I loooooooooooove a good plot twist. I love a story that keeps me guessing. I love a story that has a beautiful plot with lots of recurring themes and bookend events, and I love how writers can use seemingly "throw away" lines or moments in a story to be the cornerstone of the climax. I love when everything gets tied together in a bow at the end, and the payoff is satisfying.
Nothing gets me like a good story.
One of my favorite plot twist movies is a movie called Fracture. It's a legal crime psychological thriller where Anthony Hopkins plays this brilliantly conniving engineer who shoots his wife after discovering she was having an affair and Ryan Gosling who plays the prosecutor going up against Hopkins, only to find out the "open and shut" case he was given is far more twisted than he thought.
I can't and won't give anything away by it, but lemme tell ya, I was on the edge of my seat the ENTIRE movie. It was so good, and the ending! With that twist coming out of nowhere, like wow!
You ever feel like you're in a plot twist movie sometimes? You ever look at the events of your life and you're like "Where in the world is this going? How is this supposed to play out for my good?"
That's me right now if I'm being honest. I'm waiting for the plot twist. I'm waiting for this part of my story to make sense; I'm waiting for something to make me look back at this chapter and go "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"; I'm waiting for the pay-off.
If I tried to write/orchestrate my own story with what little perspective I have, I'd end up with a flop of a story. And look, my friends, I think I'm a decent writer. I've got some comments on AO3 that say so. But if I tried to write my life as a solo writer, I'd flunk. I know it.
Guess what! I don't have to be the solo writer of my story. The burden doesn't have to be placed on me.
I can hand over the pen to the Master Storyteller who has a far better perspective on life than I do, who never gets writer's block, who can pen a brilliant and beautiful story like no one else can, who loves a good plot twist (read as a both a good plot twist and a plot twist that works out for my good), and who is never surprised by what comes about from the story.
And boy, does He have a beautiful story in the making! For all of us!
I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well....Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. - Psalm 139:14;16 ESV (emphasis mine)
Before we were even born, God started mapping out our stories!
We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. For God knew His people in advance... - Romans 8:28-29a NLT
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV
God can use the good, the bad, and the ugly - and everything in between - to write an amazing story for us. The plot twists will have us cheering, the detail that went into it all will leave us in wonder, and the payoff for each chapter will leave us feeling completely loved by the Master Storyteller, who loves us far more than we could ever imagine.
So today, whose script are you going to go with? Yours or God's? The choice is yours.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand ACTION!