Plans in the Mind of Man

I finished the rough draft of my murder mystery! I have been working on this book for almost a year. It is particularly challenging in that a.) I have never written fiction, b.) I know nothing about murder or mystery, c.) I really had little in mind when I started except I wanted dogs to help solve the mystery.  Now, doesn't that make you all want to run out and buy it?

Over the year, as I worked on it, it became less and less about dogs, murder, or mystery, and more and more about God. I didn't really plan it that way. I just couldn't help myself. But it is almost as though the manuscript attained a life of its own, and wrote itself. Yesterday, I wrote the final sentence and felt like shouting, "Of course! It had to be written this way! How could I not have known until I wrote it!?"

I don't know if other writers work this way. I don't know if they are as surprised by what they produce as I am. When I was rereading a section I wrote earlier, I wondered: who wrote that part? Was that really me who wrote it? I could not have written that part today if I were asked to. How did I write it yesterday? I am really curious. Am I the only one who feels that way? I look back on episodes in my life and often, not just occasionally, but OFTEN think: was that really me who did that, or thought that, or said that?

I know this is kind of strange, but the older I get, the less I feel that I am in control. I feel like if I am willing to just be a conduit, God can take over and do things I would never be able to do on my own.
The Bible sort of backs me up on this. We humans may think we are in charge, but we are not. God has a plan, and it will happen, with our acquiescence or not. I am inclined to let Him have His way.

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Proverbs 19:21

English Standard Version (ESV)

²¹ Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
    but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.