I have traveled along this writing journey with the Lord for almost seven years now and the road has stretched further than I ever could have imagined! It is so amazing to think that while we spend most of our time mapping out our life and working to plan its direction, God's plans are far greater, surpassing any desire or dream that we could ever have for ourselves.
The choice we are then faced with is to simply trust in His plan for our lives instead of our own.
The story encapsulated within Running Home was given to me by a sweet friend I encountered while on this journey. We personally met in March 2016 and it was a Wednesday afternoon filled with the purest fun that I've ever experienced. Molly's Zone was launched several months prior to our meet-up, and the idea of delving into writing fiction had never crossed my mind. I was comfortably situated as a faith/life blogger and solely focused on publishing articles centered around disability advocacy.
I shelved the project for several years before actively working towards its completion. The idea of a faith-based short story series paired with accompanying devotionals was placed on my heart through browsing Amazon one afternoon and seeing a published collection that was set up in that exact way. I thought it was so neat to pair captivating fictional stories with applicable Bible verses and life lessons.
The prologue is the series opener that introduces the overall concept along with the main character, Melda Lemaster. Her son, Gordon, is left to tell the story of his mother's life and share the many lessons that he learned from her. As a true soldier of the faith, she travels down a winding road full of tribulation and victory all with Jesus by her side. Through each passing moment, her faith and devotion to Him remain solid and unwavering.
The structural makeup of Running Home was derived from a devotional I wrote a few years ago entitled, Let Him Fill Your Empty Spaces. A personal internal battle I experienced concerning the project revolved around the possibility of it becoming a full-fledged novel. I could not configure a way for the large spaces within the time periods to be filled and I knew deep within my heart that if it was too large in size, each story would lose its individual message.
I've always loved the song "Little Is Much When God Is In It", and that statement holds so much truth. Whatever you do in serving the Lord doesn't need to be a big production, it just needs to come from a strong desire within to plant seeds in the hearts of people that cross your path.
Consider Him in all things and never follow your own heart. Let Him be the light upon your path. The heart is full of deception and wickedness. Trusting in His leading through all things provides unchanging truth, wonderful wisdom, and necessary direction for our lives.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon Earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:"
"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal:"
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
There are countless aspects of our lives that we will never know. God often works behind the scenes without us even realizing it. If it were possible to know every intricate detail of our lives, there would be no reason at all to place our faith and trust in the Lord. Those time gaps represent His faithfulness not only in the big empty spaces of our lives but also among those that cannot be seen.
Running Home is a tale of the freedom and resilience one can find through salvation and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Holding onto our faith encourages our hearts, provides us with the strength to climb the mountains of life with a fearless spirit, and gives us hope in the midst of the darkness that surrounds us.
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