Just like me, you might be in the process of writing the best novel ever. Of course it’s destined to be a best seller. I’ve planned and dreamed and worked toward the desired outcome. You know, guy becomes successful, meets the perfect girl, has the perfect kids, retires to a mountain lake resort, and lives happily ever after. There’s just one problem, things are not turning out as I hoped.
We all start out with our ideal. But somewhere in between Once Upon a Time and The End, things in the real world often go sideways. And nothing is more frustrating than when the characters in our life don’t follow our script or behave as we expect. It can cause a crisis of utmost proportions. In that moment there is only one thing to do. Apologize to God.
You see somewhere along the way I decided that my way was best and that God was welcomed to tag along. This move was similar to two friends needing to take a road trip and the blind friend says, “I’ll drive.” Seems ludicrous but that’s exactly how it looks to God. After all he is the one who can see not just miles ahead, but years and decades.
In the Bible we read it’s best to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” This is because our understanding is quite limited. My family’s limited understanding proclaimed that I would someday run the casket factory, since that was the family business. But after the factory closed I was destined to be a salesman, until my dad realized I wasn’t good at sales. I then moved toward college as a ministry major when God opened the door of counseling and social work.
I am so satisfied to be doing exactly what God planned for me to do long before I was even born. And since then my novel writing has become less stressful, especially when I hand the pen over to God. His stories end better.
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