Embrace the Messy

By E.V. Sparrow

It’s easy to suppose as Christian fiction writers we’ve all studied and memorized Bible verses, right? I developed Scripture knowledge later. Therefore, I intentionally create people of fragile faith. Where is God in their mess? It’s delightful weaving in redemption, confession, forgiveness, reconciliation, and mercy into fictional plots.

Raised in the Roman Catholic Church, my belief was in the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, resurrection, and salvation.

At fifteen, I accepted Jesus’ work on the cross as a personal, life-changing belief. My faith was messy, but I recall that potent moment when I discovered the Lord Jesus Christ was mightier than my imagination.

Readers in our audiences are at all levels of faith, and maybe without a Christian background. Should we avoid messy, and flawed characters? Or spend time with them as Jesus did?

What might God do for a wanderer in disbelief, or a hopeless person? If they doubt God’s love, what convinces them? Are there powerful ways to reconcile them with God?

Using the admonition, “write what we know,” we might know God, plus about losses, alcoholism, darkened minds, or messy pasts. What about the supernatural? Heavy, tragic aspects and topics of life require a smidgeon of the supernatural or humor for balance. In an Irish crowd, you’ll witness their love of humor, song, and wit. I use it liberally.

In my historical fiction WIP set in 1866, my main character is Mick. He’s a believer but a heartbroken, twenty-six-year-old alcoholic. Born with painful scoliosis, and he occasionally sees an entity no one else does. Is he gifted with “the sight” or is he hallucinating because of whiskey?

 He has lost both wives and all his children to typhus yet hopes for a better life and emigrates from Ireland to America. He believes he is protecting his sisters he’s traveling with.

Woven throughout the plot, Mick fears for all his loved ones’ safety after losing so many. His fears create some messy choices.

Mick struggles with hope because the entity, Mister Death, always destroys his dreams, also doubts God’s power over evil. I address Mick’s messy faith, because he is a habitual believer raised in church, and church culture. He also believes God doesn’t care about him. Trusting in God to help him with anything is nearly impossible.

As Mick searches for jobs, he must work as a laborer because he had a basic education in Catholic school and was a farmer in Ireland. Physical work taxes his scoliosis. I created Mick as not lazy, with a strong work ethic, but he’s a self-medicating alcoholic to dull physical and emotional pain.

As he ages, Mick tries breaking free of church constraints and living lawless like his railroad chums. By this point, he doubts God is interested in him, his pile of messes, or his mistakes and choices. Research is a gem for digging up details of the era, reviewing newspapers, and visiting historical societies. I learned more about the railroad. Because I wrote “what I know,” I referred to family documents, photos, and used the timeline.

Although Mick sees an entity and what he calls, “God’s angel,” he is blind to God’s work in the unseen within his daily life. Readers might discover what Mick doesn’t. We often recognize God at work in someone else’s life but not our own.

Use supporting characters to minister to your troubled character. Be unique and creative with their actions. As in life, an interaction is sometimes minor enough to blur God’s fingerprint. Recognizing His presence turns events profound, then we treasure it.

Encounter God’s unexpected presence is my tagline. For readers who discover God amid their messes, in fiction, or non-fiction, He will forever be mightier to them as well.

E.V. Sparrow has fourteen anthologized stories, including Guideposts and Bethany House publishers, and she placed second in Inspire Writers Flash Fiction contest with, Wind in the Firs.

Sparrow has ministered on prayer, worship, and mission teams, traveled nineteen countries, lived on an Israeli kibbutz, and hopped a freight train.