Heart Soul Mind Strength

a new-to-me perspective

I have explored writing fictional stories sporadically for several years, mostly for my own entertainment. In the last two years, I felt a stronger urge to write. I’ve tried to write down stories and events from my life, but the most fun writing has been fictional stories that pop into my head.

I discovered a new perspective on sovereignty through my writing experience. As the author and creator of a fictional story, set in a place I made up, and featuring characteristics and behaviors of people that I wrote into existence in my mind, everything that occurs in the story is up to me. I decide everything about the world in which the story takes place. I choose my characters’ names, backstory, physical characteristics, and even their inner dialogue.

At times, it feels like the characters themselves suggest ideas to me. Sometimes it feels like a specific sequence of events unfolds in the story rather than me forging that sequence of events or circumstance. I’ve often found myself fully immersed in a conversation between two characters, seeming to listen to them instead of putting words in their mouths. However, if I decide, in a moment of inspiration, to make sweeping changes to everything, none of the characters in the story can stop me.

Usually sweeping changes start with the change of one small detail based on some research or pondering a new idea that requires the change. From one tweek of a detail, I often must rework a whole cascade of resulting changes for everything to make sense and remain consistent.

Sometimes I get tired of the entire premise of the world, the main character, or the story line. In ill moods towards the world of my literary creation, I have deleted many, many of the stories I’ve written. Like a pen-and-paper writer wadding up sheets of paper and flinging them into the fire, I have flung away and lost those worlds forever.

Was time spent building those worlds a waste? I had every right to delete, change, edit, or destroy these worlds as their author and creator, but I also continue to occasionally miss those stories or characters I had grown attached to.

I also feel like the circumstances and responses, the conversations and lessons learned, the inner conversations and introspection in my stories reflect my own deeper thoughts and feelings. I feel like I will learn and uncover secrets hidden inside my heart and bound up in my mind through writing. I may open up dark corners and messes to the Light of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit living in me.

There are behaviors of myself and others, environmental factors from childhood, and real-life struggles endemic to my family that I may be able to pull out and examine under the Light of Truth. The Scripture admonishes us to seek knowledge, wisdom, and understanding over and over. I must keep on anchoring in studying and applying the Word of God very faithfully and carefully as I continue writing fiction.

Like everything else in the life of one who Trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ, writing fiction is something I must always, always do ONLY for the GLORY of GOD.

God is the author, creator, and finisher of my Life and my Faith. He can do whatever He wants with my life and I am helpless to stop Him just like the characters in my stories cannot stop me from deleting the words they’re made of. But, God retains me with patience and love in His hands. He will have me forever in His mind and heart as one beloved and cherished. Such is the life story of those who live bt faith in Christ. I welcome Him to do with me what He will.