Recently a friend I had not seen the last 5-6 years came by to visit. We had been very close. I listened with pain at some of the terrible things she and her family have been through.
As I was praying for them this morning, I began to think of God as an Author too.
Authors create these people they really care about, but they have to let them experience some awful crises and torments, some unexpected failures and devastation. In the end, the author wants to bring them through to victory and a wonderful and satisfying resolution.
(Most of them do; I hear some authors like sadistic, unhappy endings).
Authors can completely control the lives of the people they invent for their stories and books. But we know that readers expect things to get very dark - even frightening for those characters before the resolution becomes clear and things turn out well again.
Writing courses teach us not to plant miraculous interventions into our stories that solve everything without the character's natural decision processes.
My own problem, as a writer, is that I prefer to dwell on the tender and poignant moments in my story, and have to really work at bringing in the unnerving crisis and the villains that appear to have power to destroy. I'd rather not be cruel. I'd rather sit in the sunny meadow, examining the petals of a flower.
You know what? God doesn't want to be cruel either.
This analogy breaks down somewhat in that, though He has power to wipe us out in a split second by with- holding oxygen from us, He has given us the power to choose. Often the dramas of our lives are held up while He waits for us to make our choices. He does not force a miraculous healing or solution on us. God does sometimes allow evil to happen to us.
I'm just finishing a book by Gracia Burnham, about the year she and her husband Martin spent as kidnapped captives in the Philippines. "In the Presence of Mine Enemies," seems like an example of this, although some might argue with me on that point.
By the end, I was confirmed in my belief that God was all at the same time, the Author of their story, letting everyone decide in character, and responding with His personal presence and intervention to those who sought it, and trusted Him.
I repeat; this encourages me.
It is reassuring to know God is going to work out a good resolution for my friend's family. The process is likely not going to be over in just another year, and it is going to seem like more impossible mountains to cross, but in my heart rings a melody of hope!
This may not make sense to any but writers, and then only to those who have thought about this special God-like role we take on. If you need it spelled out more plainly, and if you trust me, clutch this line to your bosom;
My God knows the plot of my life, and He is plotting to get me through these impossibilities to a satisfying resolution of all my problems.
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