By Stacey Weeks
I love how a story is able to convey deep theological truths in a compelling and applicable way. I love being lost in a character, thinking and feeling as deeply as them, struggling to find God in their broken dreams, and knowing, as the writer, their happy ending is with their Saviour. Jenna was a particularly challenging character to write. She had been deeply wounded; however, she was accountable to God for her response. The sin that entangled Jenna was her response to her trials and how she held onto her anger and bitterness.
Any woman who knows what it is like to hold tight to a dream or desire and struggle to submit it to God’s will, will connect with Jenna. By the end of the story, she takes a vulnerable look at her sins and the deceptions she had believed that stalled her progress toward fulfilling God’s ultimate purpose for her life – glorifying Him in the good and the difficult. Her moment of complete surrender is my favourite passage in the book. It’s where she considers that God did hear all her prayers, and He collected each and every tear she shed, that His love for her was not dependent on her ability to trust more, act more, pray more, or be more — but was based on Him. He had walked so close to her during her struggles that she blamed Him when He had wanted her to lean on Him.
Broken dreams are often the catalyst that sparks a search for deeper intimacy with the Lord. They are evidence of our need and should prompt us to call out shamelessly to Him for grace, mercy, and restoration, laying our dreams and ambitions at His feet in complete surrender. Modeling this type of surrender in my characters brings delight to my soul.
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