On Writing Isolation

            I think that one of the scariest things in the world is believing in God and not hearing from Him.

            For some time, I felt like this.

            It’s strange how life impacts art. But when you’re creating something, it almost has to. I don’t know how it can’t.

            The two things that influenced my writing on Isolation were my teen years spent in North Carolina and the journey my wife and I went through in trying to start a family.

            My parents moved all around when I was young, and they eventually settled on top of a mountain high in the Smoky Mountains. It was beautiful but very isolated. I remember thinking that there was a world out there—a busy and bustling world—but that I was stuck in this wilderness, feeling very lonely. Many teenagers feel this way, but it was compounded by my environment.

            Fast forward many years later when my wife and I were struggling to try and start a family. For what seemed like years, I prayed to God. But like many people, those prayers went unanswered. And my frustrations grew to anger and disbelief.

            When Kylie, our twenty-one month old daughter, was born, that anger and disbelief turned to humility and regret.

            I put the emotions of both of these things into Isolation. It’s a story about missionaries that have are having doubts. The wife is seeing horrific visions and feels like she’s losing her mind. The father is angry at God for what happened on the mission field. Both are ripe for spiritual attack, which is exactly what happens.

            The journey they are on is not only outwardly scary, but it’s also dark and emotional. And at the end, after feeling isolated and alone, they are humbled by the end of their dark journey. Just like I was.

            I never intended to write a book about these two things—stories take a life of their own. I didn’t enjoy writing Isolation. It took me to some dark places. But everybody has darkness in their lives. And our hope is to make it to daylight and to find peace on the other side.