What God Has Made Crooked

by Audrey Frank @AudreyCFrank

Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? Ecclesiastes 7:13

 

The twisting, crooked roads of the Atlas Mountains in North Africa don’t allow for speedy driving. Travelers must take it slow. Over the decades, many impatient, hasty drivers have plummeted to their deaths over the steep cliffs. 

 

Driving slowly transforms life-threatening danger into breathtaking vistas of God’s beauty and power. The cautious, careful sojourner is gifted with glory on the journey. She arrives at her destination filled with awe and wonder.

 

Sometimes God makes our way crooked to slow us down. He has something beautiful to show us. He wants to be seen along the way. He has designed even the crooked ways with beauty.

 

The writing journey can seem like so many hairpin curves, winding their way along what we had hoped would be a straightforward road to our destination. 

 

We, like the mountain driver, can choose haste or slowness. We can impatiently push ourselves to the limit or slow down and see God.

 

My first book was published in 2019. I had great plans for the journey. I started with a full tank of gas, as it were, and the book launch was a success. Podcasts, interviews, and book-signing events filled my calendar for months into the future. The road looked fairly straight ahead of me.

 

Then, less than three months after release day, the road did a sudden 180 turn. My youngest son was critically injured in an accident. My husband and I moved to another city to care for him as he fought for his life in a trauma center.

 

The road became crooked, and there were times I had to pull over and sit awhile. My destination seemed like some far-off dream. I was consumed with surviving the twists and turns.

 

Has your road to writing become crooked? Are you sitting on the side of the tarmac, stunned and carsick? It’s okay to sit awhile when we need to.

 

After a time, the Lord strengthens us, and we get up again. We get back in the car and keep going.

 

I became a cautious and careful driver. As I cared for my son, I began to see beauty along the way. My book was about people who suffered and how to help them. Now, I was seeing suffering with new eyes. I was learning deep lessons as I navigated this unexpected, crooked way.

The global pandemic has made our way curvy. One day recently I received a phone call from a woman in the Middle East. Because of COVID, the borders of her country were shut. No one could go in and no one could leave. She had a team of Christian workers there who were doing the critical work of trauma healing among those whose lives had been broken by war and loss. She had read my book and wanted her team to have it too. But how to get it to them? Due to security, they could not even download it from Amazon.

 

I spoke to my publisher and we made an unusual plan that allowed them a private way to receive a digital copy. The team was overjoyed.

 

The news rippled across the region. Others began reaching out. The book is now making its way beyond borders. It would seem its path is being straightened. 

 

Who can understand the ways of the Lord? Who can know the measure and the design of the path your writing journey needs to take in order to reach the destination He has in mind?

 

It may mean He makes your way crooked.

 

Slow down; sit awhile if you need to. But don’t quit. His crooked way is lined with breathtaking beauty.

 

Lord, lift my head today to see the beauty along this crooked way. Amen.

TWEETABLE

What God Has Made Crooked - @AudreyCFrank on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Audrey Frank is an author, speaker, and storyteller. The stories she shares are brave and true. They give voice to those whose words are silenced by shame, the hard things in life that don’t make sense, and the losses that leave us wondering if we will survive. Audrey and her family have spent over twenty years living and working among different cultures and world views, and she has found that God’s story of redemption spans every geography and culture. He is the God of Instead, giving honor instead of shame, gladness instead of mourning, hope instead of despair. Although she has three different degrees in communication and intercultural studies, Audrey’s greatest credential is that she is known and loved by the One who made her.

Audrey is the author of Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World (Harvest House Publishers), an outpouring of Audrey’s heart to introduce others to the God of Instead. Shame is not unique to the developing world, the plight of the women behind veils, young girls trafficked across borders; shame is lurking in hearts everywhere. Through powerful stories from women around the world, Covered Glory illuminates the power of the Gospel to remove shame, giving honor instead. Available at favorite booksellers: BARNES & NOBLE , BOOKS A MILLION, AMAZON.