As I was plotting out the path and emotions around my French Resistance character, Renee, I realized that the fear she had about love and marriage, weren’t just her fears, but mine too. I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “get rid of your predetermined ideas”.

I knew at that moment, that was for me and Renee. To let those ideas of mine and the “perfect man/spouse” go, to let my fears of being in a relationship and marriage go, and receive what God has in store for me. Just as she has to let go of her fears, and the fact of Michael being German. To realize she loves him, that he is a good man, despite the fact he is everything she never saw herself with.

It isn’t amazing how the characters we’re inspired to build and shape, then turn around and inspire us? How God uses them, to show us a layer of our heart. Where in that space, it’s sometimes raw, painful, and moving beyond a fear or trauma of ours, into a space where beauty is growing.

Fear can only keep us stuck, if we let it. Don’t let it keep you stuck from everything God has for you. He only has good plans for us! To prosper us, not to harm us.

A song that has been a staple point for Renee and Michael since then, is the song “Don’t Wait” by Dashboard Confessional. I hope you enjoy this song, and it inspires you to not wait, but to walk through your fear, and go for God’s plans for you — even if it varies from our predetermined ideas!