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In this blog post I am talking about some of the characters in my books who have found joy. As I’m currently writing mainly for young children and young adults, I am going to reference characters from these genres in my fiction who have found joy.
However, I cannot resist also mentioning the fictitious angel in my adult novel, Headlines in Heaven, who not only finds joy, but whose job as a reporter of Jesus’ miracles on earth results in a host of angels celebrating in great style as they celebrate the power and love of the Son of God as He moves amongst mankind in this world.
But first, let's talk about the characters in my stories for young children who have found joy, sometimes completely unexpectedly.
In my story for young children, The Biggest Blessing, Julia is finding it extremely difficult to share her most precious possession, Angelina, her beautiful toy angel who sleeps on the table next to her bed each night.
God keeps prompting her to share Angelina, but Julia tries all sorts of avoidance tactics. She even tries to take a most unloved rag doll from the bottom of her toy box to school instead, which she intends to give to Sally – but unfortunately for her, her plans don’t succeed. When Julia finally does share her beloved Angelina, she receives a blessing far beyond anything that she could have imagined. So in the end, both characters in the story experience the feeling of great joy.
In Trees Full of Treasure, the two girls in the story feel great joy as they discover priceless treasures on their exciting, adventurous treasure hunt, treasures they would never have dreamed of, and certainly hadn’t expected to find. This is a wonderful gift for Christmas, as it prompts young readers to think about real treasure and the true meaning of Christmas.
Then in my picture book for slightly older children, Modern Manna (which I have spoken of before in somewhat different context like in the blog post "The Link Between Guidance And My Own Writing"), Michael experiences great joy when he discovers that God does indeed work modern miracles through the generosity of His people.
In the story ‘The Burden Carriers’ from my anthology Explorations, Pearl and Blessing, the music-making refugees, inspire Zoe so much that she invites them to come and play to her friends at school during their class break. Pearl and Blessing are always willing, and they comply with big smiles on their faces. Their ‘joy-making’ act results in unexpected consequences for them, and when Zoe’s teacher hears about these refugees, we discover that their lives are about to get a whole lot better.
And then there’s ‘Dumisani, the Joy-Maker' from the story in Tapestries, who is so concerned about all her friends. For different reasons, they are all going through really tough times and she wants to try and make a real difference in their lives. What if she can get them all to praise God, more specifically, to praise Jesus? But how on earth can she do that?
Her brain is firing on all cylinders and she comes up with a plan which she executes to the best of her ability. She sets about to make each of them a ‘musical instrument’ – a ‘drum’, a ‘triangle’, a ‘cymbal’. These are clearly very rudimentary, home-made instruments which she has strung together with whatever she happened to have in her house, but the result is extraordinary. Soon, her friends who were all so miserable, are singing and ‘playing’ to their hearts’ content, following Dumisani’s lead as she praises the Lord. Dumisani, the ‘joy-maker’ indeed!
And while we are looking at characters in my books who have found joy, let us not forget the fictitious angle whom I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. Raphael is tasked with leaving his exalted place in heaven to become a ‘Reporter’ for The Heavenly Chronicle, the angelic scroll which records events on earth. His mission is to follow Jesus around the earth and record all the significant events in His life, which he does with great diligence.
It is the repercussions from his new ‘job’ that I want to mention in this blog - the great joy that Raphael experiences from all his work. The resulting great celebrations in the heavenly realms are like none other on the earth.
I would like to end this blog with a short passage from Headlines in Heaven to give a glimpse of this massed joy of all the angels.
Here is the extract, I hope you enjoy it: (From p. 102)
"Before the last trumpet sound had even blared out the good news across the heavens or the last wispy letter had been written in the clouds, the members of the heavenly orchestra had already started tuning their instruments. Thousands upon thousands of violinists were massing to the huge amphitheatre where, apart from the ones in the throne room itself, the most significant celebrations were observed. The trumpeters, players of brass instruments and percussionists had already arrived and the harpists, who had a permanent enclave at the entrance to the auditorium, were melodiously plucking their strings, creating uplifting but rather soothing music as a prelude to the grander sounds that would soon be echoing across the skies. The choirs flew in last of all, excitedly chattering as they took their places on the stands, obviously thrilled to be singing out the praises of the Son of God. The creators of the worshipful lyrics for these occasions had speedily composed a new song, specifically to honour Jesus’ miracle of changing so much ordinary water into so much fine wine, and to proclaim the significance of the event to every single angel who formed part of the heavenly host."
by Gillian Leggat
Headlines in Heaven (like all my other books) can be ordered directly from me right here in my website. This book has been remaindered, in other words, it is no longer being published, but I still have about fifty copies leftover which I would love to see find their way into the homes of some of my readers.