He opened the rock and water gushed out; like a river, it flowed in the desert. Psalm 105:41 (NIV)
Recently I’ve struggled with particular aspects of my current manuscript. What I originally believed was a solid beginning started to feel “off” somehow, the vision for going from beginning to end suddenly unclear.
Doubt nagged like fleas on a dog in the heat of summer.
Maybe I’ve revealed something in the plot too soon?
Are there story elements that don’t need to be included?
What if a character has to “die”. Worse, not make the cast at all?
What if…
Months spent crafting this thing and suddenly it felt like my brain had become one solid rock, devoid of all creative thought.
God in His goodness directed me to this verse:
He opened the rock and water gushed out; like a river, it flowed in the desert. Psalm 105:41 (NIV)
So I prayed, “Lord my brain feels like this rock. I need you to produce water out of it.”
In my case, God answered through four hours on the phone with my craft partner. Soon thereafter, creative waters trickled out, producing a river of ideas.
As pieces began to fall into place and the story slowly emerged, my thirst was quenched.
When I considered the Israelites who’d wandered in the desert and became predictably thirsty, I wondered why God, Who is always good, allowed them to arrive at a place where He knew they’d thirst and make access to water next to impossible. (Exodus 17:1-7)
Why not place the Israelites near an easily accessible source of water, a visual to assure them they’d not thirst and enable their frantic minds to rest?
Ah, but then their eyes would fall upon the water and they’d place their trust in it rather than in Him, the Creator and provider of all their needs.
My same tendency.
In bringing them to a point of extinction, God would be magnified as the giver of life by opening a rock to produce water enough to flow like a river.
He did the impossible in order that He might deliver His people and receive the glory He was—and is—due.
As for my story, I pray God’s truth will flow like a river into the lives of my characters and, ultimately, the reader.
In what ways are you feeling dry and in need of God’s life-giving water? Will you trust Him to open rocks when you most need it?
Mary
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✏️ Two of my 2019 inspirational articles that were published in Refresh, Online Bible Study Magazine, are featured in this 40 short Bible studies compilation, The Power to Make a Difference Available on Amazon.