A Mind of Their Own

Have you ever had a character do or say something you didn’t expect? You knew where the scene was going, but suddenly it twisted as you wrote?

I have. In one scene in my novel, Voice of the Ashes, two characters were having a conversation, and I could not believe the nasty tone one of them suddenly took. It was so unexpected.

This is not some weird phenomenon of characters manipulating you, because in reality you are still in complete control. It’s just that sometimes, when you’re in a great writing mood and the words are flowing, ideas travel from your mind through your pen faster than you realise.

It’s one of the greatest joys of writing; it makes your characters so much more alive. (Though it’s not always pleasant when their aliveness shows how spiteful they are.)

Now let’s take this as an (imperfect) analogy. God is the Author of this world, and each one of us is a character in His hands. How do you think He feels when we thwart the plans He has for us and let our sinful nature take control?

If you are a child of God, you have been crucified with Christ, but sometimes that old self still rears its head in our actions and reactions.

The good news is that as our Author, God is editing us daily. He doesn’t get weary, and He doesn’t get writers’ block.

That old self—the person you were before accepting salvation—was just a first draft. You know how rough those can be! But a new draft was written when you were born again, a draft that is being revised until it reaches perfection.

This is not to put God down on our level, in the bounds of our human limitations. I hope and pray you’re seeing my point here. We make mistakes, blundering through things, having a mind of our own on how circumstances or events should be.

And Jesus says, “…every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit … I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”

Don’t struggle against the revisions God is making in your life—He is simply pruning you to produce more fruit. And it’s that fruit: love, joy, peace, patience … that will show the world there is an Author of all things.

Τετελεσται!

T.R.Q.T.