The Truth That's Stranger Than Fiction

I bought a fiction book last week. 

I know that might not sound like a particularly earth-shattering event to you, but it was kind of a landmark moment for me. Because I haven't read a fiction book for a couple of decades.

I loved to read fiction. For years it was my favorite genre. I'd leave the library with my arms full, juggling a stack of beautiful stories that ignited my imagination. 

But I stopped reading fiction. 

Too many years ago to even remember, I listened to a boyfriend tell me he thought I lived in a fantasy world because all I read was fiction. I suppose he had a point, because without ever packing my suitcase or leaving home, fiction took me on all sorts of adventures. 

As a young girl, I felt as if I spent long summers at Green Gables and Avonlea where Anne lived. I solved mysteries with Nancy Drew. I met Marmee and her four little women. And I rode along in a covered wagon out on the prairie with Laura Ingalls and her fiddle-playing Pa. 

But what I loved most about the Little House books was that Laura was a real person. So I thought maybe switching to non-fiction wasn’t such a bad idea and I started to read biographies. 

But a little piece of my heart missed the way a brilliant fiction writer could spin a magnificent tale.

Then I recently read a writer who said she doesn’t understand writers who don’t read fiction because fiction can help us tell our own stories. 

While I was still pondering this, I watched an interview with author Courtney Walsh as she shared her life’s twists and turns as part of Jeanne Oliver’s Becoming series. Her words made me catch my breath as she shared how God brought beauty from her broken dreams. 

When she said her new novel Paper Hearts held pieces of her own story, I knew it was time to lift my fiction embargo. 

And then I realized that I’d just demolished yet another outdated perception of myself that I’d been holding onto all these years. 

It felt as if another little piece of my heart gained freedom.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m really trusting God to write the story of my life.

I dream up the setting and the plot-line and the characters. I plan my life and depict it on story boards, hoping it plays out like a bestselling novel. 

But I’ve found that I can’t make my life read like compelling fiction, no matter how hard I try. 

So I search out the stories of others to help me understand my own story. 

I want to hear stories of faith to inspire me. 

I want to read about those who discovered God's presence in their lives as they waited on him to fulfill their deepest desires, in ways only he can do.

But instead of finding a formula I can follow to have my story arrive at happily-ever-after, I’m realizing that our lives intentionally intersect with the stories of others, and our stories are authored by God. 

Sometimes we read along, watching a life story unfold from the periphery and sometimes we are among the cast of characters.

Sometimes there are those who need to hear our stories but aren’t yet in the place to receive it. 

So we wait, even though we might not be sure why we're waiting. 

We wait for God to move them. And us. 

But this waiting feels too much like an ending.

I wonder if you feel the same way?

Maybe you’re waiting for a chapter of your story to unfold. 

Maybe you’re not even sure what the plot of your life story is because your narrative is dotted with so many minor and unimportant events that don’t move your story forward.

As I pray and wait and knock and seek along with you, I know that truth -- God's truth -- are the only words that will give me the life I so desire.

Those words that become written on my heart and on the pages of my life lift my eyes to see the inexplicable and mysterious ways of God that are so life-changing. 

This truth is stranger than any fiction because God's ways aren't like our ways.

This truth says that my heart will overflow with hope if I’m trusting him to direct my life's course instead of my flimsy attempts to control it. 

This truth says he will keep me in perfect peace when my thoughts are filled with his words instead of the chaos I find myself in when I encounter difficulties. 

This truth says his unfailing love surrounds me and he will bring good purposes to my life from any disheartening circumstance.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. -Ps. 25:5

When I placed my order for Paper Hearts, Amazon so helpfully suggested another fiction book for my consideration. 

{I think it may have been shocked that I was wandering out of my usual purchasing pattern and it wanted to show me there was a brave new world for me out there.}

It felt scandalous, but I thought why not? I added it to my cart.

So I bought two fiction books in one day when I haven’t read fiction in years. 

And it occurred to me that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

I'm linking up with my friends at Holley Gerth's place at Coffee for your Heart and Bonnie Gray at the Faith Barista. Come join us there!