Thank you for joining me this week as we build up to the release of my second book! It has been a journey writing these books over the last few years and though this is officially my second book and I know more of what to expect this time, it has been different in it’s own way and has left me with it’s own challenges.
The seeds of these stories were planted in my mind and heart a few years ago and I’m so grateful to be used in this way. I never actually imagined I’d be writing full stories let alone becoming a published author but it has been an incredible journey along the way. My first book, Beauty Restored, takes place in the winter realm where the kingdom is eternally trapped in a realm of cold winter and ruled by the cold-hearted Snow Queen. The main character Erianna was cursed as a small child and was banished from her kingdom and her family because of it. She spends most of her life on her own and views herself as unworthy and unable to be loved because of her curse and her mother’s actions against it. She longs to find a way to break the curse so she can return to her family and her beloved sister and she no longer wants to keep turning into the repulsive monster she was cursed to become.
In writing this story, and the others in this series, I wanted to bring elements of Christ and my faith and personal journey to life and portray it in a way that would hopefully reach others and encourage them or offer them hope to know they aren’t the only ones who struggle with certain things or fall. In Erianna, I put elements of myself in her story and it was hard to write her character at times. I also included a God character in the Great Mage and a brief look at my Satan character, Luscian, in the prologue of my first book(you’ll hear more about him in my second book 😉). I also incorporated a Christ character in the Mage’s Son and wanted to try to show his presence and knowledge in and of our lives, even when we can’t see it or feel it. The winter realm was meant to be a realm that had been a long time without the presence of the Mage and his son and a land that once knew of the Mage but was now desolate and cold without him, much like some people and places in our own world.
Towards the end of my first book, I have this scene where Erianna is desperate to get to her sister and save her but is also worried about the prince from the spring realm who had been shot with a poisonous arrow and was not doing well. In all her efforts to get to her sister and save her, her curse keeps taking a deeper hold on her and she is literally stopped from saving her sister and prevented from doing it in her own strength. She is completely exhausted and spent and overwhelmed by the fact that she can’t save her sister and for the first time in her life, she is helpless. Then she meets the Mage’s son in the woods. He leads her to a hidden cathedral in the woods where she is forced to look at herself and admit what she sees when she looks at herself and then has her sight corrected when the Mage’s son tells her what he sees. He heals the marks on her skin and she is finally able to find her sister and save her, but only through the help of the Mage’s son.
This scene is a special one for me because I have felt that way so many times in my life. I’m going along trying to make things work and do things on my own, but sometimes I have to be taken to a point where I honestly can’t do things on my own anymore. I try and I try to keep going but I can’t and literally every part of me that is helpful is taken away–my strength, my health, my mental ability to do anything. Everything and everyone that was a distraction from my walk with Christ was ripped away and even if what I was trying to accomplish was good in itself, I was prevented from reaching that goal or finding that place or helping that person because God is trying to tell me to stop trying to do everything on my own and to look at Him and let Him be in control. And, the moment I let it all go and put it back in His hands, suddenly everything is able to carry on and move forward the way it was supposed to.
I share this story because I was reminded of that scene this past week as I was getting ready for the release of my second book and being reminded that sometimes we need to have that moment of brokenness and helplessness in the woods so we can remember who and what we are doing all of this for. Sometimes we need to have that encounter with Jesus in the woods to be reminded of what He sees in us and that He is still in control and wanting to help us and heal us but we have to get out of our own ways to see that. And, sometimes He has to force us to stop and face that.
That is my heart behind my first book and if you haven’t read it yet, I hope you will. Even if you don’t, my prayer is always that you would find the beauty that is within you and be reminded of the beauty and purpose with which God created you.
You can find my first book on my publisher’s website or on Amazon, or most online stores. If you would like a signed copy of my first book, you can buy it directly from me through this secure payment link
https://buy.stripe.com/6oE5kqa8L8Km0I8eV0
Liferich Publishing
Beauty Restored By Ashley Beach
https://www.liferichpublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/817481-Beauty-Restored
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9781489730107&ref=nb_sb_noss
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 