Did you know that today is Scavenger Hunt Day? I love celebrating fun holidays and this seemed particularly relevant as I’ve been running around searching for various items for my daughter’s wedding, happening in twenty-five days!
In Protected Secrets (click here), my main character, Deputy Marshal Delaney Patton, probably wouldn’t appreciate the holiday since her handsome witness, Bruce Walker, and his adorable daughter, Winnie, are the ones being hunted by a dangerous criminal organization.
My heroine struggles to accept that God would want to bless and heal her situation after she’s made so many mistakes. As a writer who has her own control issues, I can see the error in her faulty thinking, but in my day-to-day life I think I continually need the big picture reminder that He’s already paid the ultimate price for all our mistakes to give us the best blessing of all. And, often, I think my eyes are blind to the many blessings he gives me daily.
Just this morning, I had just taken the kids to school and was about to start my workday. I started to pray, “Lord I could really use some encouragement today—” when a gentle knock sounded at the door.
A friend I hadn’t seen in ages stood on my patio. “I can’t stay.” She handed me a card and a bar of chocolate and took off.
After marveling at such a sweet gesture out of the blue, I texted her a thank you. But, she’d recently changed numbers, so I ended up texting it a stranger. Took me about ten minutes to realize it and send a second message. Hope I didn't cause a fight for someone!
After writing down similar situations as future fodder for a novel, I went back to finish my prayer when I realized he had literally just answered it. I'd almost been too focused on my own stress and tasks to realize it.
As a writer, when my characters teach or remind me of things I had no intention of learning, I get annoyed…and eventually grateful. What about you? As a reader (or writer), are you ever taken off guard when a character’s struggles apply to your own life?
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