It’s fitting that I’m writing this now, with my window open, listening to the sounds of school starting and autumn creeping closer, because last autumn is when I stumbled into the world of St. Crispian’s for the first time and was forever changed.

My mom came to me in September, insisting that I read a new book series she’d started. “You’ll love it,” she insisted, and shoved her phone at me to listen to the audiobook of Emma M. Lion volume one.

I tried. And I promptly quit the series.

I couldn’t get into it, and I didn’t understand why my mom was raving so much about it. I heard snippets of the other various audiobooks being played around the house as I came and went, and would roll my eyes and carry on, determined to not give in to the pressure around me to read EML.

Without going into too much detail, I witnessed something that fall that left me severely mentally crippled. Looking back, I wouldn’t call it depression, but it was close. I was left floundering around, trying to process things, and make sense of the world around me, all while feeling so alone and hopelessly lost, and going through the most intense anxiety and mental suffering I think I’ve ever faced.

Into this haze blew Emma Lion, with all her witty charm and gritty determination. I picked up the audiobooks again, and was hooked, quite literally.

Emma became my lifeline. What Hawkes’ gift of Treasure Island was to Emma, EML was to me. I clung to her story and blew through all eight volumes in two weeks. I related so much to her struggle with grief, and I grasped onto her own attempts to process life like they were my own. I have a vivid memory of walking into work one day with my volume turned down to one and my phone pressed to my ear like I was on the phone because I was desperate to know what happened next.

As I journeyed through the magic that is volumes 1-8, I laughed. I cried. I kept track of important quotes in my notes app. And I slowly learned how to regain my footing, and remain undaunted.

Perhaps all of this colors my view when I look at Emma, but I’ve noticed a trend among those who read it to focus in solely on the romance, and who they think Emma should marry. If you’ve followed my Substack for any short amount of time, you’ll know that I am firmly team Pierce, and do my own speculations— so, I’m just as much a girly girl as you, and please don’t think I don’t also get giddy at the idea of Emma’s wedding.

For a girl reading these books, the romance is just fun. There are so many amazing single men contained in this year and a few months of Emma’s life, and they all play a significant role in our heroine’s life. It’s healthy to kick your heels and giggle wildly at character chemistry every once in a while, and Emma delivers that in abundance.

BUT. LADIES.

My fear is that we’re getting far too caught up in the romance and what-ifs that we’re missing the bigger message of this story.

Alchemy.

That mythical pursuit that turns disparate elements to gold. (EML vol. 4, page 189, October 31st, 1883)

Emma is drawn to Hawkes, Islington, and Pierce, not because she needs to find a husband. But because of the alchemy that exists between them.

In ancient times, alchemy was the hope of somehow turning everyday objects or things into pure, shining, gold.

For these four, alchemy is four desperate, broken people, all rubbing against each other and turning each other into gold. Making each other better people. Better friends.

It sounds very much like sanctification, does it not?

My mother once told me of a co-worker she had when she was still teaching. This woman had a wedding band made out of solid gold. Gold is a soft element, easily molded, and this ring was made to be lumpy and misshapen. Each time this woman slipped it on, the ring was made smooth a little more each day. And by the time she’d been married for thirty years, the ring would be smooth and perfect, symbolizing the hardships she and her husband had walked through, and yet been refined by, and come out stronger.

I feel like slamming a gavel down because WHAT. A PERFECT. METAPHOR. FOR THE ALCHEMY.

The end of the journal entry I cited above is a record of notes exchanged through the wall between Pierce and Emma. Pierce is unsettled by the idea of a tether, and being bound to three people in some strange alchemy. Emma delivers a line that I think sums it up perfectly.

“You are a full quarter of this fated alchemy. Without you, it doesn’t turn to gold.” (Beth Brower, EML vol. 4, page 191).

They need all four of them to turn into gold. To be refined, to walk out of it stronger, and to face the brighter and better future that is coming.

Alchemy is not some strange, out of reach concept. It’s the concept of four people rubbing against each other, shaping each other, and being irreversibly changed by each other. And that doesn’t have to be romantic.

This is largely why I can’t stand the idea that all three of the alchemy men are madly in love with Emma and spend time with her to pine and yearn after her.

It’s not about romance and falling in love. It’s about the fact that they all need her and are dependent on her, and each other.

It’s not just about Emma.

Because it’s from Emma’s perspective, we get a lot of her thoughts and ideas. It can feel like it’s all about Emma, but that’s mainly because of how Emma perceives the world. Of course, she will relate things how they relate to her. Part of what makes this series so fun is the aspect that Emma is an unreliable narrator, and we get to search and dig for the actual events and truth behind her narration!

I think we see a lot of the alchemy’s dependence on each other in how they all relate to each other. We see how they each have their own independent connection with Emma, but we are overlooking the independent connections they have with each other.

Bromance.

For starters, there’s Islington and Hawkes. Islington relates a lot of their friendship to Emma, and Emma faithfully records it to us.

We know that Islington and Hawkes spent years at school together. But they also share a bond that’s hinted at throughout all the books. Hawkes leaves the door of his study open so Islington can hear his sermons. Hawkes has a standing invitation to Stonecrop. Hawkes also moves freely in Islington’s home, most notably in volume 7, when Islington relates to Emma the events after the St. Valentine’s Day entry on April 25th— “He drank his second glass of brandy, slammed the glass onto the mantle, and said, ‘Tell Crosby I’m going upstairs to have a bath.’”

Which means that Hawkes also has a standing invitation to make himself at home in Islington’s town house— no small thing for the Duke of Islington.

And then there’s Pierce and Islington, who hit it off from day one at Lady Trewartha’s dinner (volume 3, August 31st). Since then, they repeatedly drink at the Cleopatra together, share in the same activities, and have the best banter. (I’m a big fan of bromance, y’all.) Volume 5 catches them bantering around at Christmas, teasing Emma over expecting them to give each other gifts.

And Islington, of course, also invites Pierce to Stonecrop. That inner sanctuary few are allowed to tread on.

More subtly, Pierce and Hawkes. We find Pierce in church in volume 7, where he says that he and Hawkes placed a bet that he lost. It’s Hawkes and Pierce who shop together for Emma’s birthday present. And it’s Hawkes who saves Pierce from himself and provides him in anchor during all the volume 8 drama.

To say nothing of the scene where Emma finds the three of them bloodied and scraped after fighting in defense of Pierce at the Cleopatra.

I could go on, but I think you see that my point is this: the three men of the alchemy need each other just as much as they need Emma.

Maybe even more so.

Which leads me to another point: Emma is so much more than the three alchemy men.

Emma is tough.

She just is. She goes through hard, difficult things, and yet she emerges stronger than before, with a determination to survive.

She finds joy. She remains undaunted. And she will not be shattered.

A part of my heart will always break that Emma couldn’t have just had her Maxwell. Those dear, precious souls, wandering through life innocently bound together until the day that he was stolen far too early.

But she learned to overcome it. And she emerged far stronger than she would have been otherwise.

I think that that is the heart of the series. It’s not about Emma finding a man. It’s about Emma learning how to overcome obstacles in life and becoming the joyful, strong person she can be. Like a phoenix, reborn from the ashes.

What became my lifeline last fall was not my hopes for Emma’s romantic life. It was the story of a girl like me, who had faced insurmountable obstacles, and yet she lived. She fought in the shade. The rain beat on the canopy, and yet she was still smiling underneath.

I don’t by any means want to turn this into a feminist manifesto. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t want Emma to find her happily ever after. (In fact, one of my favorite fan theories I’ve concocted centers around Emma’s wedding….). I get bubbly and excited and happy over the romance like anyone else, and I will always be firmly Team Pierce ;).

But what I do mean to communicate is that the romance is a subplot, and there is so much more richness to these books. I don’t want to get so caught up in hating options for Emma or invested in who I think her endgame is going to be that I miss the true heart of the story.

Thank you for reading!! If you haven’t been convinced yet, I urge you to go check out Beth Brower’s work and read The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. I’m always willing to yammer on about how much I love these books and all my favorite obsessions with it!

Until next time, keep being faithful and remain undaunted.

Your friend,

~Mara

I stared at the top of the page, swallowing hard against the anxiety that automatically clawed at my throat. It had seemed like a good idea to submit a volunteer application for this Pregnancy Crisis center in my town, but now it didn’t feel like a sure shot anymore.

I don’t have any big, fantastic story about Jesus rescuing me from the squalor of a sin-ridden, worldly life. There was nothing dramatic about my conversion, and I don’t even have the exact day or a specific moment to cling to. I’m not sure if I prayed “the sinner’s prayer” or if I merely professed faith in Jesus and said some variation of repentance.

Even the day I was baptized is hardly a core memory for me. I was so little, and I remember being excited, and I remember that we celebrated as a family. But the actual moment has flown from my memory.

Maybe what I’m describing is a foreign experience to you. Or maybe, you, like me, have wrestled for years with the needling thought that maybe your testimony isn’t as important as you thought it was.

If that’s you, you’re not alone.

There’s nothing special about me.

My salvation story is as simple as they come.

I was born to two parents who fiercely loved the Lord. For years of my childhood, there was hymn singing in the kitchen, bible stories at dinner time, and Sunday school with flannel graphs. If you asked five-year-old me what my favorite tv show was, I would have answered honestly, “Superbook!”. In between playing that I was Queen Victoria, I pretended to be Abigail, King David’s wife. Or Mary. I wanted to be Esther when I grew up.

When I was five, I began to really listen to the stories my parents read to me. I started asking questions. And finally, I declared that I wanted to follow Jesus.

My parents arranged a meeting with our Pastor. He sat on our living room couch and asked me if I believed in the crucifixion of Jesus.

“Yes,” I answered without hesitation. And then I added, “But I also believe in the resurrection.”

A few months later, I was baptized in front of our whole church.

For the next few years, I didn’t take initiative in my Christian walk. I went to church, read my bible occasionally, and had complete faith that Jesus’ blood covered my sins.

Then, by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit began to move in my life. I read multiple non-fiction books about theology. I started to make an effort to read my bible more. I’ll spare you the details of this painfully long portion of my sanctification, but the work of God in my life was so, so evident, and I’m so thankful He never stopped pursuing me. I went from a heart of stone, indifferent to taking up my cross and following him, to a joyful, abundantly eager heart, who can’t get enough of His word, who wants to follow Him to the ends of the Earth, and who will never, ever be silent about how radically Christ saved me.

The closer I got to Christ, however, the more I heard stories from other, more experienced Christians. Podcasts, conference sessions, books, whatever it was, it felt like everyone had been saved from something huge except for me.

Stories of drug addicts, homosexuals, p*rn stars, gamblers, abusers, witches and paganists. All dramatically changed by the love of Christ.

I began to think that my story wasn’t special.

That my justification was insignificant.

The mental shift happened slowly and subtly. I half didn’t realize I believed it, until one day I had my eyes opened to the disappointment I felt whenever someone shared their incredible salvation story, and the anxiety I forced down whenever I was asked how I became a believer. I would rush through the story, simplifying it down to something like “oh, I’ve been one since I was little”.

And slowly, the amazing work of the gospel in my life was distilled down to something almost meaningless to me.

Your story is valuable.

Dear friend, if that’s you, you are seen. I understand exactly what you’re going through and the struggle that it can be. You feel almost like your story is of less value, and that you may not really be saved because you’ve been walking faithfully for as long as you can remember.

But the Lord, in his infinite kindness to us, never leaves us there.

Christ died for us all. We were all lost, wandering away from the fold. And without His spirit, we would have been there still.

Without His intervention, we would have spit and cursed Him and run from His love as long as we lived.

Every. Single. One of us.

The work that Christ did to change my worldly self is the exact same that He did to change the heart of the former gang member.

And my story is just as important because I deserved to be the lamb on the altar. Instead of me, my Savior laid down His life for me, the least of His followers. He did this even for me.

The beauty and wonder of the gospel does not stop in the most extreme cases. Its beauty shines in cases like mine too— those cases in which Christ has been faithfully and patiently working in a life almost as soon as they are born.

Having a dramatic testimony isn’t always a blessing.

I’ve been moved so many times by people sharing stories of how awe-inspiring their conversion was. But I’ve also heard so many stories of people mourning the time they wasted when they could have been serving Christ. I’ve seen people plead, with tears in their eyes, not to make the same mistakes that they did. To not fall into the same entanglement of sin that enslaved them for so long.

Your quiet and ordinary story is a blessing. You are an example of the love of Christ, which reaches for both the humblest of us and the most arrogant of us.

You have begun to build a legacy which is unshakable and have poured time and energy into doing so that you would not have had otherwise.

I wonder what Timothy’s conversion story was like. The apostle Paul wrote so highly of him and praised the life he’d been raised in with the quiet faith of his mother and grandmother. It’s very unlikely that Timothy shared the same story of Paul.

Paul. Now there’s a real testimony. A murderer who was blinded by Jesus himself, who then was used to write half the New Testament and became one of the greatest preachers of all time? How can anyone compete with that?

Well, Timothy’s testimony goes pretty toe to toe with Paul’s. A gentle, loving upbringing in the scriptures, which then leads to Timothy being one of the most notable people in the New Testament, and the willing pastor of a church? What a wonderful gift.

You see, God uses each of our stories in massive ways for His glory. Whether that’s in ways that seem small to us, or ways that are so enormous we can’t help but exclaim.

Because the secret is that it’s not about us.

Our testimony isn’t about having an amazing talk to give in front of a church someday. It’s about the glory of Jesus Christ.

He is the ultimate gift. And salvation is a miraculous work only He could do, wrought in you to make the nations sing for joy. He is the King of all Kings, and your story exists to cry out the fantastic news that there is a good shepherd who is calling of His sheep home.

Tell your story.

So, as I stared at the application and fought against the feelings of inadequacy, I took a deep breath and thought about my story.

It’s not exciting. But it’s a story no one else but me can tell, and if I can share even a fraction of my Lord’s love for me, I will never stop telling it.

So I picked up my pen, and I wrote an abridged version of the story you have in this article.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your blood that saved me and rescued me. Thank you for your kindness, that pursued me to the very depths of hell and back. Thank you for giving me my testimony. As long as I live, it’s yours.

Thank you for reading! I pray my words encourage you. If you ever have any questions about my posts, please feel free to reach out and privately message me! I’d love to answer any of your questions. ♥

All images are from Pinterest, and all characters belong to the goddess that is Beth Brower. I am but a mere humble enthusiast of her art, who lived off of designing these so I could cope with the pain of wishing I had volume nine in my hands.

Enjoy!

(Collages are organized in alphabetical order, with no rhyme or reason as to why)

Agnes:

My dear, darling girl.

Alchemy:

I absolutely adore this one~ I’m a huge fan of the bromance the three men of the Alchemy partake in.

Arabella:

Our own goddess divine

Aunt Eugenia:

My quibble with this collage is that I couldn’t quite capture my own feelings of annoyance for Eugenia Spencer, but I suppose it’s a look at how she sees her own character: misunderstood, and genuinely doing her best, even if misguided.

Cousin Archibald:

Ugh. Surprisingly, I really love this one. Archibald is too mentally insane for me to fully hate him.

Emma:

Forever undaunted. My hero.

Hawkes:

As much as I struggle with Hawkes appreciation, I adore his aesthetic.

Islington:

Full confession, I always hear Genevieve Gaunt’s voice in my head, from when she read for the reprobates’ adoration of Islington and gave the best delivery of “IsLiNgToNnN!!!!” ever. I also know that technically, Islington plays the cello, but none of the cello images I could find were quite what I was looking for.

Jack Hollingstell:

Ironic that Jack is organized directly after Islington.

Mary Barriage:

I want to be just like her.

Parian:

I love this man’s arc.

Pierce:

My lovely photographer.

Professor Fletcher:

The Reprobates Ten:

And E of A.

Tybalt:

Our king of cats.

Let me know in the comments which one is your favorite! Personally, I’m partial to Hawkes’ and Jack’s. :)

~Mara <3

My lovely mother fell under the weather a few weeks ago, and while she was separated from the rest of the household, she did what all good mothers do and watched a whole new show without her loving daughter.

She then re-entered society raving about said show to her daughter.

And I flat out told her, “Every time you’re this obsessed with something, I automatically want to hate it.”

…

That doesn’t sound like the loving daughter I described earlier and I’m ashamed to admit that I said that, however teasingly it may have been, because as always, my Mama was right.

We sat down and watched Seeking Persephone over the course of two days. And then we watched it in one sitting with the rest of the family. And then we watched it again with the family because my brothers begged to see it again. And then we watched it again recently because we’re all obsessed— well, maybe not my dad.

Even my brothers love it, and it’s literally my new favorite show ever. There’s hardly a scene where I’m not grinning from ear to ear, cackling out loud at the sheer adorableness that is whatever Ryann Bailey and Jake Stormeon have going on, trembling from the magnitude of holding my admiration inside, or sitting in pure, deep thought.

After watching the show, I promptly read the book (and the other four books that come after it) and so, armed with all the insights that the book gives for the characters’ motivations, I’m here to dive into why this show has captivated my heart and mind, and why so many others seem to be falling as much in love with it as I have. <3

A Brief (Very Brief) Overview of the Plot:

Persephone Lancaster is the oldest of six children, all with the names of some or another Greek myth. Her father was a scholar, who has sunk into deep poverty after the death of her mother. It’s on Persephone’s shoulders, quite literally, to keep her family from absolute ruin.

When a letter arrives from the infamous Duke of Kielder, she’s shocked to learn that he is making her an offer of marriage. And in exchange for her as his bride, he intends to settle on their family more than 100,000 British pounds— enough to raise her family to security for generation. So it is that Persephone bravely travels across the country to marry a man she’s never met, whose reputation as a fearsome and terrifying noblemen is shadowed only by the sheer enormity of his money and social standing.

Adam Boyce, Duke of Kielder, only chose to marry to make his idiot cousin fear for his position as heir of Falstone Castle. Indeed, if it were up to him, no one would be close enough to be heir to anything, let alone Adam’s title.

Physically and emotionally scarred from years of traumatizing and horrific surgeries, Adam has kept everyone at bay for years by building up a reputation for himself as The Dangerous Duke and being as waspish to company as he possibly can be. A marriage to a desperate old maid will be a wonderful addition to his rough demeanor.

But Persephone isn’t old, nor is she desperate. In fact, she’s very nice to look at, and she has an intelligent mind to go with it. When she begins to try and work out a cautious friendship with Adam, will she be able to reach past his rough exterior?

Beauty and The Beast:

The story is a regency era retelling of the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone. But it also echoes pieces of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast, a story that has captivated the hearts of little girls for centuries.

At face value, Adam mirrors elements of both the Beast and the Greek god Hades. He’s rough and openly rude to Persephone at first. He’s a social recluse, hating to spend time in society. And he only has one good friend, a man named Harry Windover who has persistently weaseled his way into Adam’s life and heart and refuses to leave.

I think this type of story has endured for so long because it’s very much real life. We all know people who may seem abrasive at first, or hard to get to know. Maybe we even are that person.

And it would be so easy to just walk out without even trying to get to know these people. I know that I’ve been tempted to do so many times. Why in the world would I keep pushing to try and make them like me or be friends when they obviously want nothing to do with me or anyone else?

But often there is so much depth to people like these, and Adam Boyce is no exception.

Despite the fact that he claims to find her afflicted with a ridiculous name, and his frustratingly sharp remarks to her on their wedding day, Persephone knows that she and Adam are bound together for life. And as she begins to find her footing at Falstone castle, she sees glimpses of Adam’s true character. Maybe her husband isn’t the harsh man everyone believes him to be.

For starters, he employs a very large staff who all adore him and the castle. Persephone learns that when one of his stable hands grew too old for work with horses, Adam kindly moved him to a gentler position in the gardens rather than cut off his employment entirely.

And then there’s Harry. Harry is loud, comical, perpetually amused and deeply thoughtful— everything that Adam is not. And yet, Harry tells Persephone repeatedly that he loves Adam like a brother. The two men share a camaraderie that Persephone is intrigued by. If Adam is truly so heartless, why would a man like Harry be drawn to his companionship?

And the longer Persephone stays at Falstone, the more Adam finds himself drawn to her. She’s making an effort to pierce his walls, and he’s letting more and more of his brittle exterior crumble away.

He begins to show more kindness to her the more that he comes to care for her. When Persephone shows an interest in riding, he orders a riding habit and boots for her. He writes to find out about the location of her missing brother. He repeatedly begs himself inwardly to make sure that she’s not miserable. He even holds a ball for her, something that he would never have done otherwise.

Indeed, the more the story goes on, the more the viewer begins to understand that Adam’s roughness is not who he is. Rather, it’s a mask he uses to protect himself, terrified that if he lets it slip, he will be broken and abandoned yet again.

Something that I absolutely love about Adam’s character is that he is repeatedly shown as a man. Unfortunately, ladies, no matter what 2000s romcoms have told us, men are often inept at instinctual romance. Unlike the grand, sweeping emotional declarations of love we find in Jane Austen’s novels, men often struggle to verbally express emotion, especially men like Adam, who have never once had a masculine version of that modeled for them.

But despite not being able to always articulate his growing love for Persephone, Adam doesn’t get a free pass in letting her know how he feels. And Eden makes a deep point in her book that I cannot praise highly enough.

True love is not about words. It’s about actions.

Actions do speak louder than words. That has been true since the beginning of time. And especially when you love someone, your actions speak so much louder than words you don’t follow through on.

(As an aside, I would like to caveat this by saying that good actions do not mean that ill-advised or hurtful words should be excused. I think there is an argument to be made that Adam’s words towards Persephone at first were openly hurtful, and wrong. If a man is ever saying words that are hurtful or verbally abusive, there should never be an instance where a woman lets that slide.)

Love is made true by selfless actions that accompany it.

In the following books after Seeking Persephone, Eden makes a point to show us how Adam is learning how to express how he feels about Persephone. He repeatedly tells her and others how much he loves her and how much he would do absolutely anything for her, and it’s an absolute delight to watch him find his footing in a deeply romantic marriage. But at first, when he’s struggling, Persephone doesn’t hold that against him. Rather, she looks at his actions.
His actions tell her how much he loves her, and his actions give her what she needs to believe that he cares about her. His repeated gestures of buying her a riding habit, of taking care of her, of letting her go and see her family even though it breaks his heart tells her that she is safe, she is loved, and as long as he is on this earth, nothing in the world will ever hurt her again.
And so when he finally confesses to her, she doesn’t require him to flounder around, helplessly choking on words he doesn’t know how to say. He has proven to her time and time again that he loves her, and now she proves it to him by taking the action to believe him.

Yearning. So much yearning.

One of the other aspects of the show and book that adds a spark of interest to Adam’s character is his relationship with his mother. His mother hated Falstone castle. She repeatedly made gestures that hurt him, and never once showed him the true, genuine love of a mother that he craved so much.

The only model that Adam has ever had for marriage is the broken, unhappy arranged marriage of his parents. So, it’s no surprise that he expects Persephone to be miserable like his mother was, and to prefer being away from him.

But the morning after their wedding, he stands outside watching as Persephone makes a teary farewell with her sisters, and listens in stunned silence as her littlest sister clings to her.

“You’re the best Mama I ever had,” eight-year-old Artemis cries, holding on tightly to her older sister.

Best Mama she ever had, Adam repeats under his breath, and then he watches as Persephone begins to sob once the carriage is out of sight.

Persephone loved her sister like a mother. And she misses her almost-child like a real parent. Adam is intrigued by this and immediately finds himself wondering about the rest of Persephone’s character. What must a woman be like, to be so devoted being something like a mother that she doesn’t see that like a burden?

And as he observes her, he learns that she’s kind. She’s funny. She’s selfless. She’s not afraid to stand up to him. She’s pretty— too pretty to be married to someone like me, he tells himself wryly in the book.

And it’s not long before he’s having nightmares about losing her. Dukes don’t need people, his father told him, and he’s clung to that. But perhaps this Duke of Kielder does need a certain woman in his life.

Persephone harbors a fear of the wolves that roam the castle forest. Thinking Adam asleep, she begins to creep into his room at night and sleep curled up on the foot of his bed for comfort.

Adam is never actually asleep. And soon, he gets to the point where he physically can’t sleep without her in the room. Just like he had when he was little and his mother had left the castle yet again.

The beautiful thing about the show is that they capture Adam’s yearning for his Persephone so beautifully. You see it in every line of his face. He reaches out for her more than once. He watches her constantly. But he’s helpless to know what to do about it. Would she be able to truly love him if he fully let her in? She deserves better than him, he thinks, and so he makes every effort to keep her at bay.

Persephone feels confused and frustrated by this, as she comes to slowly fall for him as well. But when a tragic accident reveals just how much Adam cares about her, she knows fully that she is truly in love with him.

And when the time is right, Adam reveals just how much of his heart she has claimed by travelling across the country to be at her side.

Marriage like theirs is biblical.

Eden writes that Persephone didn’t feel the passions or wild flutterings she thought she would as a young girl. Instead, she felt sure she was loved because of the steady, warm, constant knowledge that she was safe, she was wanted, and she was cherished.

(AHHHHHHHHHHH.)

GIRLS. THAT IS WHAT TRUE LOVE IS.

I sent a voice memo to a friend about this when I finished the book (we read them at the same time— shout out to !! XD). What stood out to me most about this was that that is what marriage is. It’s not going to be this big, grand romantic passion all the time. I mean sure, it might be on some days. But more often, it’s the quiet, sure, deepening feeling of being loved, of sticking with the other person no matter what, and of making the hard choice to sacrifice yourself and love your spouse no matter what.

Marriage like that is deeply biblical. It’s rooted into the fabric of Christianity, in fact, because we are all as a church and individually in a marriage covenant with Christ. When we model our earthly marriages like this, we are reflecting Christ’s love for His church.

And Christ chases us and sacrifices everything to keep us safe.

Which is also modeled in Adam Boyce’s character as he gives up his own desires for Persephone, in more ways than one.

One of the most noteworthy ways that he grows into his role as a loving husband is his response to a terrifying accident Persephone is involved in.

Like Adam, Persephone struggles with a flawed relationship with her one surviving parent. Her father placed the entire burden of the family on her shoulders. All her life, all she ever wanted was to know that she wouldn’t have to handle everything.

As she talks through her accident with Adam, Persephone becomes fearful that she will have to do something about it. “Will I have to talk to him?” she asks worriedly.

“Absolutely not,” is Adam’s vehement response. “I wouldn’t let him anywhere near you ever again.”

*takes a deep breath because there’s a lot to unpack in that line and can we please clap for that absolute GOLD STANDARD OF A MAN*

Adam takes the lead. He’s determined to never let anything hurt her, and he’s shouldering the burden that should never be hers.

Which is another aspect to biblical marriage. The husband is the leader and protector of his home.

“Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”

~1 Peter 3:7 (CSB)

I love the illustration of marriage that Heidi St. John gave at a conference I attended. She describes the husband and the wife as two equal soldiers on a battlefield. The husband holds a sword and a shield, guarding his wife and taking the brunt of any onward attacks. And while the wife is safely sheltered by her husband, she prepares the most important task of preparing an arrow and launching it at the enemy.

This gorgeous lovestory of Adam and Persephone illustrates that in a breathtaking way. They learn to become partners, and eventually, something so much deeper.

We all want a Duke of Kielder.

I could, of course, rave on and on about this story, begging you to watch the show and read the masterpiece that is the book. For the sake of time, however, I’ll wrap up with the main point that I wanted to make when I decided to write this post:

All girls instinctively desire someone like Adam.

Without the roadblock of his trauma and sharp defenses, of course. But his character? His character is exactly what girls need, and what, if we were honest, we want to find.

We want someone to be so devoted to us that we occupy their thoughts. We want someone to notice little things about us. (like how we wore a blue dress on the first day and therefore we might just want a blue riding habit? Too much about the riding habit? Okay. I’ll stop. ;) We want someone to put our desires so above his own that he’s willing to do things he hates for the sake of us (Like hosting a ball even though he hates society). And we want someone to cherish us, to love us, and to go above and beyond for our safety.

What I love so much about this story is how deeply the concept of true love is expounded on. It’s not always going to be this showy thing. Rather, it’s quiet, gentle, and a fierce love that consistently chooses the other person.

And as far as Persephone goes, there’s so much to admire about her too.

While Adam is never directly abusive to her, many people would be put off by the prickly walls around his true character. But she never gives up, needling deeper and deeper to find the true person lurking beneath the surface.

As a Christian, that should be a story we praise!! Shouldn’t it be worth it, and a wonderful reflection of the love we’re supposed to have for one another if someone takes the time to truly empathize and love another person? It wasn’t easy for Persephone, and it’s definitely not easy for us. But what a beautiful picture of Christ’s sacrificial love for us! Because we were all difficult to pursue, and hard to love. But Jesus did it anyway.

Persephone also makes a point to do her best to be content, even though her circumstances are less than ideal. Choosing joy.

And instead of trying to force Adam to fall in love with her, she decides to move forward by working hard to be his friend. Proving to him that she will stay, she won’t abandon him, and that he matters deeply to her.

So in conclusion…

Whew. If you’ve read this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I promise this is coming to an end!

Sarah M. Eden is definitely not my typical genre of author. But Seeking Persephone is so well-written, and makes so many hard, deep points about love that I will never stop singing its praises (It’s also entirely clean. No spice, no language, and nothing at all inappropriate). There’s so much about it that I didn’t even scratch the surface on in this post, so PLEASE, go read it and watch the show, which is available for streaming on Angel, Hoopla, Peacock, Roku Channel and Sling.

In addition, the show was crowdfunded and independently produced, with the amazing Ryann Bailey, Jake Stormoen and Toby Alexander-Smith claiming the leading roles. It’s so worth supporting, and I promise to shut up now.

Thank you all for reading!

Until next time, stay undistracted and keep being faithful.

~Mara <3

I followed his gaze out the window of our shop and saw a young woman, pausing to examine the baked goods at a vender set up outside. Her hair was cut short, and she wore a black mini dress with black lace tights. Everything about her, from her perfectly manicured nails to her sloppily dressed boyfriend made me feel sad, although I couldn’t explain why.

“She comes to all our farmer’s markets,” my boss went on. “She buys things from all the venders— I’m not really sure that she and her boyfriend can afford it, but what can you do.”

I watched as her boyfriend pulled her away from the table, saying something into her ear. “They look co-dependent.”

My boss shrugged. “They probably are. I have this theory that everyone in this world starts out down here, right?” He pointed to the ground. “But if you find the person that knows exactly what you need and can get you up here—” he held his hand above his head— “You would be amazing. It’s all about finding that person. I feel like I could get her to at least somewhere above where she is now.”

I laughed and made a joke, and we both finished our drinks and went back to work.

But I couldn’t get that woman out of my mind.

Jesus, I thought. The person she needs to find is Jesus.

I’ve worked a retail job for over a year now (I’ll celebrate being there a year and a half in September) and I absolutely love it. My employers are a married couple who are the absolute sweetest and they’re old family friends. My best friend is my main co-worker, I get to learn how to make all the products we sell…. yeah. I adore it.

And it’s a hot take, but I love being a cashier. I’m mastering the rhythm of small talk— okay, maybe not mastering but I’m getting better. My social anxiety is going down in each and every situation because I've learned how to handle people.

Oftentimes, however, I get so callous about the people I’m taking care of. It’s easy to look at our transaction history and just see the money, or treat the people with less time and consideration than they deserve, like the cash passing through my hands into the register.

When this happens, I want to slow down. And suddenly it all hits me at once.

Each smiling, precious, beautiful face I interact with every day is a living, breathing soul. They are going to live forever, just like me.

In short, I have the largest mission field every time I clock in.

Which is why I want to take my time and be kind to them. I want to try and be gracious, and smile a whole lot, and make jokes, and be helpful, and be as sweet as I can.

But I fail so hard.

Honestly, if this job has taught me anything, it’s taught me how easily my heart tips towards pride. Put bluntly, I like feeling good about myself.

There’s the teenagers who come in wearing stuff I wouldn’t be caught dead in. There’s the mom who makes comments about her kids that make my heart hurt. There’s the elderly couple who look exhausted of all the time they have to spend together.

I see all of this, and oftentimes I catch myself whispering inwardly, “I’m so glad I’m not like that.”

Oh honey. Are you in for a treat.

There’s someone else in the bible who thought like this too.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people— greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of everything I get.’” -Luke 18:10-11

I hate reading this passage sometimes, because I want to be the second man in the story. The tax collector who can’t even lift his eyes to Heaven, focusing only on his own sinful heart and fully humbling his heart before the Lord.

But I see myself so clearly in the Pharisee sometimes, and it breaks my heart. Because all of these people come into the store, with broken, twisted lives. And mine is just as broken as theirs, because I too once walked in darkness.

Intentionally I want to challenge myself to stop thinking about myself. I am not the hero in this story. Just because I was helpful in pointing out an item to them does not mean that I am so much kinder than they are.

Seeing ourselves first is work. Our flesh nature screams to be fed and demands that we worship it first and foremost. We’re so used to thinking of “I” and talking about “me” that we’re missing the beauty of each other each and every day.

One of my favorite interactions I’ve had with a customer took place a little less than a year ago, on a quiet Thursday afternoon. I was having a slow day at work, and was sitting behind the counter when a middle-aged woman came into the shop. She smiled at me and went about her shopping quietly.

Eventually, she came up to the counter with a basket full of items. I rang her up, making small talk, and she began to talk excitedly about how much she loved our products. I was just about to ask if she was paying with cash or card when she looked me dead in the eye and asked if she could be honest with me.

I nodded, slightly wary of where this interaction was going.

She gripped the handle of her basket tightly in one hand and said slowly, “My husband passed away from cancer a year ago.”

Instantly my heart went out to her. She proceeded to tell me a long, long story about how she lost her husband and how much she had loved our products and how they had helped her through one of the most difficult times of her life. She talked quickly for almost five minutes. I eyed the door, waiting for someone else to come in, but no one did. So I set aside my worries about finishing my cleaning and gave her my full attention.

She ended by saying she had a nine-year-old daughter at home and thanked me for letting her talk. She laughed as she paid and apologized for keeping me from my work, and was gone, leaving me slightly stunned and deeply moved.

I couldn’t shake the look in her eyes from my mind, or the humor she had as she told her story, as if she was clinging to joy in the hardest storm she might ever face. It wasn’t until I got home that night that I thought to pray for her, and I wrote out my prayer for her in my journal.

Even writing this interaction down has given me pause, and I’m adding her to my list of prayers again this week. She was one of the strangest, sweetest people I’ve ever met, and I hope she knows how deeply she is loved by the God who’s orchestrating every step of her life.

Stories like this one are what make me love my job, because God is teaching me each time I step through that door.

He’s showing me how to be humble.

How to listen to people.

How to show basic kindness.

And how to marvel at the beauties and wonders of the human race I bump shoulders with.

All of them, from the woman I began my post with, to this dear, sweet widow I’m ending it with, have a hole that cries out to be filled with Christ.

Jesus is highlighting my need for Him even as He shows me their need for Him.

I pray that He continues to guide me. I pray that someday, as He sanctifies me, I can be a blessing to one of these customers. Because it’s an honor to serve them, and I love being able to help them.

Even if they do constantly ask where something is without looking first. ;)

Stay undistracted dear reader, and keep being faithful on this side of Heaven!

Love, Mara <3

Unfortunately, I live in the United States, so while I waited for it to drop to BritBox (which I’m currently paying for for just one month so I can watch it) I did the next best thing.

Y’all, it’s a BOOK. And the audiobook is on Spotify premium!!

So, I, of course, listened to it.

And I’m here to review it as honestly as I can, without giving spoilers for major plotlines. I hope you all find it helpful, and maybe add it to your summer reading list!!

The Other Bennet Sister is a debut novel by Janice Hadlow, published in 2020. Primarily a spin-off of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, The Other Bennet Sister follows the story of Mary Bennet, and what might have happened after Lizzie married Mr. Darcy. What was Mary’s life really like? Was she really the ugly duckling of the five Bennet sisters? Did she spend her days in spinsterhood?

I want to preface this by saying that if you’re a Jane Austen purist, like me, pleaaaaseeeee do not read this book expecting it to read like a Pride and Prejudice sequel. In many ways, it does— it has a hint of Jane’s classic writing, common plotlines found in regency era fiction, and plausible storylines for the original P&P characters to follow. But in many ways, it doesn’t— rather, it feels like someone took up the og characters, kneaded them like bread dough for a little while, and set them back down in England with a new, slightly modern mold. It was a hard stumbling block for me, but it is a completely separate book and canon to follow, so I took a deep breath and did my best to overlook it. And once you make that leap, it’s such a delightful story.

The story opens by explaining that Mr. and Mrs. Bennet had five beautiful, talented, desired daughters. Well, all except Mary.

Mary made the mistake of being born plain.

Unlike her sisters, she was no sought-after wit at parties. She didn’t sparkle at dances. And she struggled to believe that anyone could ever truly want to spend time in her company.

But after the death of her father, Mary finds herself cast afloat in the world with her mother, on the mercy of her other married sisters. Can she do what it takes, make choices for herself, and begin to grow into the capable woman she is? Or is she doomed to stay in the shadows forever?

The first thing that I loved about this book was that it is almost completely clean. Very little language, no spice or inappropriate content, and it’s all of the sweet things I love about the typical regency era fiction: cozy, warm, joyful and tackling the areas of life we tend to forget about in our modern fiction— like the panic of a poor social setting or wanting to feel pretty.

Ultimately, Mary must decide for herself how to believe that she is of value. The core of her journey is understanding the mental shift it takes to stop thinking of yourself as less than you are. If you believe you are worthless, then you will project that to others. But if you hold yourself as the wonderful person you are, then you will embody that.

Every girl on some level longs to wear pretty dresses and to be thought of as beautiful. We dance in front of a mirror and wear princess dresses when we’re little. We dream of our Prince Charming. And Mary speaks to that longing in all of us.

What I Loved:

• The relationship between Mary and her aunt. Mary spends a considerable portion of the book in London with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Readers of P&P will recognize the Gardiners from the famous scene where they take Elizabeth to tour Pemberly. Janice Hadlow takes Mrs. Gardiner’s character and expands on it, giving us a taste of a beautiful, motherly figure who selflessly loves her nieces, even while raising four children. She quickly becomes a character we all look up to, and who Mary longs to be like. She is kind, gentle, loving and everything that Mary feels that she is not. But in the few months Mary spends with her, Mary learns how much like her aunt she already is. ;)

• The sweet little romance. Of course, what would a Jane Austen spin-off be without a romantic lead? I fully expected this romance to be sappy and not at all deserved, but oh, how wrong I was! It felt earned. And it reminded us that happy endings often exist for everyone.

• Mary’s character. Those of us who watched the 1995 P&P growing up probably already had a preconceived notion about who Mary is. An awkward, homely girl with glasses and greasy hair, who cares for nothing but playing the piano and making snide comments to her sister. But Janice Hadlow paints for us a new picture of Mary. What if Mary was a girl who lived her entire childhood being told that she was the family disappointment? What if she had never once felt like she belonged anywhere? And what if choosing to be happy and make a life for herself was so out of character for her that it was a daily battle for her?

  In the midst of her storyline, Mary emerges as a bright, quiet woman who knows how to survive. She’s strong, she’s weathered worse storms than this, and she knows that this too shall pass. She makes mistakes, she fails pretty miserably at times, but oh, how she picks herself up. <3

What I Didn’t Love:

• Inconsistent writing. I can only imagine how hard it must be to write a spin-off of such a beloved book like P&P, so I do want to give Hadlow some grace! But at the same time, multiple of her characters make decisions that feel completely out of character for what we know of them from Hadlow’s canon so far. Mary’s thought-process jumps out of character for her multiple times. And there are several historical inaccuracies that were obviously chosen for a stylistic choice but feel out of place in such a deep historical fiction read.

• Failure to flesh out points. The book struggles to fully define its themes, which left me feeling slightly unsatisfied. I think I realized why when I re-read a scene that I had particularly hated.

  The scene is a conversation between Mary and one of the main male characters. He tells Mary that his father was a scientist, but when he died, no one remembers his work. What is the point of working hard if we’re all to be forgotten when we die?

  Mary has no answer. And as the book continues, it tries to show that working hard only to be forgotten doesn’t really matter if you’re doing something you love.

  I, however, think the much better and much less vague point to make is something much deeper. As humans, our work here on earth will always be meaningless, and will always be forgotten. Unless we have something greater than ourselves to work for. We as Christians understand that to be Christ.

  Christ is so much bigger, so much greater, and worth so much more than ourselves. We work because we want to bring glory to his name, and because someday we will hear one of two things from his lips: either “well done, good and faithful servant,” or “depart from me.”

• Limited explanation. It becomes apparent early on in the story that Mrs. Bennet hates, or at least greatly dislikes Mary. Unfortunately, it’s never explicitly stated why. I understand that Mary is plain compared to her other daughters, but the level of sharp remarks and stinging affronts Mary receive feels very unwarranted without some other explanation, which we are never offered. Several other storylines have similar issues, where it feels both implausible and ridiculous for the plot to take that turn, unless, of course, there is another reason that is just not stated. For example, why would a man who is very material, who repeatedly states he only follows his passions, be interested in Mary, a girl with no money and none of his same desires?

• The love confession scene. I said earlier that the romance feels earned, and it does, which is why this scene felt so deflating. It spends half its time in petty argument, 20% in poorly described physical contact, and a third in ripping off one of the. Best. Lines. In. Romance. Fiction. I’m sorry but stealing Mr. Knightley’s iconic “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more” felt so cheap, even if it is a P&P spin-off, and yes I know I can’t do math!

My honest review:

Honestly, I would give this book a solid four stars— maybe three and a half. It’s sweet, clean, cozy, and the perfect thing if you want a read you don’t have to think about.

And fundamentally, it’s about the struggle in all of us: the struggle to find who we are and find the people who love us anyway. We all want to feel pretty, intelligent, and valued. And Mary’s story shows us that that just might be possible for the people like me, who struggle with believing in happily-ever-after. ;)

It’s the perfect summer read, and I’d love for you to read it and tell me what I got wrong and what I got right! And in the meantime, you can find me on BritBox, binging the show.

Thanks for reading Tenant in the Garret, and I’ll see you back here soon for another blog post!

All my love and keep being undistracted, you lovely soldier <3

And also, because I was afraid of opening a can of worms I just wasn’t ready for.

Fortunately, the Holy Spirit does not side with cowardice and chose this week to whack me over the head with a new sense of boldness and a “I-really-don’t-care-what-you-all-might-think-” attitude in the form of reminding me of His word.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” -2 Timothy 1:71

God promises two very powerful things here. First, He reminds us that we are not to have a spirit of fear, but to be bold, unashamed of his gospel! Secondly, He tells us that He has given us a spirit of power, love, and sound judgment. This means that we as Christians have everything we need to discern His truth and to speak it boldly. We have the power to stand in the face of darkness with His help, we have the ability to speak truth in love to our fellow believers, and we have the sound judgment required to think rationally about these issues and come to God-honoring conclusions.

So today, putting into practice these things, I have a post for you all that has been on my heart. May it richly encourage you!

I want to preface this by saying that I do not believe that there is a specific set of rules a girl has to follow to be modest. The Holy Spirit leads us all to different convictions, and my convictions are not something I want to make a stumbling block to you. And practically, we all are built differently. What is modest for me may not be modest for you, and vice versa.

However, there is an objective standard of modesty that I believe the church has neglected to teach their daughters.

First of all, modesty is a matter of the heart. Peter himself addresses this in 1 Peter 3:3-4.

“Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes, but rather what is inside the heart— the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

This is, of course, the token verse for modesty in the church. And reading this as a little girl, I literally thought that this meant I shouldn’t wear nice clothes or jewelry. And I thought it meant I had to be quiet all the time. (Which I did not take to heart. Sorry for all the mindless chattering and science questions, Mama. :)

But in context- isn’t it amazing what one can learn if one reads the bible as God intended!- Peter isn’t saying that at all.

In this time period, elaborate hairstyles were seen as a sign of wealth. Usually, these hairstyles were so detailed that they could only be accomplished with a maid (usually a slave). So wealthy women took to parading them around, showing off the fact that they had money. And of course, as we all know, money = beauty (I’m being sarcastic), and so these women truly behaved as if they were beautiful purely because they had the money to make themselves look fashionable.

I can imagine that this bred envy and discontent among the women who couldn’t afford slaves or lots of jewelry. And it bred arrogance among the women who could.

So Peter takes us back to a lesson as old as when God picked King David from the line of his handsome, buff older brothers. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.

In fifty years, no one will remember if you had your ears double pierced or if you were able to switch your skinny jeans to baggy ones at a moment’s notice. But if you have cultivated a heart that is madly in love with the Lord, people will remember that. They’ll see it in you. In your children. And your grandchildren.

Really, the point here is that it’s okay to wear jewelry and fancy clothes. But your heart should always be oriented towards what God looks for, and not how to make yourself look like a Kardashian.

And here’s the beautiful part: when your heart is oriented towards the Lord and His word, modesty will naturally follow. You will be gorgeous- because you know that your worth is in so much more than a crop-top.

Outwardly:

I’m about to make a bold claim here: when we parade around in clothes that barely cover what’s necessary, we have completely lost the plot.

But Mara, you say, I don’t want to look like a total freak show at the pool when I show up in a long-sleeved swimsuit and my friends are in bikinis.

To which I would say “well if you’re like me chances are a long-sleeved swimsuit are the only thing standing between you and looking like a literal lobster for the next three months—

Juuuust kidding. We do have sunscreen, after, all.

First of all, again, your convictions are between you and the Lord. But wearing something that’s modest isn’t a shackle, it’s your protection.

My precious sisters in Christ, you are a treasure. You are a prize. You deserve to be fought for. You deserve for a man to look at you, marry you, and spend the rest of his life cherishing you.

But when you wear a formal dress with a thigh-high slit and a plunging neckline, you are advertising the exact opposite. Outfits that leave nothing to the imagination are not trendy. Instead, they are making us look easy. They are telling everyone around us that we think so little of our bodies that we are willing to flash them to however wants to look.

Why would a man want to chase after us and win us if we’ve already given away the most precious part of ourselves?

Your body is beautiful. And God, in His great love for you, designed someone who is going to love it and give it the honor it deserves.

Your husband.

Ladies, I am not at all trying to be oppressive, or make you feel constrained in what you wear. The truth is, there are so many cute, stylish, gorgeous outfits that are just as adorable as anything on the Vogue lineup.

Rather, I want to lovingly point out that dressing modestly is your protection. It is an outward declaration that you value yourself, and you will not be wasted cheaply.

As daughters of the King, we are valuable. We should want to point all the glory back to our Heavenly Father, who created us as masterpieces! Everyone who views the Mona Lisa is in awe of the painting, but they don’t just admire the portrait. They also praise da Vinci for his talent. And so we are the Lord’s paintings, here to swivel around and show how glorious our God is!

(As an aside, ironically, we complain about men objectifying us, and then we parade out in clothes that draw attention to ourselves. It feels slightly contradictory to me.)

Dressing modestly is an act of Love for our Christian Brothers.

I have another caveat for this point. I don’t believe that a man’s lust or actions are ever the fault of a woman. Every man is responsible for his own sin.

Sadly, however, we live in a very promiscuous world. The evil trap of pornography is spreading like wildfire through our young men. And with that comes the very real temptation of lust and objectifying of women.

My dad always says that if he had a friend who was a recovering alcoholic, it would be entirely inappropriate for him to invite this friend over for dinner and then pour a glass of wine in front of him. Why? Because it could be the gateway to temptation for this friend.

“So the weak person, the brother or sister for whom Christ has died, is ruined by your knowledge. Now when you sin like this against brothers and sisters and wound their weak conscience, you are sinning against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat so that I won’t cause my brother or sister to fall.” -1 Corinthians 8:11-13

Paul here is talking about the issue of eating food offered to idols. But he makes a point that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. The idea that wounding the conscience of a weak brother in Christ is wounding Christ himself is enough to make Paul firmly declare that he will never eat meat again if it causes someone to fall.

How I wish that I had that much sacrificial love for my fellow believers!

But the same principle applies to modesty: if me choosing to dress skimpily will cause my Christian brother to fall, then I want to be able to say that I will never again dress that way.

Similarly, Romans 14 address a similar issue in the early church, and Paul makes the famous statement, “Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead, decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.” (Romans 14:13).

I never want to be an accomplice to temptation.

Ladies, our Christian brothers deserve just as much love and respect as we want them to show us. They shouldn’t have to be put in a position of fighting against temptation when they are among their fellow believers.

Loving and respecting them means taking in consideration their battles, too. <3

You, dear, are lovely.

Dear reader, I just had the thought that hopefully someday we will share eternity together. That sent shivers down my spine!

The same God who bled for me cradles us both in His nail-scarred hands. He loved you enough to die for you.

Which means that you are precious in His sight.

You are His beloved child, and modesty is His gift to us, something that marks us apart.

Let’s wear that badge together proudly.

Stay undistracted and keep being faithful on this side of Heaven.

Yours,

~ Mara

If you’ve noticed me around Substack these past couple weeks, hello again, my lovely acquaintance, and if you’re new to my chaotic whirl of words, welcome on in!!

My name is Mara Rowan. I’m a homeschool graduate and follower of Christ, doing my best to continue on my journey of sanctification and muddle through my little corner of the world, clinging firmly to joy. I’m also a writer, who’s finished multiple full-length novels and hopes to publish my debut in the next two years!

But I alsoooo love writing blog posts and devotionals. For the past year, I’ve blogged faithfully on a little website called Vintage Heart, and after much thoughtful consideration, decided to move my operations here with a rebranded name: Tenant in the Garret.

Why that name?

I have a couple reasons, but the first and most obvious comes from my favorite book series, The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. It’s a nod to Niall Pierce, one of my favorite characters, who’s a tenant with his bedroom in, well, a garret.

I’m very original, I know.

But as I considered changing my blog’s name, a couple other reasons for this particular name jumped into my mind.

1. I love the symbolism of it. Because as a Christian, I am a tenant. I’m renting a corner of space that’s not really my true home as I wander through this broken world. Someday, I won’t be a tenant anymore, but the welcomed and loved daughter of the Owner of my house in Heaven. As for the garret part, sometimes it can feel like we’re in the least lovely part of the house, purely because we live in a broken world. Bad things happen. Things don’t go our way. But we’re all looking towards the hope of Christ’s return, and I am eagerly awaiting the day we all gather in heaven.

2. I also really love this idea of someone sending little notes of encouragement and stories down from a garret. I don’t know why, it just makes me happy, and I hope it does the same for you <3.

So, if you decide to subscribe to me over here, what can you expect? Blog posts about whatever’s on my heart, devotionals, snippets of my fictional writing, and whatever else I feel called to share.

But above all else, I hope I can be a source of encouragement, whether you read one of my book reviews, a devotional, or even one of my short stories.

Thank you so much for reading!! I’m so excited to get to know you all and share some of my ridiculous ramblings with you all.

Stay undistracted, and keep an open heart. ♥

~ Mara Rowan