Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller

The name of my second book, Beauty Redeemed, shows a little bit of what this story is about: Redemption. Redemption is defined as a “buying back” of someone or something that was previously sold. It is often associated with things that were indebted to someone and unable to buy themselves out of that debt which is why it is such a powerful theme in Christian circles. Beauty Redeemed deals a lot with the idea of redemption and throughout the story you will see different elements that correlate with our redemption as believers. It deals with the battle between Light and Dark especially and how not everyone who is born light is without darkness and not everyone who is trapped in darkness is without the opportunity to become a child of light. 

This story was a very interesting one for me and like my first book, it was a very personal story for me to write. Our world and everyone and everything in it was designed to be beautiful and God made everything good. Selfish desire changed all that and caused our perfect, beautiful world to be plunged into twisted darkness. We could no longer have access to the perfect beauty and relationship with which we were first designed because from the first moment mankind fell, darkness entered everyone’s heart and separated us from the holy and perfect Creator that had made us. If you’ve read or followed any of my books, you’ll know that The Solstice Chronicles were written with the foundation of God, Christ, the Bible and elements of faith woven into the fabric of a fairytale world. I’ve mentioned before that I have a God character-The Great Mage, a Christ character-The Mage’s Son/Melchizidai, a Satan character-Luscian, and have hints to a Holy Spirit character in my third and fourth books. My hope was to put these elements and truths into the backdrop of a fairytale world as a way to show the Christian faith in a way that is relatable to believers but also as a way to provide a picture of things like God and Christ and different truths in a way for non-believers to understand the basics of the Christian faith and hopefully give them a glimpse of God and Christ within the pages.

Like God, The Great Mage created the realms that make up the world of The Solstice Chronicles. Luscian was a beautiful creature who desired to be greater and more powerful than The Great Mage, which led to his own fall and demise. He now has an unsatiable desire to destroy the Beauty and Light of the realms. My second book, Beauty Redeemed, is the first book that really incorporates Luscian into the storyline. You really see his desire to overcome the light in the realms with his darkness in this one. Those of you who have read my first book, Beauty Restored, may remember the Prologue where Luscian is interacting with different colored orbs in the Mage’s realm. He sees a pink and yellow colored orb that is especially intriguing to him. He sees the beauty within the orb but also sees a bent towards darkness within the orb. This orb is the main character of Beauty Redeemed, Julianna. 

Julianna is the Princess of Light. Her brother Gabriel is one of the main characters in the first book, Beauty Restored. Her parents, King Godric and Queen Osanna, rule the Spring realm. The Spring realm is known as the realm of Light and is closely connected to the Mage and his Son, showing people/churches that have a close relationship with God. Even though the Spring realm is the realm of Light, it is not without its spots of darkness. In creating the Spring realm, I wanted to show some of the flaws in the church where sometimes the church, and even the Pharisees and religious leaders that were around during Jesus’ time on earth, can appear pious and holy and close to God, but really, they are not as close as they appear to be. A lot of times the church can be very judgmental or condemning to those they consider to be sinners or unworthy to be saved and tout those trapped in sin and darkness as “dirty” or unsavable, which is the complete opposite of how God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit really see the world. Beauty Redeemed kind of peels back the curtain on this point and shows that everyone has light and dark within them and it is up to each person to decide which realm they want to dwell in for eternity. We can not become fully redeemed children of light on our own, however. It takes the redeeming blood of sacrifice and love to redeem our lives from the realm of darkness and be transferred to the kingdom of light.

Julianna struggles with darkness in her life and she always has. She feels the pressures of being a Princess of Light and being expected to be perfect and a child of light and feels unworthy and afraid to reveal the secret darkness that has been her constant companion throughout her life. The hold of darkness is becoming stronger and it is becoming harder and harder to avoid its grip and not give into it. As I mentioned, this story is a very personal one for me like a lot of Beauty Restored was. I have struggled with my own personal darkness or secret sins that have often made me feel ashamed or unworthy and being a Christian in a Christian home and Christian church, you often feel like you can’t share that part of yourself with others because you’re afraid of what they will say or how they will judge you for those sins or thoughts or desires, so you keep them hidden. You feel like you are living a double life—the life you live on Sundays or in public, and the life you live behind closed doors. You know it’s wrong, but the draw to darkness and unfulfilled desires to be fulfilled and finding a place of acceptance and pleasure can quickly overcome your knowledge of the right thing to do. I know I am not the only one who struggles with personal demons and I wrote Beauty Redeemed to reach those who struggle with their own demons and secret sins and draws to darkness.

On the flip side, Darien, the other main character of Beauty Redeemed, was raised in the realm of darkness and even has very close ties to the Lord of Darkness. He has always longed for light and beauty in a world outside the realm of darkness, but because of his connection to darkness, he doesn’t believe he can ever live a life outside of that. I know many people who have felt this way about themselves too and it breaks my heart when we as the church isolate and push away those people who are desperately longing for light and redemption and hope but we view as unsavable and remove their option of hope and redemption. EVERYONE has the same access to light and dark. EVERYONE is born with darkness(sin) in them and EVERYONE needs redemption. Darien has a beautiful redemption story in this book that I’ll talk about more in another post, but that is the foundation of Beauty Redeemed. 

We are all born with darkness. We are all estranged from the kingdom of light. We can dwell in the realm of light and still not be children of light. All have the chance to be saved. All have the chance to be redeemed. All have to make the choice for themselves. The price for life is one we can not pay on our own. Christ, the perfect, holy, Creator God, stepped into the earth as a man who lived his life without sin and as an example of how we are to live our lives, and gave his life on the cross as payment for our lives. His blood covers our sins and redeems us from the grips of death and Hell. His love shows us that everyone is worthy and lovable and is loved by Him. His love for each and every person in this earth made Him continue on with the sacrifice. He didn’t deserve that death, but He endured it so our relationship with God and Him could be restored. Unlike other gods and beings who are man-made, lifeless idols of stone or metal, Jesus didn’t remain dead. He rose from the dead, conquering and overcoming death and creating a way for people to live a life of eternal life with Him in His realm. We all have the choice to accept His redemption or reject it. Whichever we choose will determine which realm we live in for eternity. 

You are not unforgivable. You are not unredeemable. You are not too lost or too far gone. Jesus loves you more than you could ever imagine and gave His life that you might live. You can become a child of light. No amount of darkness in this earth can keep you from the realm of light.