When the Bomb Counts Down to Zero: Writing Honest Through the Pain

Guest Article by Shelly Beach and giveaway

Over the past few weeks, a friend and I have been plowing our way through all six seasons of the television series Lost. If you’re not familiar with the show, it rose to the forefront American pop culture from 2004 to 2010, gaining critical acclaim and popular success.

In a simplified version of the plot, a plane crashes on what appears to be a deserted tropical island. There, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 fight against mysterious entities that include a “smoke monster” and a tribe of  “others” that seem determined to destroy them.

But the island also possess the miraculous power to heal the sick, move through time, and drag off your enemies and beat the snot out of them.

So right about the tenth time on the show that Jack and Kate and Sawyer get locked in a room and a bomb has counted down to zero and you think the end has come for them, you sit back and relax because you know the island will whisk them all off to 1977, where they can make a getaway in a snazzy blue VW bus.

The Greeks called this trick deus ex machina, or “God in a machine.” This is a plot device where seemingly unsolvable problems get fixed with an unexpected secret the writer keeps stashed in his or her pocket.

About eighteen months ago, I dove into writing my third caregiving book, It Is Well with My Soul: Meditations for Those Living with Pain, Illness, and the Challenges of Aging. This book reflects my battle with chronic illness, as well as the struggle of many of my family members and closest friends. I‘ve lived life alongside many people who fight the ravages of chronic illness.

Some of those friends are children. Some of them have faced terminal diagnoses. Some struggle with mental illness. Some know the ongoing frustration of trying to find answers to their health problems without the huge advantage of insurance.

To be honest, as I wrote meditations that represented the deep struggles of sick and dying people that I loved and those I would never meet, I sometimes wanted to offer deus ex machina solutions to the problem of suffering. You know—say the things we all want to hear and slap a Bible verse on top.

But the problem remains that suffering hurts. Pain stinks. And we’re stuck on the island until we die, and dying is hard.

Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, write honest. Let the pain hurt. Don’t be afraid to say that sometimes we just don’t know and God is enough. He is always enough.

My friend Johnny died at the age of eight of a horrendous form of brain cancer. My friend Louann, a pastor, suffers with bipolar disorder. Kate, who suffered a double brain stem stroke, lives with partial paralysis. Nora lost her life to cancer and left behind a loving family.

We do not live on a magical island that heals us and transports us to a different time. We are not afforded the escape of “God in a machine.”

What we are promised is the comfort of God in a person—sent to us in the living, breathing form of His Son who knows what suffering and death feel like.

We are promised that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. We are never, ever lost to Him. He transcended time and eternity to save us and to take us off this island to be with Him. He is coming for us. Our rescue has been secured.

In the moments when we are locked in a room and the bomb has counted down to zero, the island will not save us. God will be enough.

And that is the greatest promise of all.

Shelly is giving away one copy of her new book to one commenter. USA only and winner will be chosen on Friday.

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