My Faith in "On Wings of Crowns and Chaos"

• Themes of being a Servant Leader & finding our True Purpose - Jesus is the ultimate "servant leader", not only preaching about it but also perfectly living and exemplifying it through his life and sacrifice for us. This one is fairly obvious with how Quinn struggles to understand what leadership should look like and struggles with her purpose until how Leera tells her: “The best and greatest purpose you can find is using your gift to serve others. When you can do this—when you can put others before yourself and become a servant leader—that’s when you’ll find your true purpose. That’s the mark of a great ruler. That’s when you will figure out how you, Quinntessa, were always meant to lead... Even a leader who is taking care of themselves must be motivated by the good of those they lead, not just their own good. Some folk do lead with selfish motives. But it is the selfless leaders, the servant leaders, who truly make a difference.” Quinn begins to learn this by the end of Book 2, but it is a theme that she will continue to grow in through to end of the series as well.

• Battling “lies” we believe about ourselves with the truth - The enemy is constantly lying to us so we forget who and whose we truly are and the only way to battle that is to dispel those lies with God's truth and surround ourselves with others who will help us do that when we don't have the strength to do it ourselves. I tried to show this through all of my five main characters, but especially Aeron's Silver Tongue voice literally tempts and lies to him in his mind and how Aeron and Quinn help each other fight the lies spoken over them in the "wind tunnel". P.S. I wouldn't say that Aeron's Silver Tongue is supposed to be "Satan" outright—you'll learn more about his gift in Book 3—but it's definitely supposed to symbolize the battle for our minds and hearts and how we can lean on the spiritual power from The Vine / God to help us battle those lies and stay true to who we are.

• The Armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18) - Speaking of "battling" lies, I also decided to give each character "mental weapons" they could use to protect themselves against the use of Silver Tongue, which were directly inspired by The Armor of God: Aeron has a breastplate, Quinn has a sword, Hickory has a shield... Alys has her vines (like whips) which are not part of the Armor of God, but felt true to her. You'll find out which piece of armor Vale has in Book 3.

• The power of Gratitude - Returning to gratitude to God is also a powerful way to fight the temptation to despair or believe the lies of the enemy. At my church, my pastor talks about this a lot and also has shared how remembering certain times of God's faithfulness (which he labels "Golden Memories") and meditating on those frequently can help us quickly return to joy and faith that God's goodness and will work in our difficult circumstances again. Again, this is not a perfect comparison, but I kind of adapted this idea for how Quinn's learns to use "happy thoughts / memories" to help her center herself when she's feeling afraid or out of control, and to channel positive emotions that will fuel her fire in a constructive instead of harmful way.

• Prophecy and Interpretation - Scripture is full of prophecies and there are "spiritual gifts" of prophesy and interpretation listed in the New Testament too. I had a lot of fun playing with both gifts for Hickory & Vale's and having the visions come from the Sacred Vine (the almost "God-like" entity.