by: Staci Stallings
One of the things I find interesting from an omniscient point of view is being able to take a step back and see trends in my writing. I know there are other authors who plot out ideas. I’m not one of them. I write where the Spirit leads me, and it’s often only when I go back and look at where I’ve been and the ground I’ve trod in my writing that themes begin to take shape.
A theme that’s recently been spinning through me and my writing is the idea of what happens when life really takes a hard whack at you. I’m talking about when you have a dream burning inside of you, and then something happens to take that dream away… forever.
What happens to your life? What happens to your choices? What happens to your relationship with God? What happens with you?
Do you shut down? Find a new dream? Do you change, and how do you change?
Recently I met a young cousin of mine who was incredibly good at soccer. She loved soccer. Her mom was her coach. They are an athletic family already, and soccer was one of their outlets. And then the accident. The ball went one way, her knee went the other.
And life would never be the same.
I had a chance to sit and talk with her for a while at a family reunion, and it was interesting to hear from a 12-year-old’s perspective this life-dynamic of how do you deal with life when it changes so drastically? As I listened to her story, I couldn’t help but remember some of my characters who had also gone through life-altering injuries.
One of the things I think is completely strange is how in my head, there are memories of scenes, memories of feelings, of raw emotion that I never actually lived through. One of them is a scene from my newest release, that comes out tomorrow, “When I’m Weak.”
The basic story picks up fourteen years after “Mirror Mirror” left off. We are plunged into Jaycee’s world (you know Jaycee, the one you couldn’t STAND in Mirror Mirror?). Well, 14 years later, Jaycee is still as hard-charging and stubborn as ever. Her outside world has changed. She’s moved on from her small town upbringing. But inside, she’s still just as Jaycee as ever.
However, one thing readers of Mirror Mirror will notice instantly is that Jaycee hasn’t ended up where we might have thought she was going, and the central question of “why” begins to snake around the corners.
In the midst of her “now” story, there are flashbacks to how she got where she is today, and it is one of those flashbacks that is as real to me as if I had lived it. Funny, how life works like that. Bringing past and present, real life and imagined life altogether in me in ways I cannot put into words nor explain.
What I do know is I have learned and I’m learning that one of the most central issues of our lives is this idea of what do we choose to do when we get knocked down, how do we get up, do we get up, who helps us along the way, and who loves us long after our life has been altered from its previous state?
I can’t explain any of that, but I’m learning that I write about it every day. I love my job!
A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors.
A friend and colleague was diagnosed with cancer a year ago- she has had a rough road, and now, with cancer back, it appears to be terminal. Yet, through all this, she still smiles, still can find joy amidst the pain. Another friend just lost his brother, another her sister, and my principal has lost both parents in the course of 3 months. All have commented on the peace that they have,(despite the pain) knowing that this life is not the end. This humbles me, that people who have lost can still stand firm.
Keep writing and exploring what God puts in your heart:)
How people react when life turns upside down is a big measure of character. How they bounce back is another one. And you’re right. They make great themes. I love stories where the one you dislike at the start becomes likable.
Like Wemble, I’ve known many people who’ve battled cancer or other illness, but you’d never know by the way they live their life. Faith during those storms is to trust in the knowledge that God will never forsakes us. I look forward to reading Jaycee’s journey.
God comforts us in all our afflictions that we may be able to comfort others, 2 Corinthians 1:3,4 very loosely quoted.
God has used hard things in my life to show His faithfulness and to encourage others.
Stacy, what you’ve shared is so true!
I’ve seen people who have had doors close for them and they become bitter and their faith dies, there’s no peace. Then I’ve seen people who have been given hard news like cancer and their first response is to reach out to God and pray asking for HIS will. They may not understand the reasons but they rest in Him and His directing. There is a peace so vivid in them it’s amazing.
I hope my response will be like the one who reaches out to God first instead of complaining, grumbling, and stressing. After all, He ALREADY knows the outcome and can see what lays ahead all I have to do is trust!
In life there are always obstacles some good some bad. We have plans as to what we think we need but at the end of the day God is our ultimate planner and that why it is written … For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer.29:11).
Thank you for giving words to Jaycee’s story. I can’t wait to read it.
My husband used to say we always pick the hardest path to follow, and we both believe God had planned for us to learn how to walk those paths. Sometimes we wonder why, but most of the time, we just hold hands, pray, and keep going to find our place–and if that place changes, we know we’ll do it together and with the help of God.
A friend just told me today about how her 2-year-old son died (years ago, but still). I felt like crying so much, but then she also told me how much her 19-year-old son is doing amazing things and how happy she is with him. For the next hour I kept thinking how I’d survive something like that and move on like she did. She found a new dream and a new way to direct her expectations and her love to her living son, but the marks of their youngest was still there. I could feel it in her speech.
Although never faced with cancer, I do know the peace of knowing that I’ll see my brother on the other side, that this side isn’t the end.
I have a couple of books like that. One of them, I have a friend who literally read it 15 years ago, and any time we talk about my writing, she says, “And just so you know, I still hate Jaxton.” I guess it’s good that they feel so strongly! :)
One of the most amazing things I’ve realized recently is how many of us there are that have survived something truly traumatic–either to ourselves or to loved ones. The very fact that there is any joy and happiness in this world is a testament that God can work miracles!
The disciples that have been loved in difficult circumstances become the apostles that give love in difficult circumstances and thereby teach others how to do likewise.
I think this is made easier if you make a habit of it NOW when faced with the little annoyances. If you wait to have faith in the big things, you may find it’s far more difficult than you realize.
I heard someone once say that you never really “get over” a death. It is more that the death becomes a part of you, and you learn a “new normal.” I think it is important to learn from our own trials how to let God comfort us as we move forward so that we can then help others do the same. However, it is never “easy,” and it never really “goes away”… no matter how many years it’s been. I think one of my take-aways from the losses I’ve sustained over the years is ENJOY RIGHT NOW with the people who are here. They may not be here forever… they may not even be here tomorrow. All you have is right now. What are you doing with it?
I can’t wait to hear what people think!
Funny you should say that kaleen. This past weekend, we were celebrating a retreat I’ve been on and helped with. Each retreat is unique and has a different verse. When I went in 2004, I didn’t know about the verse thing so I didn’t really pay attention to ours. A lady who went on the same retreat has since become my best friend. As we were pouring over the verses from years past, I found ours and was surprised by it. “For I know the plans I have in mind for you.” Let me just say that I laughed out loud because these past 12 years have taken me to places and heights that back then I could only dream about. He really IS an amazing God!
Letting go of your dreams is hard! Leaning on God through it all is crucial & I sometimes find it hard when I’m hurting. I know He understands in spite of it all!
So true! Thanks for stopping by!
God is so good and I have learned to trust and not question too much of what is plan is for me anymore. Things have been changing in my life and I have learned to sift out the negative and appreciate the positives ( the very little things we fail to see because we have embedded in our minds our own idea of how it should be).
Ah, yes. Expectations. They’ve taken the knees out from under me more than once. It was only when I learned to let go of them and just trust HIM, that I found peace!
It takes me a long time to process change. I’m a classic introverted over thinker ;)