Hello everyone! Welcome to Blonde Girl Writing Blog, where I share about faith, writing, and reading.
Today, I have the enormous honor of hosting Grace Sweeney at Where Brook and River Meet! She has an encouraging message to share, so lean in.
It’s a common joke in writing circles that authors love to torture their characters. To be fair, we do put them through an awful lot. Mine have gone through beatings, kidnappings, exile, betrayal, and… the list goes on. That’s certainly not the happiest existence for these poor imaginary people. *pats my characters*
And it isn’t just my evil-author-self who torments characters. Voila, a meme from Pinterest that perfectly captures what I’m talking about:
In Scripture, God is called the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). I love the picture of Him being the Great Author. He does mysteriously allow painful circumstances in our lives, but He is never vindictively cruel (like human writers can be). Rather, He is providentially good and sovereign over everything, similar to how human authors oversee the many threads of the story they’re crafting.
While many comparisons could be drawn between human authors and the Great Author, I want to focus on four parallels of storytelling and faith worth pondering.
1. Stories Aren’t Always Fun for the Characters
Even in the best of stories, there is suffering. There is pain, difficulty, danger.
Think of beloved “quiet stories” like Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, or the epic Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. There is wondrous beauty in these stories, but there is also a lot of immense difficulty for the characters.
We’re told that there will be suffering in our lives, too, even for Christians. In John 16, Jesus says to His disciples, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Our troubles in this fallen world are not the end of the story.
2. Everything Happens for the Character Arc
When writers craft a story, every bit of pain and trial we put our characters through is to help them recognize the “lie” they’ve believed, and come around to accept the “truth” of the story. That’s called a character arc. It’s the transformation from, say, a character believing that the only person who matters is themselves, to believing that it’s best to look out for others.
But what about in real life? When trials happen… are they just pointless? Is there anything to be gained from them?
Yes—our sufferings can change us for the better, too. In Romans 5:3-5 it says, “Not only this, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
And again, in James 1:2-4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
God doesn’t cause our sufferings in this world; they happen because of sin. But He does use them to push us toward Himself and transform us into His likeness.
3. Plot Twists Happen
Life seems to love throwing unexpected curveballs at us, like a sudden move or medical emergency. In writing, we call these plot twists. It’s something that changes the story as we know it in a major way, and sends all the characters scrambling for a handhold. I’m sure we’ve all experienced that at some point in our lives, too.
Authors generally throw in these twists to shock their readers, further injure their poor characters, or to advance the plot. In life, plot twists often aren’t inserted quite so carefully– they seem rather haphazard. But even when life seems to be falling apart with twist after twist wearing us down, God is still the Great Author and is taking precious care of us.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11.)
God isn’t surprised by any of the painful things that happen. He also doesn’t plan anything in our lives for evil, or suffering. He plans welfare for us. He plans a good future. He plans hope.
In this fallen world, evil and painful things will happen. But we have this promise from the Lord: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…”. (Romans 8:28.) As we navigate the plot twists of life, we can always put our trust in Him.
4. Some Stories are Tragedies
There is a market in the literary world for tragedies. Some people love reading and watching tragedies. You may have read one or two of Shakespeare’s tragedies, even.
Wikipedia defines a tragedy as “a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters.” Essentially, a tragedy is a story where a lot of terrible things happen, and then it usually ends horribly, too.
Does it ever feel like you’re living out a tragedy? Like wave upon wave of sorrow and pain keeps washing over you, pushing you deeper and deeper into the ground? Does it sometimes feel too hard to get up in the morning? Like nothing’s going to change, and the hurt won’t leave?
If that’s you, my heart aches with you.
But let me encourage you with this truth: God never writes a tragedy for His children.
Most of our favorite stories don’t end with suffering, and our story doesn’t either. There is a promised “happily ever after” for those who love the Lord.
Just like our fictional characters are moving toward an ending more wonderful than they could imagine, we too are headed somewhere more incredible than any of us could even dream.
Heaven. At home with God. Everything perfectly restored, as it ought to be. Forever.
In John 16, Jesus says, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
There is suffering in this world, but it will end. We will step into a glorious future with Christ.
And that, my friend, is the farthest thing from tragedy there is.
Remember this: Our God never writes tragedies. As the Great Author, He perfectly weaves our stories, no matter what plot twists we face, into beautiful masterpieces for His glory.
Grace Sweeney is an aspiring teenage author who loves writing epic stories that capture the imagination and bless the soul. Being homeschooled has given her a chance to immerse herself in reading and writing, all while gathering inspiration from her family’s travels. She currently lives in Europe with her parents, three younger siblings, and the cat, Dara, where she enjoys baking, karaoke, and roleplaying with characters in her spare time. Connect with her and her writing on Where Brook and River Meet and her email list.
Best wishes,
Jonah
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