Today, I’m privileged to introduce Rebekah DeVall on the blog.  Rebekah is a sweet young lady that felt God calling her to write about the struggles people face when God asks them to do something beyond their comfort zone; to follow along with Him through a huge life change.  Rebekah wrote Waterfalls in response to her own struggles about returning to live in the U.S. after being a missionary kid her entire life.

 

Below she goes more in-depth about writing Waterfalls and her inspiration behind it.  Enjoy.  ❤

 

 

God is a God of “coincidences”.

Hadassah “happened” to be amongst Ahasuerus’s bridal candidates. She “happened” to catch his eye and marry him. He “happened” to have mercy on her when she broke the law and went before him.

Same goes for Daniel. He “happened” to be taken to Babylon. He “happened” to be chosen as an adviser for Nebuchadnezzar. He “happened” to be given the gift of interpreting dreams.

I “happened” to return from Bolivia to find an awesome church. I “happened” to wind up in the “wrong” Sunday School class which directly led me to meeting some amazing girls. I just “happened” to connect with just the right people.

Ha!

 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. {Isaiah 55:8-9}

 

A few short weeks ago, my car stopped – just flat-out died – right in the middle of the road {it was the alternator, if you’re wondering}. No hazard lights, nothing.

Here’s the fun thing.

I just “happened” to be stranded on a corner beside four or five different mechanic shops, with parts and tools and all that. My dad just “happened” to be in the same state – and even continent, for that matter. A family friend from church just “happened” to be passing by and stop to help {alongside two other strangers}. The boss of one of said mechanic shops not only allowed us to borrow his starter-pack {sorryyyy, guys, I don’t know if that’s the technical term}, he sent four guys to help push my car over into the turn lane and up a hill by the shop.

Not one of these people had to do any of this.

The whole situation could have gone so very differently. But hey, God’s got me!

The Writing Process of Waterfalls

 

If you have read Waterfalls, you know it begins with a little poem that honestly was never even titled.

 

I stand at the cliff’s top,

And look far below,

At the white on the surface,

The clouds – are they snow?

The wind whirls around me.

My heart thumps within –

As the icy fear hugs me,

Raises bumps on my skin.

I could jump – I could leap –

Will I fly? Will I fall?

Or was this trek to the clifftop,

Of no worth at all?

The moon rises higher

Casts light all around

Yet the peace that I sought here

Was yet to be found.

My home waits behind me,

A welcoming past,

But the future before me,

So gorgeous – so vast.

But in my heart lingers

A wish – or a cry?

If I take that last leap now,

Will I fall? Will I fly?

© August 2016 Rebekah DeVall

The whole journey of coming to the U.S. on furlough was seriously scary, people! Just thinking about it terrified me to no end. I wrote the poem back when I was first feeling led to move back to the U.S…. not just for furlough, with the rest of the family, but to stay permanently.

Like I say in Waterfalls, a lot of times doing God’s will feels like running blindly toward a cliff and jumping off. You don’t know if there’s a net at the bottom. You don’t know what lies on the other side.

But I digress. {seriously, read the book for the rest}

Even after coming back to the U.S., growing acclimated {little by little, I don’t think I’ll ever be 100% accustomed here}, the whole journey kind of stuck to the back of my brain. I met girls here, with their own stories and their paths, some even planning to go to the mission field.

That’s when it hit me.

I’m not the first to navigate the cross-cultural jump. I’m not the first to be pressed into a place soooooooo far out of my comfort zone.

Just think of it! There were three major “cross-cultural kids” in the Bible. {Kids who were raised outside of their parents’ culture.} Hadassah {a Jew raised in Persia}, Daniel {a Jew in Babylon} and Jesus {God on Planet Earth, hahah!}

Little by little, the ideas began to form.

Enter May 16.

… I literally just realized that’s not only my bestie Annie’s birthday, it’s also the day, two years ago, I published When Your Melody Fades. Wow.

ANYWAY.

The morning of May 16, I woke up with this unspeakable desire to just sit down and write this book. I popped in my earbuds – listening to “When Answers Aren’t Enough”, ironically – and started typing.

By 4 p.m., I sat at my computer with this:

Nearly 9k words.

Also, somehow in that time, I had stepped over to Canva to create this little beauty:

{don’t ask me when that happened, that whole day is kind of a blur}

Can this even be called a “writing process”? I don’t know. But it worked. And it taught me something about listening rather than forcing myself to work on a current project.

“I’ll never write Christian fiction.”

I avoided writing Christian fiction for the longest time {except for little stories like Naamah. Writing Christian NON-fiction? OH NO.

I feel by far the least qualified for that.

I don’t know why God chose Waterfalls. I don’t know what’s coming next. But hey. God gave me wings, right?

Interested in “Waterfalls”?

Find it on Amazon here or stop by our Facebook launch party here to be entered for a paperback giveaway, including Tammy Lash’s Eagle Eyes, Savannah Jezowski’s The Innkeeper’s Wife and Annie Louise Twitchell’s Jump: The Things I Tell Myself.