjoy life with fellow citizens as they build an owlery in the caves and celebrate their freedom.

But his half-arm reminds him of the past. Any hint of music makes his body freeze in fear, and he becomes a runner, pacing through a western world edged with smoking volcanoes, because he lost his purpose for the King who seemingly took so much from him.

That's the man you get to meet in The Way of the King.

"His stories are beautiful, even if they're hard." (Kadira) laughed, then looked at me, quiet. "Would you tell me your story, Oth?" ...

I pulled away... "Not all stories," I whispered. "They're not all beautiful."

The memories. Fire. Explosion. Someone screaming, thrusting away, and burning pain in my arm. Darkness.

Kadira grabbed my hand, and her eyes were fiery. "Oth," she said, "only without the King they're not. But he can change that."

Writing Oth's part of the story was a lovely part of the book-writing process... but it was hard.

I sat with fingers itching to write, to be faithful in this calling God gave me... but I didn't know his story.

The book follows three characters, and Kadira's was easy. Her tale has been growing and begging to be written for years. But Oth and Rekem's came slowly, from hours of pressing forward and leaning into God.

In Oth's, I got to experience cave life, weave loose ends of The Torch Keepers from his past (it makes reading the first book even more fun!!), and write about someone with an amputation and how much value and purpose his life had, how the King could bring so much good out of what he'd lost, and that even with part of his body missing, Oth was completely loved and utterly desired for the King's grand purposes. He was a warrior.

Sometimes writing looked like me stumbling to remember which arm was his full arm (left or right?) and being shocked at the amazingness and ingenuity of people who live with that every day.

And I believe more than ever:

every person is called to be a warrior for our King.

every person is beckoned to surrender themselves to a purpose He has that's grander than what they could ever envision.

And He gives us everything we need.

Our decision:

will we trust?

I rejoice because God promises a Day when He will return and bring restoration to broken bodies... from food allergies to sicknesses and even restoring missing limbs and opening the eyes of the blind!

And today, we're called to keep the loyalty. He is worth it, and the battle will be won.

Othniel had to decide for himself if the King was worth it, and his story is a heart-felt one of suffering, humility, and heroism (and it's amazing, and you should totally read it XD).

The Way of the King will be released August 1, but preorder on Kindle just opened! Click here!

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the dumb sing.
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
And streams in the desert.

Isaiah 35:5-6

~♥~

Ready for a Brand-new Book Cover?

 

Once upon a time, I woke up with God pouring out story ideas, and I couldn't argue that I was too busy working on another book, because it was so clear that this was Him.

A year and a half later, the first book was published, but it was only the start. Because there was a continuation, a satisfying, beautifully urgent, and war-cry ending that was yet to be written.

Every step of the way was a fight to be loyal to Jesus:

There was editing that was overwhelming and beyond me.

There were days I had no creativity but sat down to write as an act of worship anyway.

There were moments of formatting that seemed endless and minute as I cried out to God.

But I type here to declare that God is faithful. This story is beautifully beyond me, and I'm humbled that He chose me for His work and said, "this story is for her, and I will give her all she needs to complete it."

((And I cannot wait for you to read it, eep!!!))

So today, I'm celebrating by sharing the never-before-seen cover of The Way of the King: a fantasy, allegory novel (AND a giveaway)!

Are you ready?!?!?!?!?

The Way of the King

.

.

.

(coming August 1, 2023)

.

.

.

designed by the lovely Megan McCullough...

.

.

.

 presents

.

.

.

about the book


As the Kingdom of Érkeos collapses in revolution, three unlikely heroes must keep the loyalty through the darkest of days.

Three months after The Torch Keepers ends, Kadira, a warrior-defector from the Prince’s Liberation army, flees into the mountains as a big sister to a family of orphans. Her eyes mark her as a Torch Keeper for the King, an enemy to the Prince.

Behind her, Rekém rises to power over the city that was once the children’s home. As the Prince’s brother, he is forced to become a leader yet is drawn to humble hunting trips where he remembers dreams he once had. In mountain forests, Rekém discovers dangerous secrets he can’t escape from.

And deep in the throngs of cave tunnels, a musician missing half his arm builds his own fortress, not knowing that two armies close in. When the sides collide, the heroes must decide if the one they follow is truly worthy of every sacrifice. It seems the future of Érkeos is in the hands of a King who's never been seen.








And to celebrate...


a giveaway!

a beautiful, ceramic mug (that just matches the books *giggles*)

organic hibiscus berry tea

+ coconut water & mimosa flower bath bombs (that smell so good that I use them as air fresheners!)

Enter by dropping a comment below! Share what you're most excited for about this book or send to a friend!


God is so good and faithful and worthy of following, and He fills life with celebrations to praise Him in! So let's do it. ;)

Now to the One who is able to keep you from faltering beyond recovery and to bring you before His glorious presence without blemish and with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus the Messiah our Lord, be glory, majesty, supremacy, and authority, before all ages and now and forever into all the ages. Amen.

Jude 1:24-25 

~♥~