Music Album Release || Man in White

 

Hello Friend,

Happy last day of summer! *hugs*

I'm popping on here today to share a new favorite music album that was just released! *claps*

// MAN IN WHITE //

If you're wanting music to start the fall focused on Jesus, on looking forward to our future Hope, on the awesomeness of our God, and the Kingdom He is creating, this is for you.

((and epic instruments and vocals and all the feels too))

I've been so enjoying the songs by Faith Warrior Films! They encourage me to dream - to look forward to Jesus' return and be found faithful as we wait, longing.

I hope it brightens your start to fall and reminds you of the Hope we live for!

Scroll down for beautiful lyrics, then click the album cover to listen for yourself!

Majestic in all Your ways,

The brightness of Your own expression

Coming in the clouds (with glory and power)

But right now You are sitting on Your throne (beside your Father)

Waiting for Your time

Yeah you are waiting for Your time

In this age of darkness, the light that we can see

Is Your coming and Your Kingdom, we wait for patiently

When every sinful action and every evil scheme

Is shattered and broken before the King of kings

And oh, we long for You, long for You

Man in white, You are royalty, royalty

Man in white, I give my loyalty, loyalty

Man in white, You are coming soon, coming soon

Man in white, I live my life for you, life for you

// Your turn! What songs have been pointing you to Jesus? And Happy Fall! How are you celebrating? How are you hoping to spend this new season for the coming Kingdom?

Let's chat below!

...they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

- Revelations 3:4-5

 

~♥~

The Torch Keepers || the Home

 

((giveaway winners announced below!))

"My child." He blinked several times, and his eyes glistened. "I have come to take you home."

"Home?" My shoulders fell, and I felt the heat of the scar that stained my skin. If only I could hide it, could keep him from seeing the twisted mark.

He pushed back the hair hanging around my face. "Come, child. I have searched the kingdom these years and found you. Come home with me..." 

My lips quivered. "I don't want to go back..."

Father didn't speak. His fingers squeezed my hand tighter. 

I spat out the words. "I have purpose here. I have friends. I won't live under the King's overruling ways that limit me to be nice and good like everyone else. Sometimes we're not perfect!"

"My child, I never asked you to be."

I jerked away from him. Inhaling, I caught myself from stumbling backwards, forced my face to hold together.

"I don't ask you to be perfect." The light reflecting on his face burned mine as his eyes searched deep. His voice lowered to a whisper like a breeze through the mountain trees--the trees I missed. "I ask you to come home."

// chapter 23

 

The Bible is all about Home, and I love that! It begins in a garden home, and when that reality is ruined by human mistakes, He promises a forever Home to His people, Israel. (Gen. 12)

They enter their land, leave, enter, leave. Sometimes, when they're in that chosen land, there are invaders that dictate their lives. Other times, they're dragged away into foreign lands, their nation destroyed. And it's because of their unfaithfulness, their willful hearts.

Yet God's promise remains.

Home.

A physical place where we can be free. Where we can curl up with a blanket and sit in quiet with people we love. Where we can be safe and laugh free and dance or sing sometimes too.

But the best: Home is where our Father is.

The One who loves us forever. Who knows all of us. Who can't wait to hold us and be near us and live with us.

That's home.

I invite you to imagine. Picture your dream house.

Mine would a cabin in a forest glen with wildflowers all around and a creek that you can hear every night as you go to sleep. There'd be a porch with a swing to watch the sky and clouds and fireflies. And inside, I imagine a fireplace and cozy rug.

But I write fantasy, so I have other dreams too. Maybe I could have a huge oak growing in my house, the trunk part of my wall, and there'd be a stream inside too and bunnies that could slip in and out of the house, cuddle at my feet. We could sleep in hammocks and climb trees and ride horses and write stories and have parties and be with Jesus.

The New Earth, that Home Jesus is making for us, it's so much grander than even my dreams. But hey, I'll keep dreaming! Keep imagining. Keep living for that Kingdom and the Father who invites me there.

Not because I'm more faithful or less willful than Israel. My heart mirrors their story. I need a Helper.

And yet, there's this Savior who arose out of Israel to save His people, and He adopts us into that family.

So I embrace what He has done. And I dream of Home, when Israel is restored on that New Earth, and we can be with God, loved.

That's why the story excerpt is one of my favorites! And I challenge you, like Kadira, come home.

Come to the Father's heart. Be with Him. Give yourself to Him.

And let Him take you Home.

Did you know Kadira's name wasn't originally going to be... Kadira?

Yup. In the first short story, she was named Elkira. (ahh, isn't it beautiful?!)

Then readers told me how they remembered her name. "It sounds like Erika!" One said.

Problem: that was not the feel I was going for in a fantastical world of Torch Keepers and flame-wings and armies clashing, loyalties undecided. Erika? Not exactly. Much too modern.

So Kadira was renamed, and I've loved her name ever since. And if you read her story, you'll find out she has another name-change in the text. But that's for you to discover. *wink*

And I'm especially excited if you were one of the winners of the giveaway!

I was thrilled to have a giveaway on here and on my Instagram last week! And now for the winners!

first place:

 

                        // Rebekah A 

 

second, third, and forth place:

                        // Anita S 

                        // Caroline R

                        // Grace L

Horray!! If you were selected, I'll be contacting you soon about how to claim your prize. Thanks to everyone who celebrated The Torch Keepers' second birthday celebration! May we both live for our Home and the Father who draws us near. *hugs*

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God."

- Revelation 21:3

~♥~

The Torch Keepers || the Father

 

"I--." That burning feeling came into my neck. I swallowed, and tears mixed with the rain. "I miss my daddy."

He rose and pressed me close. "I know. The King gave you a daddy for an important reason." Our gazes joined. "But now he's gone." Father let my feet touch the ground, and he knelt, taking my palm in his. Water trailed down his cheeks into his beard as he kissed the back of my hand. "My child, will you let me take his place?"

I inhaled quickly.

"And until the day when the King brings you and your daddy together again, can I hold you when you cry? Can I dance with you and know your secrets and share my home with you? My child," he said, "I love you."

I cried and let him hug me again. Father took me inside where we curled cross-legged before the fire and drank something warm that made steam in the air. And there, hiding on his lap with his finger caressing my hair, I nodded.

 

// chapter 9

 

Something I love about God is that He is a Father.

This almighty God, the Creator, the Sustainer, the One who makes the morning rise every morning without fail for thousands of years, who set the stars in their spinning formations like an unending top, who is the ultimate Judge of the world - somehow, I've been adopted into His family, and He calls me child.

Ooph.

And I'm just like Kadira.

I'm a normal person.

If you got to know me, you'd find out my quirks and weaknesses. I don't like being in big spaces. I stumble over my words, my hair randomly foofs, I'm so selfish inside, and sometimes, life just makes me scared. And I've messed up a lot.

I feel like Kadira: unworthy, broken, and I make a lot of mistakes.

Then, there's this Father. And He changes everything.

Not only does He create a home for us. He commands our hearts to keep beating right now, our blood to keep flowing. He writes life stories, sees the people we were created to be. He gives dreams and talents and excitements.

This Father delights in us. He wants to know us. And when we messed everything up with our own mistakes that separated us from Him, He made a way for us to be reunited with Himself because He made us to be with Him.

That's a life worth living.

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

- John 17:3

He is good and does good.

That's my prayer for The Torch Keepers and the character of Father. May they remind you of the love - in the justness and truth and mercy - of our Father. May it encourage you to sit and get to know Him. To be with Him.

I've always loved the character of Father in the novel. Writing his story was hard, unique, yet beautiful, because it made me ask, what is the Father's heart? What would He do in this situation?

The fictional Father blessed me because it helped me know my Heavenly Father's heart a little deeper.

And I challenge you to be still and get to know your Father. To sing or walk or read or talk with Him and just let your heart be open and vulnerable. Let Him change you, convict you. Curl up, like Kadira, on your Father's lap, drink something warm and steamy and autumn-ish, and give Him permission to know you in your strengths and talents and humanness and quirks and weaknesses.

You have a Father.

And He invites you to be with Him.

Dearest Father

Closest Friend

Most beautiful

One thing I desire

Only this I seek

Just to dwell, dwell, dwell

Here forever

- Most Beautiful / So In Love 

 

// Almost every character in The Torch Keepers has a theme song that represents their character! But after this novel was completed, I realized the book itself has a theme song too.

Can you guess it? If you get it right, you definitely get an award for the most astute reader. *wink* Well, actually, it's not too hard of a guess. 

Hint: think themes of Fatherhood

What's your guess? Okay, okay. Here's the song:

The Torch Keepers' theme song //

(psst) I hope you've been encouraged by these bookish-themed posts! If you want to win your own copy of The Torch Keepers, click here to enter a giveaway! It's ending soon!

May this mid-week be blessed and may His face shine upon you; what joy!

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

- Matthew 6:9

~♥~

The Torch Keepers || the Presence

 

Hello Friend, and happy beginning of the weekend! *hugs*

I'm here with a continuation of the celebration of The Torch Keepers turning two years old! I hope you enjoy the fun post with an excerpt from the novel, a fun fact, and more.

And you can still enter the giveaway here!

Let's read part of Rekém's story. =)

 

My knees buried in the ground as I knelt before the flaming tower that separated me from the paradise the King had created. This fire that banished my ancestors from the Oasis when they made a simple mistake.

But I knelt mostly because of the Presence that fell upon me like heavy dew. There was something deeper, a treasure I could feel with the air that brushed the wall of fire. It was a faint scent on the wind, like when I used to run home from the Sea to smell my papa cooking sweet pastries over the fire, just for me. But now, my mouth didn't water. My whole body did. It tightened, squeezed, burned.

Here was something I had searched for so long. In the stillness of this quiet place, there was peace. Harmony.

Peace that ruffled the leaves and needles of the trees. Peace that made the flowers grow. Peace that gave the riverheads their coolness, the sky its intense yet gentle blue color, and my body a strange yet calming quietness.

Peace.

Maybe that was what was wrong. Living in Érkeos, we twisted what was beautiful in the Oasis and turned it into an ugly mess. Our lives were broken, shattered. But we only pressed forward for more, worked for more, when what we really needed was right here: to be still and know. To know, to find this lost harmony.

But how did one find what we lost?

 

// chapter 28

Do you ever feel like that?

I do.

Sometimes, I thirst so much. It's like I know there's something more in life, and I have that urge, that desire, my whole body watering for a drop of that Presence.

And we work so hard for it. We do so many things. We accomplish. We strive. But it's not enough.

I think of my little sister this morning. She beams at me, smoothing her shirt, and points out how she is wearing my favorite outfit of hers to make me happy. I smile, tell her how pretty she is. She dances away.

But the secret: that little act didn't make me love her more. It made me smile, for sure! But I already love my sister fully, and she doesn't have to do anything to earn it. She's stuck with my affection. ;)

Like a favorite verse says,

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."

- Jeremiah 31:3 

Everlasting.

Isn't that beautiful?! It's a love not dependent on time, on us, but it just keeps on going forever. Right in this moment, you are being loved by your Father.

So I sit, read Rekém's story again. And that urge is in me, that desire to know that Presence.

I think it's the longing to walk and talk with our Father like we used to do in Eden.

Before sin came, we had harmony with Him. We could be with Him, completely open, vulnerable, and feel no shame. But the Fall happened. And now we lost that Harmony.

But He re-invites us into it. Our Father in Heaven desires us to curl up in His presence like children, love Him. To know and be knowing Him. To share our secrets, our struggles, our joys freely.

He challenges me:

be still and know. come be with Me. bare yourself, empty yourself, and let Me turn this body into the person I've created you to be. I am making a New Heaven and a New Earth, and I will make you a New Creation who can dwell there with Me.
let go. just worship. know Me.

It's the greatest invitation, the greatest honor: to know Him. And when I sit in His presence, worship, love, even when it's hard and I'm scared and I don't know what tomorrow holds and I feel ugly or unworthy inside, His Presence fills part of me that has somehow been thirsting for so long.

If you're like Rekém, know there is an answer. That longing can be filled. The answer isn't doing more or being more. It's relationship.

Truth: you are loved.

// Rekém's name is the most mis-pronounced name in the entire novel. (why do readers do this to me?!) *covers face*

His name is pronounced: Ra-keem.

Not Re-kem.

It means "torn between." And as you explore his story in The Torch Keepers, you'll see his indecision. His turmoil. He has to choose his side, just like you and I have to. Sometimes, it's the hardest thing we'll ever do.

(But if you've been pronouncing Rekém right, I think you deserve brownie points and a really big hug.) *wink* //

I hope you enjoyed this peek into the story, Friend.

May this weekend be full of praise, and may we walk humbly with our God. ♥

Ho! Everyone who thirsts,

Come to the waters;

...Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Incline your ear, and come to Me.

Hear, and your soul shall live.

 

- Isaiah 55:1-3

~♥~

 

Book Birthday || The Torch Keepers is Two!

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY, FRIENDS!

*all the hugs*

It's been a long time. I've missed the blogging world, I've missed scribbling down new posts with pretty pictures, and I've really missed you.

*releases breath*

But I'm back, here on The Torch Keepers' second birthday (!), and I'm ready to celebrate with you!

For anyone who hasn't read The Torch Keepers, my allegorical fantasy novel, here's a synopsis, and I hope you get to join the fun below and ongoing this week!

 

The King's blue flame quivers as a new fire arises, and Kadira must hold fast to his torch. It's destiny; she's a torch keeper.

A fiery revolution sweeps across the kingdom of Érkeos, and each person must choose a side. Kadira, a girl set apart to serve the King, finds her city engulfed in the Liberation's emerald flames. Her blue eyes mark her as the enemy, and she flees from death. It stalks her anyway. When she meets Rekém, the Liberation warrior sent to kill her, she rebels against the King's ways. Two armies collide; indecision isn't an option. As hearts and lives hang in the balance, Kadira and Rekém could bring destruction or liberation to the entire kingdom.

 // Amazon

// Goodreads

// Barnes and Noble

         how to enter

// comment below (1 entry) 

// leave a book review on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, or elsewhere (bonus entry for each)

// share about the book (bonus entry)

Let me know you did it below, and winners will be announced next week!

Yes - this is actually in the works!!

Starting in June, God put this book back on my heart, and The Torch Keepers sequel has been underway since! The rough draft is around 50% completed, and I hope to slip it to the first Alpha Readers in a few weeks!

What to expect?

This story picks up three months after TTK ends and continues following your favorite characters! You'll find Kadira and her new family wandering the unknown, western mountains as they flee from the Liberation. Rekém rules Palatiel as his brother plans the Kingdom's downfall. And one minor character reenters the story as he creates a network of hidden cave tunnels and unknowingly is one of the key players in the future of Érkeos.

And the King is at work, even as Érkeos gets darker and darker and evil rules the age.

Ahh, I wish you could hear the entire story right now! But I hope to have this story in your hands as soon as possible, with a possible publication date of Autumn 2022. (eep!)

What's the title? It's one of my absolute favorites. But you'll have to wait a bit longer for that release. Sorry. ;)

And there might be a fantastical website for both books one day too. *shrugs* Who knows?

In the meantime, I'd love your prayers for this project! And if you have dreams or hopes for the characters, share below. I'd be glad to hear where you think this story is going! Which character do you want to see more of?

What's left after the giveaway and excitement for a sequel?

Those will be in later posts. =)

You can expect several fun posts coming up this week, including some of my favorite book snippets, random facts about the book, and the heart behind the story!

If you're on Instagram, you can join me there (@Hosanna.Emily) for a Q&A later this week + more!

God used TTK to change me. Even as I write the sequel and move on past this story, when I go back, I'm reminded so much of His faithfulness. He did things in this process that I can't explain in any way except: Jesus did it.

There's a lot of questions in life. Even in this rough draft I'm writing. =) But we have a faithful Father who holds our hand and calls us His own.

If you've messed up like Kadira or seem stuck in the same routine of life and unable to escape like Rekém or if your story is totally different, it doesn't change Him.

Like a favorite song says,

Not a height, or a depth
Not a lie inside my head
Not a fear or offense
Nothing can take me away

Here I am
In the palm of Your hand
Nothing can take me away
Nothing can take me away

 

The Father is seeking you. Right now. And He is making an incredibly beautiful Kingdom for us to live with Him forever, and you can't even use words to describe its wholeness!

That's a reason to celebrate today. =)

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.

- Isaiah 1:18

~♥~