Dreams, Memories & Keys

Prologue

The Lord looked down on the family gathered in the cemetery to remember the life of their youngest daughter, Melody Hannah Abernathy. In the heavens, her soul, His servant, was known as Angel, the name recorded for her from her first life in the Book of Life. Each soul on Earth was known in such a way, and each of them would be known by that name when their time came to come home.

But today was not that day. Today, those souls gathered around the tiny grave had years ahead of them yet to live. How many years, none of them knew, but the Lord in heaven, God Almighty, He knew. And yet the Lord watched, eager to see how blessed with free will chose to use their time. He also listened, this time to the prayers of His faithful as they put their memories of their daughter, sister, and friend to rest.

Then the family turned away from the grave and walked away.

"What will happen now?" Angel asked the Lord, concerned as always about the fate of her family still bound to the Earth.

"They will live their lives. Some will serve me. Others will not. Only time will tell what the future will bring," the Lord replied.

"Do you know?" Angel pressed.

The Lord smiled on His servant. In some ways, she was still the little five-year-old girl she'd been at her death, something which happened a year ago according to way time passed on the Earth.

"You must be patient," the Lord admonished. "There are tasks each soul you know as family must complete."

"Even my Mama and Papa?" Angel, who now resembled the little girl she was in life, the little girl known as Melody asked.

"Even they have tasks they must still complete. Not many. In recent times, Jalyn has done particularly well, and I am pleased," the Lord said.

"He learned to sing," Melody said proudly.

"He uses his song to deliver my message of faith," the Lord agreed. "But there is more. Together my faithful have one last challenge, that of gaining acceptance of their union by all in their respective families through faith," the Lord said.

"Papa is accepted by everyone in Mama's family," the soul who was Melody reported.

"Yes, but it must also be the other way around," the Angel of the Lord said.

Melody frowned. "Jessie talks to Papa's family, he doesn't. Is he supposed to?" Melody asked.

"The one you knew as your sister Jessie talks to the next generation of your papa's family. That is the task of her and her soulmate to tend to. They too must succeed in order to come here. The acceptance of your mama and papa's union and their service to me by family must come from the generations before, those who are peers or older than your papa is now," the Lord explained.

Melody looked at the Lord in confusion.

"There is one whom he knows well whom he considers a peer. He must persuade her to accept him and his soulmate. Only then can they have the impact she will need to succeed, which will enable her to join her soulmate here," the Lord told her.

"Who?" Melody asked.

"You have never met her, but her soulmate now lives here," the Angel of the Lord told her.

"Her soulmate was also Jalyn's brother in life, which is why he counts her as family. He has known her since childhood. His own parents accept her as a member of the family. She therefore represents them still while she is on Earth," the Lord explained.

"Is that all?" Melody asked.

"No. There are two others, whom your papa does not know. They will be harder for him to discover, however they are family to his parents and represent them in this. This is part of his task too," the Lord explained.