Why I Wrote a Multicultural Christian Historical Fiction for Christian Girlies Like Me
Sat on my couch, listening to worship songs and munching on some cookies, I took a break from scrolling lazily through my phone.I needed to recalibrate after spending so long writing and releasing my latest story. It was 2024 and a few days to Christmas and all that was on my mind really, was the feast of Jollof rice and peppered turkey that awaited me at my family’s. Â
Outside, it snowed one minute and then rained the next, the British weather acting worse than a toddler with annoying tantrums. But grateful that the canopy of darkness hadn’t yet been cast over this winter day and remembering I hadn’t fulfilled the usual christmas-pyjamas-picture tradition, I decided to make the most of the scarce sunlight.
I jumped off the couch, threw a wig over my rough cornrows – due a wash and reweave, and took a picture in a checkered christmas pyjamas. From behind, my sparsely-decorated Christmas tree towered over me like a nosy sibling while my green couch, although having witnessed me take too many pictures – a majority of which I never post, still offered the solidarity of a faithful ally. I was reminded of those pictures we took growing up – with our siblings, dressed in sparkly Christmas clothes and shoes, posing for vintage cameras with analogue lenses.
Christmas, growing up in Nigeria, West Africa was always fun. Family, friends and neighbours came together, celebrating God’s love to the world.
And so, I had this idea of writing a Christmas story set in Nigeria. Only this time I wanted to explain the manifold depths of God’s mercy through the life of a girl who lost everything in an explosion.
After two or three or five pictures taken with the help of my iphone’s timer, I posted the best on my WhatsApp (don’t you laugh at me like you don’t do the same!) and jokingly captioned it: 5 steps to writing a compelling Christmas story. Of course the steps weren’t real tips. I had just written a story about a teenager seeking the Lord’s reassurance at Christmastime like that December, and all I wanted to do was bless someone and honour the Lord with it.
Let me take you back a little to the start of the year 2024. God had been stirring my heart on the subject of His mercy. I studied Romans 9 and saw that though we were destined for wrath, God in His sovereignty made us vessels of His mercy. I saw that God’s mercy is what makes up for the gaps in our knowledge. For instance, how are you able to plan every detail of your life save that God works out the details for your good? Life in general is far too fleeting to have every second figured out. This is the reason as believers, it is wise to lean into the provision of the Lord’s sovereignty.
Although my study on the mercies of the Lord was personal, I knew God would have me share some details of my learnings through fiction and through the life of a girl, Tehillah, who we will later see.
Back to the picture I had posted on WhatsApp and the story I had shared. I was surprised when the notifications started to pop in like I had just announced my engagement to a celebrity. I was having a Marie Bliss moment. OMG! What was happening? People liked Rains of Mercy and much more, they found Tehillah’s backstory very interesting. My friends saw potential in the little idea God had given me.
So, gulping through the feedback, I wondered if this was something really bigger – if God would have me write a full length story. For the longest time possible, I had been writing short stories and was very content doing so. But I could feel the Father stir my heart and like a child given her favourite plaything, I could feel the Lord tickle my inside with this story of Tehillah, a young Christian girl desperately seeking the reassurance of the Father’s sovereignty.
Although Rains of Mercy Reminds Christians of a Common Truth, It Carries Its own Distinct Message
Done with the excitement of realising people liked my story enough to want to read a full-length book, I dusted my writing tools and went back to business. I drafted a plot arc and sent it to my beta readers who then sent in their feedback. And off, I started to work(let me spare you the boring nitty-gritty details of writing and publishing).
I wrote Rains of Mercy with one goal in mind – to remind you that you are a love child of a loving God. I wrote ROM for you who isn’t sure how things will play out.
Big caveat though. In Rains of Mercy, you might cry like a child when you read about Tehillah’s family loss. But I promise also, you will giggle when you meet her little cousin, Kamsi. And you will want to give Tehillah a knock in the head when she despises Jordan (a guy who gushes over her) just because he is shorter and younger.
Although Rains of Mercy resonates deep with the lives of many believers, it carries its own distinct message. It is a historical christian fiction set in early 2000s in England and Nigeria so it is laced with so many nostalgic references, I’m hoping you have a good read.
Who Should Read Rains of Mercy?
I wrote ROM for that Christian youth struggling to stand for God in a world where it’s not the norm. I wrote ROM for that Christian girl looking for a clean, no-smut, closed-door, multicultural historical romance. I wrote ROM for you!
I am hoping that as you read Rains of Mercy in December, you find comfort in Tehillah’s story and see that God makes everything work together for His children’s good.
Book Blurb
A Millennial’s Story of Self-discovery and Faith
Tehillah loses everything in a bomb explosion.
She gets adopted by strangers.
She relocates a thousand seas away from the country of her birth and heart.
And… then ends up with a malicious adoptive sister.
She struggles with culture shocks, low self-esteem, ends up in a dodgy relationship and becomes a single mum.
Will Tehillah find a way to rebuild her life, rediscover her worth, and experience the mercies of a God who loves her more than she can imagine?
Will she ever accept Mrs Ezegwu as her mother? And will she stop seeing Jordan as the shorter, younger boy she could never like?
Hi Rume, your book sounds interesting. I am sure there will be an audience for this book. On instagram I am connecting with a lot of people looking for clean YA books (There main issue is that YA is primarily aimed at 14 – 18 year olds and they don’t need language or smut or adult content in books).