The Story behind ‘Finding Jesus’

My childhood



As young children, we used to make tents with our next-door neighbours in the back garden. We would use an old clothes horse and large pieces of ‘throw-away ‘materials, ‘throw away’ rugs and clothes pegs to keep the materials in place! Not quite the sleek, modern-day pop-up tents like in the image above, but something that actually looked like it had been made by children! It was this memory of tents that were the basis for my story. I had this idea of a story where the children could all camp in their back garden overnight and some funny things that could happen through the course of the night.

But ten years on, this story no longer satisfied me. I didn’t know what to do, so I popped into church to pray.

My story line changed from tents to Tabernacle!



The illustration above is taken from my story, ‘Finding Jesus’, and is actually based on the inside of my parish church! Where Chris and Shani are knelt in the front pew right in front of the Tabernacle is exactly where I placed myself. I honestly was a bit nervous, in case I wasn’t able to hear Jesus speak to me. My whole next storybook was at stake! So, here I was kneeling before God, without a clue where to start!

As I just looked at the Tabernacle without really praying….no words were really forming in my mind…I just stayed still. Within five minutes or so I suddenly had an Epiphany moment:

“It’s a tent!” I remember saying to myself as I looked at the materials draped over the precious metal tabernacle. Then my mind swung to the Old Testament remembering how the Tabernacle they built in the desert was also a tent. Then I realised I could still write a story about a tent – but it would be the tent of the original Tabernacle! My mind was racing with possibilities, and I was so grateful that God had miraculously got me out of a tight spot. I couldn’t quite believe what had just happened, but I had the first stirrings of a story! It was the Summer of 2025. I still had time to formulate a story and get it self-published before June 2026.

The First draft

I had a strong urge to get my story down onto paper while it was still swimming in my head! I was desperate to put pen to paper. But to do this, I also wanted to be surrounded by natural beauty. I googled ‘nearest nature reserve’ and found somewhere that seemed to fit the bill. It appeared to be a good spot to write as well sip tea and nibble on something delicious! I am a ‘foodie’!



I found a nearby nature reserve and headed there by train. I had never been there before but it really ‘fitted the bill’. I ordered two pots of tea and a massive chunk of Rocky Road! I had brought my best notebook with me and my pen – I was all set!

This is me in the setting that God provided for me. The sun was warm and I filled my hours with writing down my story for the first time, sipping tea and nibbling on Rocky Road!

Inside my parish church and Westminster Cathedral

While everything was fresh in my mind and with the initial scenes that I had sketched with my ‘stickmen’ I knew that I needed to take plenty of photos of the inside of my church. This was because my illustrator, who although is Christian, is not Catholic and so I needed to offer her plenty of photos so that she could see and replicate what a real Catholic church looked like from the inside. This is how the inside of my parish church and my parish priest, Fr. Wymer, ended up in my story!



So how did the inside of Westminster Cathedral end up in my story? Well, one day I visited the cathedral, and I gazed up at the ceiling as I often did because they have the loveliest images painted upon them. I knew that in my story there would be an illustration of two angels flanking the priest as he consecrated the bread. And as I looked up at the ceiling, I saw the image below. These angels had colourful wings rather than the usual white ones that you see on Christmas cards and in children’s stories etc. Yes! I thought, these were the colours that I wanted my angels’ wings to have!



The Illustrations

After my beta readers read my initial draft, I realised that I need to change a few things so that the children could really understand the concept of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. Having done that, I sent it off for professional editing and then came time to start work with my illustrator, the award-winning Kimberly Merritt.

My desire for the children that hear ‘Finding Jesus’

My desire is that children will eventually see the connection between the Tabernacle of the Old Testament and the Tabernacle in our Catholic churches. I hope that they will see ‘the Presence of God’ throughout the ages – and especially in the Eucharist.

For the youngest hearts this may not happen when they hear the story for the first time, but as they hear it again and again, with their parents pointing out the presence of Jesus, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, in Their colours of red, yellow and pale purple/lilac throughout the story, I hope that this will happen.

For guidance on how to do this please see:

Follow the Presence of Jesus | Finding Jesus Guide .

I was heartened by my 5-year-old reviewer who said:

" I like knowing the bread can turn into the Body of Christ. And I thought it's surprising because I didn't know they can turn into the Body of Christ!"

Taken after my first launch event at my parish hall in May 2024