Lindsay Burke

Unbelievable

Revisado: 02-17-19

When I first heard that publishers rejected this book for being too “unbelievable,” I wondered what on earth that could mean. As I read the book, that wonder turned into amazement. These chapters could be chapters from my own life; the inner thoughts of the teenage characters are straight out of my high school journals. Perhaps the idea that people could be so preoccupied with the will of God seems unbelievable to some. But if you want to understand millennials who grew up in devout Catholic families, I testify to the veracity of the reflections in this story.


There are two main forces driving the main characters: the universal human question, “What do I really want?” and the equally strong but less universal human question, “What does God want for me?” As the characters grow in age and experience, these questions permeate every moment of the story.


For me, the quintessential point is when the question is asked, “Isn’t discovering our life’s calling, supposed to be the most joyful thing?” From experience, it is not joyful always. And immediately after the question is asked, the characters go through a time of hurt, awkwardness, and frustration. This chapter was painfully real to me. The injustice of heartbreak, of missed opportunity, of what could have been, of bad timing, these are feelings that I, too, was having in 2009. During times like this, that second human question, “What does GOD want from me,” seems to add more frustration to an already messy situation.


And yet, the overall theme of the book is not the frustration of bad timing, but the comfort of knowing that, in God, all things work together for good. And while the authors both talk about God bringing glory to a painful situation, I think it’s important to note that the choice to allow good things to come from a painful situation comes from the authors themselves. God’s will is not portrayed here as a magic potion that turns bad into good. Rather, God’s will is what happens when good people choose joy and love over resentment and anger.


“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

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