Image generated by AI but the text written by a human.
It amazes me how God takes time to express His love in a personal way. After all, He has zillions of galaxies to keep in motion and billions of people to manage on this speck called Earth.
I grew up in three river towns in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, not far from Mark Twain’s Hannibal, Missouri. That’s about 8,000 miles from where I live today in Quezon City, Philippines. Though not quite half way around the world (24,900 miles along the equator), it might as well be politically, socially, and economically.
Years ago, I sat down to check my email on Yahoo. My routine included scanning the news titles before clicking the mail icon. Three items, one beneath the other, snagged my attention. Each story came from small local newspapers back home in the US. When do stories from small towns in America rank with Korea, Gaza, and political wrangling in Washington?
One of them had particular relevance to a novel I wanted to write. In the news story, two boys rescued their uncle after he dove into the river and hit his head.
A nice human interest story, but why would Yahoo shoot it over fiber optic cables under the sea to the other side of the world?
The story had similarities to a pivotal scene in a novel I’m writing. Two boys and a mentally challenged girl play Truth or Consequence late at night at a riverside park. When the girl refuses to answer a question she’s told to cross a fallen tree that connects to a haunted island hugging the riverbank. She falls in, and the boys attempt to rescue her but fail. The story focuses on their guilt, attempt to cover up their role, and the effect on those around them.
While the newspaper story and my plot differ, the article gave me ideas for developing the story’s setting and its plausibility.
God Loves Fiction Writers
So how did I get a message about God’s care for a fiction writer? I’d never seen local stories appear on Yahoo before or since then. I wasn’t even signed in to My Yahoo. Nor had I visited those local papers in years.
God knows my desire to write and allowed those stories to appear below the major headlines that day. God allowed me to connect with Yahoo at just the right time. The stories were no longer there later in the day. In essence God said, “I see you, I know you, and I delight in making your heart jump by experiencing my love to you in a tangible way.
God’s love is personal!
How about you? Has God told you, “I love you” recently? Let me know in the comments below.
