Working With the Author of Our Faith

Sometimes I talk to fictional characters. Sometimes they are my fictional characters. I talk to them to figure out why they are behaving the way they are and how they might respond to different circumstances I may choose to place them in. Most of these conversations take place after I’ve stepped away from my work-in-progress for the day and while I’m considering possibilities for what comes next or trying to figure out why what I thought was going to happen didn’t work out the way I had planned. Believe it or not, authors don’t always get their way. Sometimes their characters surprise them. That’s when authors must rewrite, revise, or let their characters lead. Sometimes I talk to my characters to figure out which I want to do.

Sometimes, though, other people’s characters prompt me to talk things over with them, too. Most recently, I responded to a prayer spoken by Dawn Dixon, the main character in Suzanne Woods Fisher’s book, The Sweet Life.

[Spoiler alert: If you haven’t yet read this book, the prayer refers to events that you’ll learn about early on. These events are catalysts for everything that happens in the book, therefore, knowing about them won’t spoil the book for you. However, if you’d rather learn about them in the book, go read it now. I’ll be here to continue when you get back.]

Here’s the prayer:

“I am angry with you, so angry. You took my dad, you took Kevin, you nearly took my mom. And why? Why dole out all that? You’ve got some explaining to do” (Fisher 258-259).

Here’s my response to Dawn:

“But, Dawn, you’re talking to a human author who created you from her imagination—not to God. She gave you carefully chosen trials that she could use to develop your character. She decided how these would impact you and how you would respond, so you would grow into a healthier, happier person with a more satisfying life.”

Dawn didn’t respond, but God did. Not out loud, of course, but with one of those light bulb moments. It was as if He was saying, “Yes! That’s it! Go back and listen to yourself.”

You see, my words to Dawn give us a close idea of what the Bible means when it says Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). He created us. He loves us. He wants us to grow into healthier, happier people with more satisfying lives, lives built on a trusting and obedient relationship with him. Like the author of a novel knows her characters, Jesus knows His children. He knows who they are and who they can be and how to help them become the best possibility.

Therefore, in the words of Kate Motaung and Shannon Popkin, authors of another book I recently read, “In his grace and mercy, God will provide every thorn, difficulty, and setback necessary to empty you of yourself, that you might be filled with Him” (135). He doesn’t necessarily cause these trials, but He does allow them. Then, if we choose to trust Him through the process, He uses them to help us mature in Him.

That last bit, choice, is the difference between fictional characters and living, breathing human beings. God has given us the right and ability to choose how we’ll respond to life’s hardships. Dawn Dixon had to respond to the hardships in her life the way her author decided she would. Even when characters surprise their authors and try to take the story in a different direction, their authors have the final say.

For example, one of the characters in my current work-in-progress has told me that she doesn’t want to only be the main character’s nemesis. She wants to grow and change and become a better human being, too. She even suggested a path she could take. I’m considering her suggestion as I work, but the final decision will be mine. God, on the other hand, leaves the final decision up to us. If we choose the low road, He may throw new obstacles in our path to show us the wisdom of His ways (consider Jonah) or He may simply allow us to experience whatever results from decisions we make.

Either way, He never stops loving us, never stops looking over us, never stops caring what becomes of us. He wants us to experience His abundant life—a thriving relationship with Him, so He will nurture this, but He will not force it. He leaves the decision to us.

We all feel like Dawn Dixon sometimes, “Angry . . . so angry!” (Fisher 258). When we do, we can talk to Him like she did. But then we can take a step back, stop demanding explanations, and ask Him to show us what He’s trying to do. When we work with Him, instead of fighting, He helps us to grow in Him.

Works Cited

Fisher, Suzanne Woods. The Sweet Life (Cape Cod Creamery Book #1). Baker Books, 2022.

Motaung, Kate, and Shannon Popkin. Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me). 2018.

Photo by Andrey Zvyagintsev on Unsplash

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