Inspire, Winter 2006

Afterthoughts This story comes in response to the Fall Inspire's theme ofalumni authors. Nudges from God By Susan J. Clark'94 I've loved creative writing ever since I was a child.At Cedarville,I wrote quite a bit. In addition to mycreative writing class,I wrote stories and poems to honor friends on their birthdays and other occasions.One time,I completely forgot abouta puppet ministry conference for Master's Puppets, although I finally showed up in the parking lot considerably late.As self-inflicted penance,I wrote Brandon Waltza story about"The Little Girl Who Lost Her Brain."Bythe way,puppet ministry has continued to be an important part ofmylife. I am now in myseventh year with Salt and Light Puppets,a ministry I started at myhome church ofChapelon the Hill in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. While writing myjuvenile novel And the Violin Cried,I experienced manyencouraging nudgesfrom God.My novel has its lighter,humorous moments;however,it is a very poignant story and addressessome serious issues like anti-Semitism.Bodie Thoene has shared how God miraculously helped her in her research for one ofher books.By now,I have manysuch stories myself. Oneofmychapters deals with a young boy's bar mitzvah,so in preparation for writing it, I read an excellent book by Steve Herzig on Jewish traditions and customs.While this book gave me manyfacts and some new terminology,I still couldn't visualize the ceremony which wasso differentfrom my usual experiences.Without visualizing it,I didn't know how to create a mental picture in the reader's mind.Some time after praying over this dilemma,I was walking outofa grocery store when I noticed a free magazine in the foyer:a bar/bat mitzvah party guide.The book was filled with colorful photographs.While much ofit focused on ideas for the reception,it also included photographs ofyoung people participating in the synagogue ceremony.With this visual guide,I was able to write effectively. Although my bar mitzvah boy,David,and his sister,Annie, live in modern America,I gave them a heritage through their grandparents which traced back to Hungary.As background, I wanted to tell the story ofhow their grandparents escaped wartime Hungary I chose Hungaryfor the setting for three reasons: I had spent three monthsin Hungaryon a mission trip,and so I wasfamiliar with and endeared to the culture;also my Jewish neighbor came from Hungary;and,lastly,I knew that Hungary wasone part ofEurope that was hit hard by the Holocaust.However,at the time when the idea first came to me,I knew nothing about the man named Raoul Wallenberg. I wentto the public library for some inspiration and searched under the topic"Hungary"in the library's computer search system.From this screen,I chose a subcategory,"Hungary: history."This did not narrow the search down by much when you consider how much history Europe has compared to the United 32 Winter 2006 States. I could have found all sorts ofunnecessary information from Attila the Hun to the Ottoman Empire.However,the first listing included the phrase"a righteous Gentile."This little phrase gave me a clue that the book addressed a Jewish issue. It turned outto be a biography ofRaoul Wallenberg,a Swedish diplomat responsible for saving the lives of 100,000 Hungarian Jews.I checked it outand wassoon enthralled with the intriguing and fearless Wallenberg.I was able to weave him into the story as the agent by which myfamily made its escape.Again,I wasamazed at how quickly God led meto the appropriate information when I didn't know what I waslooking for or how to find it. Butthe mostamazing and miraculous nudge happened when I wanted some very particular information about a violin.My character,Annie,played an antique violin which,like her and her grandparents,traced its heritage back to Hungary.The violin was developing into an importantelement in mystory and a symbol ofthe Jewish people and their survival.I wanted a bullish group from her school to damage this violin only to have one ofits former members,now a believer,have it repaired.My problem was this: how badly could I damage the violin and have it still be repairable? I worked at a Christian book store at the time ofmy writing, and I remember dusting the gift section,my mind whirling with ideas,and praying over and over again,"Lord,help mefind out something about violin repair. Lord,help mefind outsomething about violin repair."I didn't know how I would answer my question.It wasn't the sort ofthing I could enter into an Internet search engine.Even ifI could ask a friend who played violin,how could they possibly know the answer? Ofcourse,no one would smash a violin in order to find out! That evening,I was excited about myidea,and over dinner, I shared my plot idea as well as my puzzling question with my mother.My mom just said,"You've got to look at the Guideposts magazine thatjust came today."I did and read an article about a professional violinist who played an antique Stradivarius.I enjoyed the article,but I didn't find an answer to myquestion until mymom pointed out an update on the writer in another section ofthe magazine.The writer had slipped on some ice and broke her violin into eight pieces.She brought her instrument to a violin shop where it was repaired and now plays as well as it ever did. I was completely amazed at how God had answered my prayer. Itseemed the woman had published her storyjust for mysake. Although I don't think that is quite true,it is clear to me,at least, that God had foreseen myquestion long before I asked it and worked outthe timing with both writer and publisher so that my answer arrived in my mailbox on the day I prayed about it! Remembering these experiences along the wayencouraged me as I tried publisher after publisher,believing that God had a purpose for my writing.And just this September,I have signed my first book contract with Publish America for And the Violin Cried.