When Your Life Takes a Plot Twist

I love a good story. I like getting lost in a fictional world filled with interesting characters and an intriguing plot. Give me romance and mystery. Provide me with adventure and astonishing developments in the storyline.

In my own life, however, I greatly prefer a predictable plot. I would like my life to have the pace of a well-crafted story of my own choosing. No unexpected plot twists for me, please. Just pleasant days filled with laughter and friends. Years of successful work and close family ties.

Unfortunately real life isn’t like that. The plot that I planned out for my time on earth simply hasn’t materialized. Every chapter has had surprise twists. Events I expected to happen never did. Things I said I would not do under any circumstances became the very things God asked me to embrace.

Recently life delivered an unexpected development in my life tale.

My husband has been diagnosed with lymphoma….

Because he’s the guy who never takes a sick day, we never saw this part of our story coming. This bombshell of a plot twist has left us staggering, wondering which direction the story will follow now.

We all want to think that once we know Jesus, the Giver of all good things, that the tale of our lives will be part romance, part feel-good family tale. But the setting of our story is still a fallen, imperfect world. And so Jesus warned us, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). In other words, we are guaranteed unfortunate plot developments and tragic turns in the narrative.

Thankfully, we are also guaranteed something else, Jesus went on to say, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). If we trust in Jesus, we are promised a happy ending. Because we know the Prince, He is sure to save us in the end.

My trouble comes when I think that the happy ending is right now. When I forget that every fairy tale ends with light and happiness, but in-between the princess has to live with evil stepsisters or mean ogres. That life holds toxic apples and poisonous spinning wheels.

The happy ending doesn’t happen until…the end.

Somehow this simple realization has helped me tremendously. When I become depressed and disappointed in the way my life is going, I remember I can’t expect life to be perfect in the middle of the story. Sometimes the pages of our stories will be filled with financial downturns, difficult relationships, and cancer diagnoses. What I can expect is Jesus, my Prince to walk with me through the adventure of life. I can expect Him to either protect me from the ogres of this life or give me the strength to endure them.

I can trust that, because Jesus loves me, the story He is writing for my life is the best one possible.