We've always been fascinated with the supernatural aspects of religion... Movies and books are created more and more. Both recognizing God and those who choose horror and the Prince of the Air... I was a fan of the following three series on television, Highway to Heaven, Touched by An Angel and, then, from a different perspective, Ghost Whisperer. But, as far as I am aware, no other author has created a fantasy full-story of the experience of a young girl, who was born with a gift from God... She sees Angels!
Austin held out his hand. Sophie was quicker to take up the offer this time. “Welcome. So glad to have you join us. Just sit back and let it happen. That’s what I figured out when I first came here.” “Really?” That sounded sort of cultish. Sophie realized she had responded to Austin exactly the way she’d responded to Nola. Surprised. Doubtful, maybe. But she wasn’t as doubtful as her automatic reactions implied. “Thanks for the advice.” She hoped that sounded sincere to Austin. He just kept smiling. Then someone struck a guitar chord up on stage. Sophie had missed the arrival of a full band up there. That was the sort of thing that happened when she kept her head down. Austin, and a glowing white being with him, distracted her for a second more before she turned toward the stage. The glow over that stage was almost blinding. As soon as she allowed that complaint—not really a whiny one—the glow softened a bit. Did she turn it down, or did someone filter it for her eyes? As soon as the singer at the center mic started the lyrics
of the first song, a flock of colorful creatures swooped across the audience and over Sophie’s head. She followed that flight and smiled at the trail of light they left, like sparklers spinning in the hands of a dozen children. She stood when Priscilla did and even followed her in raising her hands above her head. It seemed a fitting reaction to all that music and magic. Priscilla got bouncy again, dancing and pumping her hands in the air. And she apparently did that without seeing the entwining formations of angels filling the
top half of the big open room. For a moment, standing there with the sparkle and splash of sound and sight—so many colors, such glorious light—Sophie was glad she could see it. She even wanted to share what she was seeing. She wanted the world to see, to know how
beautiful it was. But that desire to share called her back to the crazy girl she had always been—the lying girl, at least in the eyes of most people. Even if she was going to embrace this gift, if she was going to consider herself not the crazy girl who no one believed, but the girl who sees angels, she still had to keep it to herself. Priscilla bumped her shoulder and grinned at her. Sophie would keep it to herself and a few of her friends, of course. “You’re seeing, aren’t you?” Priscilla’s eyes sparkled, as if reflecting those explosions of light and color that Sophie could see. She nodded a bit deliriously, and then she looked up again. The song was about a great and awesome king. A king who loved everyone. A beautiful and generous king. And Sophie let the words soak in. When she did, the lights above her arranged into a triangulating network that seemed to pick up some greater light beamed down from above, absorbing it and firing it onward. And all those rays of light focused together in one place. They coalesced into a light more intense still. That great light expanded. Sophie raised a hand instinctively to protect her eyes. But, of course, it didn’t really hurt her eyes. She wasn’t seeing it with her physical eyes. So she let her hand drop. And out of the confluence of those lights, a cross began to form. A bright white cross. And then that cross took the shape of a person, a human being with arms outstretched. A man. A glowing man. For half a second Sophie winced, remembering the bright angel that tried to seduce her and intimidate her. But the fear from that nighttime encounter evaporated just as
quickly. The shining man in the center of the light from those angels was smiling. Smiling at her. Happy to see her. Happy to see her here. Her neck was hurting from the strain of looking up there, so she let herself lie back. Several hands helped her sink to the floor so she could see that shining person better. That loving man. The light collector. When the music stopped, more hands helped her to stand. She didn’t recall wanting to stand, but she didn’t fight it. Priscilla helped her to settle back into her seat. Sophie relaxed. Slumped. Drunken. She couldn’t see that shining man anymore. Unless she closed her eyes. Then she could focus on his image burned inside her. She wobbled even sitting down. Priscilla reached a hand to prop her up. Sophie tried to nod a thanks. Her whole upper body seemed to nod with her head. She tried to speak, but could only communicate internally. “So, this is church.”
~~~
We meet Sophie when she is a young woman. She's adopted the goth look and manners of a very insecure woman. She keeps her head down the majority of time. She doesn't go to church, has a few close friends about her age, and sees her mother as often as she can. She's a proficient computer designer and is kept busy among a small group of individuals doing the same type of job, partnering on projects, sometimes fooling around with a job by sticking flying pterodactyl onto a proposed campaign submission.
She has a relatively quiet life, going home to her own apartment, alone most of the time--she doesn't dare invite friends for a sleepover. Because most nights at exactly 3:33 a.m. the huge head floats over her bed, with a severed neck dripping... She knows who it is. She had gone to him for psychic help, one of many who she had visited, hoping somebody would believe what she saw. And help her.
The problem is, that this psychic recognized her great talent and wanted to use it for his own reasons!
But something had changed. She was seeing not only those creatures who seemed to be formed like pictures she'd seen of angels, but so many other things smaller, even those who sat on the bodies of those with whom she worked or who rode on the same bus she had taken.
Sophie's mother had been asked to remove her daughter from church. How could she explain what she had seen surrounding one of the priests who was now at the Catholic Church where her mother had gone all of her life. Since then Sophie stayed away from any place with large crowds, especially churches, even though she had once thought that they would be wonderful places. But after her young brother died as well as her father, Sophie had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals where nobody would accept what she told them. They called her a liar and a rebellious teenager...
Somehow one friend from early school years, Priscilla, had remained Sophie's friend--her one church friend, with whom she was able to share most of her life activities, including that she could...see... angels. So it was Priscilla who had suggested that she go for counseling with a friend of her mother's, Bernadetta Washington. And a budding relationship began that would change Sophie's life...
Detta was a prayer warrior and counselor related to how Jesus could be a part of your life. When Sophie had met Detta, she had immediately saw what looked to be a snake wrapped around Detta's head, with the head of the snake going into Detta's chest... Together with the vision from Sophie and Detta's command of the words necessary to rebuke evil... what was thought to be pulmonary fibrosis, was gone by the time the next test was to take place. Of course, Detta's doctor wasn't sure what had happened, but had no reason, under insurance policies, to request another exam to prove it was no...longer...there...
Jones writes from the POV of Sophie most of the time. We are privy to see exactly what she sees, and learn what might have caused the small creature to be now holding on to the individual. In fact, for the first few pages, we seem to actually experience seeing what Sophie sees--confusion, puzzlement, anger when she realizes what has caused the event. Detta began teaching her, but Sophia soon realized she was now able to understand...
First, she saw angels in Detta's home, and soon, in her own... It's fun watching Sophie, who had had no idea why she was seeing all these creatures, and, not knowing that there were both good and evil ones!
Fascinating, spooky, heartwarming, are great words to describe the plot. But, once Sophie realizes that hundreds of small fairy-size creatures routinely plague practically everybody she knows, she slowly experiments with how she can help her friends get rid of what she learns are, often, bad feelings, sadness, greed, and all those human bad thoughts we have which soon bog us down if we don't deal with them.
Reading this review will not possibly help you in preparing to read what you will read... I saw The Exorcist, and decided I wasn't going to watch any further movies like that one. Believe me, even as a fantasy novel, the reality in this book is well beyond anything you'll see in a horror movie. But, that's the point! It's NOT a horror movie!
It's a book that merely asks, "What would it be like to be born with one of God's gifts? This time, the ability to see angels--good and bad ones. Then, watching as a small child recognizes that she is the only one that sees (like the little girl in the trailer for Ghost Whisperer, above) but that nobody, including her family, understands or believes... To be branded a liar for the first significant part of your life. The writer's imagination is superb, undoubtedly based upon his earlier writings and research. The scope and diversity would prevent an effective movie. But there are certainly many possibilities, especially when dealing with our basic "not okay" emotional feelings!
Excellent writing, superb pacing, outstanding supernatural images! Unbelievable... And, yet, for those who believe in angels and their role in God's world, you will gain a wealth of knowledge about, What if? God gave us a gift* that we quickly decided we didn't want and had no idea what to do with... I loved it!
GABixlerReviews
*Although I was happy to receive the gift of tongues along with the acceptance of His Holy Spirit within me, I am aware that, like Sophie, that even within my family, nobody actually believes this happened to me. On the other hand, I know that I know that I know that God does give us gifts in these later days. May you allow your own gift to be recognized and used for His purpose. Your gifts will be used for those people who are sent to you... That is sufficient for the receiver.
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