A Different Perspective, Victoria Advocate
To prepare for the writer’s conference, I sent a proposal to my publisher for one of the devotional slots. To my delight, she accepted it. I jotted down ideas and notes whenever a quote or point came to mind in the months that followed. A week before the conference, I put the presentation together and added PowerPoint slides. I think it took me longer to figure out how to share it digitally than to write the presentation. Gotta love technology. Writing a weekly column certainly helps with deadlines. I rehearsed it a few times so the words would roll off my tongue smoothly. The title of my devotional was “In Defense of Happily Ever Afters.”
I was struggling to be taken seriously as a writer when I came up with the topic. Some folks have the unfortunate idea that fiction, especially romance, isn’t “real” writing. After a few skeptical side looks and snarky, uninformed opinions, I gathered ammunition to combat that idea. As usual, God was up to something infinitely better.
In a nutshell, the main points of my devotional were: 1) Happily ever afters are God’s idea. 2) As authors, God gives us the task of calling things that are not as though they were—a scriptural take on creating plots and characters, and 3) God’s happily ever afters emerge from His extravagant grace and mercy. We can’t do anything to earn them.
To clinch my point, I shared a story “to show, not tell,” a big mandate in the writing world. The story was about the time my husband and I rescued a young sea turtle caught in the jetties at Port Aransas. Dave cut away the fishing line around the turtle’s front flippers, and we took him to the Amos Rehabilitation Keep (ARK).
At the end of my devotional, I made the analogy that we’re not so different from sea turtles. Mama turtles lay their eggs on land, leaving their young to make the perilous journey to the sea. But an intervention takes place when people find and report a clutch. On the South Texas coast, a rescue team takes the eggs to an incubator, and once the hatchlings are ready, people gather to cheer them on as they toddle into their natural habitat.
It’s the same with us. We weren’t made for this world. We were made for heaven. Our journey here, however, is fraught with danger and deception. But Christ’s intervention on our behalf provides the rescue we need—if we accept it. To paraphrase Hebrews 12:1, we’re surrounded by a cloud of witnesses cheering us on as we travel toward our heavenly home.
A good happily ever after is like finding your way home. Life happens in the meantime, but the ending is worth the struggle.
The last point reminds me of the recent election. “The one for all the marbles,” as Lois Kolkhorst said so eloquently. As a conservative, I voted red. Our economy is ailing, and I don’t believe the pursuit of expanded abortion laws, support of Israel’s enemies, and open borders is in America’s best interests.
According to the polls, millions of Americans shared my convictions, even if we diddled about it for way too long. But God listened to our pleas and had mercy on us. He extended extravagant grace. More than we hoped for… A wave. A sweep. The perfect trifecta.
However, we need to continue to do our part and not forget what He’s accomplished for us. We’re the ones who live in this great country. If not us, then who?
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20, NLT)
Because happily ever afters are God’s idea.