"I simply could not put it down."
"You are a great storyteller."
"I found myself wishing you wrote novels because your descriptions are stellar."
As I enjoy the comments from readers of Trading Fathers, I rejoice at God's goodness. Several times in the last several years, I despaired of finishing that writing. I was sure I was not a good storyteller. I could not tell it in a compelling way. And, did my selection of scenes tell the story adequately? I didn't know.
Pushing through all those self-deprecations required faith, hope, and love. Faith that God himself had called me to the task and would therefore give me the help I needed. Hope that the story could be a means of grace to many others. And love enough to risk spilling my guts.
I have a wonderful life. The heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it, Jeremiah reports (17:9), so I'm suspicious of my discernment about my motives. However, as far as I can tell, I did not need to write Trading Fathers. I wanted to write it. But seeing my name in print on the cover of a book does not validate my existence.
Sure is fun, though. Fun may not be the right word. Powerful, rewarding, satisfying.Grateful to add my story of pain and redemption to the multitude of stories that display God's glory in the earth.
He is a redeemer. He takes the worst pain Satan can create in a life and brings his healing, hope, and peace. If we let him.
Come Holy Spirit. Let your compassion, your suffering with us, lighten the loads we carry.