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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

3 Unexpected Lessons You’ll Love in Will Not See

by Chautona Havig · 2 Comments

The story held me captive as I wrote it. No, really. It happened with None So Blind, and it happened again with Will Not See.
But while I found myself relating to Ella in None So Blind, I couldn’t comprehend the kinds of discoveries the main character of Will Not See made about her life. Add to that a life so very different from mine, and of course, I’d be drawn to try to understand what Vikki went through.

3 Unexpected Lessons You'll Love in Will Not See

And as I did, three things stood out to me—3 unexpected lessons I loved learning as I wrote Will Not See.

1. We were designed for community.

I’ve never “met” anyone more alone than Vikki. Even Annie from HearthLand chose her lonely life. Vikki didn’t. She has no family to help her navigate these unfamiliar and uncomfortable waters.

And I just don’t think we were designed for that. We were designed for family—for community. Even David said that the Lord sets the solitary in families. God gives us community when we otherwise would have none. And that’s rather lovely.

Can you imagine it? No family, no friends, no church to help hold her up. There’s really nothing to make her want to keep going. But the Lord did that for her in my book. He set solitary Vikki in a family before she even knew Him.

Because you see, she doesn’t even have Jesus.

And that brought out a whole ‘nother thought that nearly shook me to the core. I couldn’t have planned this if I’d tried, but Ella forgot her husband, her parents, her children. Every relationship in her life—gone. Except for Jesus. Whoa. And that brings me to the second lesson I loved learning from it.

2. With Jesus, you get a fresh start.

He says we’re new creatures—old passed AWAY. But there’s a bit more… Hebrews 8 says:

For finding fault with them, He says,
“BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD,
WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT
WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH;

NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS
ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND
TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT;
FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT,
AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.

“FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS,
AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS.
AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD,
AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

“AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN,
AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’
FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME,
FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.

“FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES,
AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”

When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

My favorite lines…

“I will remember their sins no more.” But isn’t that the one beauty in all of this horrible memory destruction? Though the Lord forgives—washes clean. We’re really good about getting historical with our sins. We pull them out of the grave the Lord buries them in and dust them off. We let them jab us, stab us, wound us deeply all over again as if Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t quite enough. We need to suffer just a bit more.

Ahem.

But these ladies don’t have that problem. THEY remember their own sins no more. How beautiful is that? Sure, they’ll blow it again. They’ll sin. But they have a week’s—a month’s—a year’s baggage to rebury each time instead of a lifetime’s.

3. Ignorance is not bliss—not always

As I wrote Ella’s story in None So Blind, I recall feeling a bit envious about not remembering my own faults—the idea that I could start over. You know, a new life Anne Shirley style—fresh with no mistakes in it.

But Ella didn’t have a seriously difficult life. She’d been a rather self-absorbed person, a flawed person. Aren’t we all?

Still, when I started writing Vikki’s story, I saw differences that made me so grateful I didn’t have her experience. Because you see, Vikki’s ignorance could have life-altering consequences. Add to that the terror that comes with knowing that you don’t know what you need to know (how convoluted is THAT?) and not having Jesus, I feel like I’d have given up on life.

Memories can hurt.

There’s no doubt about it. The mistakes, losses, failures, missed opportunities… the past can wound. And when I’ve seen people going through horrible pain due to the ugliness in their pasts, it makes sense that they could long for something to wipe it out.

But as I wrote Will Not See, I saw the other side of the loss coin. As I wrote None So Blind, I grew thankful that I hadn’t lost my memories because I wouldn’t want not to know my children—my husband. I wouldn’t want to forget friends and families.

Even if I’d had a difficult childhood, I wouldn’t want to forget ALL those memories. But that fresh start—yes. I envied it. If I could choose, I wouldn’t ask the Lord for a similar experience, no matter how much that fresh start tempted me. And it would.

Writing Will Not See did something entirely different, however. It showed me the danger that comes when you can’t remember what you shouldn’t even know. When you have no one who knows anything about you. When you wouldn’t even know how to find them if you tried.

They were unexpected lessons, and one of them was rather a hard one, but I loved them. They taught me so much.

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Comments

  1. Lucinda says

    August 30, 2017 at 6:17 am

    Love this…have to admit, I couldn’t fathom “Will Not See” being as good as “None So Blind” and am really happy to be WRONG! I want to re-read both back to back, taking special notice of the lessons you’ve mentioned. Raising my hand at being guilty of digging up sins Jesus has buried and forgotten…

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      August 30, 2017 at 6:13 pm

      Alas, me, tooo!

      Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

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Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 264: A Chat with Romance Author, Sarah Monzon
byChautona Havig

Finally getting a chance to chat with Sarah Monzon was a total delight, and learning all about her latest release, All’s Fair in Love and Christmas was equally awesome.  My copy is here and waiting for me to dive into the battle of the celebrations!  EEEP! Listen in to see what that even means!

Note: I sound like I’m underwater. We heard it during our interview, but I couldn’t make it behave and couldn’t fix it. Sorry!

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

How Does an Intense Christmas Competition Lead to Love?

All’s Fair in Love and Christmas has so much going for it that I don’t know where to start! Fun mom who made our heroine’s childhood Christmases an international delight without ever leaving home?  Check!  Social anxiety adding to the stress of competing for a promotion?  Check?  Romcom hilarity?  Check, check?  And add to all that Sarah’s wonderful writing and delightful characterization?  I’m all in.

We also chatted about why she chose to write about a woman with social anxiety, her preferred reading methods, and some of my favorite books by her. For a refresher, those are The Isaac Project, 12 Days of Snowmen, and Book Nerds & Boyfriends (a collection of three novellas).

All’s Fair in Love and Christmas by Sarah Monzon

Two workplace rivals. One festive competition. And a romance that upends it all.

Every December two things are guaranteed for graphic designer Mackenzie Graham–Christmas celebrations and the annual promotion at her workplace. Those two things are by no means mutually exclusive. In fact, the better an employee is at harnessing the Christmas spirit, the more likely they’ll win the new job. With her social anxiety, Mackenzie never thought she’d be a contender in her company’s holiday competition, so how exactly has she found herself dueling her workplace crush with wrapping paper tubes and using tinsel as her weapon of choice for a much-needed raise?

Jeremy Fletcher’s life is meticulously planned out, including how to win this year’s promotion at work. Not only will the new position fulfill some of his career goals, but as a single guardian to his twin niece and nephew, he needs the salary increase to support his family. Jeremy has barely noticed Mackenzie Graham around the office, but now that she’s his rival, he can’t stop thinking about her. Her quirkiness intrigues him, and he’s afraid that if he can’t get his head on straight, the promotion isn’t the only thing he’ll end up losing to Mackenzie.

“Inspirational rom-com readers are going to love this one.”–BETHANY TURNER, bestselling author of The Do-Over

You can learn more about Sarah on her WEBSITE.  Also follow her on BookBub and GoodReads.

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Episode 264: A Chat with Romance Author, Sarah Monzon
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