You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety

Happy Friday, Confess-ers. Today we have a special guest post by Beth Vogt, author of Wish You Were Here, a May 2012 Howard Books release. Beth talks about personal fears that authors hide in their fiction writing, and the truth we can all realize by reading fiction. Enjoy!

Here’s Beth:

The Truth Hidden in Fiction

It’s said that novelists weave little bits of themselves into their characters. We’d never put a footnote at the bottom of the page cluing readers in: The main character just recreated a moment in the author’s life. So distracting, right? But rest assured, you’re catching glimpses of the author within every novel you read. And why not? We know our strengths and weaknesses so well.

In my debut novel Wish You Were Here, I gave my heroine, Allison, one particular personal characteristic. Not my hazel eyes. Not my love of jelly beans. Not my size ten feet.

My fear.

Fear and me? We were companions for far too many years. I know what it’s like to be afraid … and to find blessed relief from unrelenting fear.

Rather than share a time when I was anxious, I thought I’d share a time when Allison battled fear.  But remember: you’re catching a glimpse of me.

Setup: Allison’s off-kilter since pulling a Runaway Bride redux on her wedding day. In this scene, she’s scared she’s about to make another disastrous mistake. She’s crawled into bed and is talking on the phone to her best friend.

“. . . I’m going to bed. I’m tired, that’s all. It’s been a long day. A long week.” Allison twisted onto her side, moving her legs back and forth, trying to create some body heat.

“Okay, Allison. I can only imagine the stress of putting your life back together after canceling a wedding … Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to come over?”

“No, I’m good. It’s late. We’ll talk tomorrow. ‘Kay?”

“All right. Tomorrow it is, then.”

“And Meggie?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Thanks.”

“What are best friends for? Talk to you tomorrow.”

Allison flicked her phone shut and tossed it onto the end of her bed. She turned her back toward her bathroom, wrapping her arms around a pillow.

Just stay in bed. In peace I will both lie down and sleep . . . in peace I will both lie down and sleep . . . just stay in bed . . .

What helped fictional Allison resist the oh-so-strong pull to give into fear and make a wrong choice? The same truth that very-real-me clung to when I laid awake in my bed: Psalm 4:8, which reads “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.”  (NIV)

Sometimes it’s not about being brave enough. Sometimes it’s all about resting in the sweet assurance that we can crawl into bed, too tired to fight the battle, knowing God is awake all night long. Trusting He is standing watch over us – and that we dwell in supernatural safety.

Beth K. Vogt’s novel, Wish You Were Here, debuts May 2012. (Howard Books) Beth is a nonfiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor–or anyone in the military. She’s a mom who said she’d never have kids. Beth’s discoverd that God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Join the conversation over at Beth’s blog, In Others’ Words.

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A big thanks to Beth for standing in for me today! I’ll take a note and begin confessing Psalm 4:8, one of my favorites because it’s gotten me through many terrified nights.

You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Whether I’m afraid of the dark (and what seems to be hiding in it) or afraid of the daytime and the living I must face, the Lord makes me dwell in safety. I’ll be confessing this into the weekend as I meet with someone who will challenge me to confront my fear of speaking – and of being found lacking. “You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

What fear will you confront this weekend?

I wait quietly before God for my victory comes from Him

One of my husband’s favorite movies is The Matrix. Every once in awhile, he straps me to a chair and forces my eyelids open while he watches, rewinds, and relates specific scenes. I’ll admit, the movie captures my attention because of its parallels with Christian belief. The One, Zion, plugging into reality, and living in faith regardless of what the situation looks like are familiar concepts to me. Difficult at times, but familiar.

The past few days I’ve struggled with reality versus appearance. As I work to promote my novel, learn marketing techniques, network, and still move on to a new book, the odds look stacked against me. It seems everywhere I turn, someone is telling me that I will never rise above the pack. They want me to believe that my silly little Christian fiction book is not worth attention, and that I’m wasting my time to dream big and push for success.

It appears that I’m defeated before I even begin. But what is the reality?

I must turn to the Bible for the truth. What’s the opposite of ‘defeat’? Not success, because that’s relative for every person and their situation. My definition of success changes with my mood and needs. To pay the electric bill, to turn my husband into a nanny, to see my characters come to life on the Hallmark channel, these have all been featured in my ‘success file’.

No, the opposite of ‘defeat’ is not ‘success’. It’s ‘victory’. Psalm 62:1 says, “I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.” It’s interesting how my feelings of defeat shrink when I read those words. How they lose potency when I read them out loud, and then how they disappear entirely when I say them out loud again.

I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him.

Defeat, though loud and in my face, is not the reality. Victory through God is reality. I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him. Will you reject defeat and confess this with me today?

Do you ever fight feelings of defeat? What is your reality?