I previously shared about Selah and Dylan as individuals and some nuances about their relationship, but focused mostly on the differences between them as a believer and non-believer. This week I wanted to share a little bit more about the moments of connection between them. As I mentioned, they’re relationship is already an interesting one because of their differences in belief and faith and that definitely plays into their relationship on a personal level as well.
You have this sort of instant connection and attraction between the two of them, which is really sweet, but as the circumstances of the artifact and the museum director ending up dead throw them together in an unexpected way, you start to see some major differences between how both Selah and Dylan interact with each other. Believers and non-believers view things in such a different way, as they should. Believers think through things and look at things through the lens of a personal relationship with Christ. The moment a person acknowledges the existence of God and the awareness of their sin that can only be redeemed through the sacrifice Christ made on the cross, everything changes for that person. It may not be immediate on everything, but that person is immediately different. They view things through the lens of what is right and wrong according to God’s Word. They view things through the lens of what is glorifying to God rather than glorifying to self. Believers start living their lives by a different standard than the world and things they may have been ok with or used to do before becoming a believer will change if they’ve truly given their lives over to God. I’ve seen so many testimonies of people who were stopped dead right out of addiction or out of whatever lifestyle they were living and you see this complete 180 in their lives that makes them a completely different person, and really, that’s how life in Christ should look compared to life without Christ. There is something so transformative about the redeeming power and love of God that if you’ve really truly surrendered your life to him, you’re going to be different. When God really gets a hold of your life, you can’t help but change. That’s why He says in 2 Corinthians that you are a NEW creation. The old has passed away. When you are surrendering yourself to God and acknowledging your need of his rescue and redemption, you are commanded to put off the old man and put on the new man. All this to say, our choice to follow God and acknowledge Christ as our personal Savior and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct our actions and our choices affects everything we do. It affects our relationships. It affects how we interact with others. It affects our choices and the things we do. It affects how we approach problems or difficulties in our lives. It affects how we deal with trials and hard circumstances in our lives. So, of course, it is going to affect how Selah and Dylan interact.
You have Selah, who grew up in a Christian home and was raised on concepts like modesty, purity, humility, turn the other cheek, don’t lie, don’t steal. All the things that people who have grown up in a Christian home and been raised in Christian school or church their whole lives will be taught on a regular basis. And then you have Dylan, who though his mother was a Christian, things that happened in his life as a child turned him away from God and he has lived a lifestyle that is very different from Selah’s. To him, things like swearing or using the Lord’s name in vain, or sleeping with someone before marriage are more normal or accepted behaviors and it’s not something he would think about as wrong because his life is lived through the lens of not having that personal relationship with Christ. So, you see these differences between them, that even though they are mutually drawn to each other, they can’t ever get past this point because they both view relationships so differently within each of their different mindsets. Selah had a past relationship that ended badly and you’ll find out at the end of this first book how that failed relationship and things she almost did to hold onto the relationship affect how close she allows herself to get to Dylan. But, being raised in a Christian mindset, she also has that line of where she’s not going to go in the relationship because of that. This story is constantly testing her faith and testing the things she’s been taught her entire life and pressing the limits of what she was raised to believe is right and wrong and if there can be gray areas in a believer’s life. Dylan is the complete opposite where almost anything goes, you go after what you want, you have no real line of what’s right and wrong so it’s free game for you to fulfill whatever desires you have whether that’s money, fortune, fame, going after beautiful women, burning through relationships like it’s no big deal.
Selah’s biggest struggle in being drawn to Dylan the way she is comes from not knowing how far she should let a relationship with a nonbeliever go. She knows that the Bible says not to be unequally yoked, which means being in a relationship between a believer and non-believer. Though on occasions it can work out for the non-believer to become a believer when in a relationship with a believer, it is rare. God said this because it is very hard to be in a close relationship of either dating, engaged or married when the two have different beliefs or levels of faith. The one who doesn’t share the faith can end up pulling the person of faith down in their walk or cause them to walk away all together. It will create issues in marriage if kids are in the picture as decisions will have to be made on taking the kids to church and what church, and can even create problems in discipling and raising the kids in general. So, she has all this in her mind when her and Dylan continue to get close, on top of things that almost made her lose her faith the last time she was with someone who didn’t believe the same way she did. And then, you have Dylan, who doesn’t see any of that and can’t understand if they feel the same about each other, why they can’t get closer or build a relationship between them. Dylan’s surprised by how drawn he is to Selah and you see several moments where he compares his past life before Selah to a completely different life with Selah, if they can ever get past whatever keeps pulling her away.
I think creating this struggle between Selah and Dylan definitely gave their relationship a different feel than the typical romance story and it really makes each of them take a deeper look at what each of them believes, giving them more than just a journey of exploring these unexpected and strong feelings for each other that is turning into love on both sides. It also forces them to really discover what they believe as individuals before they start any kind of relationship between them.
I have loved writing each of their stories and seeing their characters grow as individuals, but have also loved watching their relationship between each other grow and deepen and I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I’ve loved creating them. There are moments of getting to know one another, and going deeper, and connection, and desire, and longing, and tender moments mixed with the battles each of them are facing and the struggles of how to make a relationship truly work between them, and I think it’s a touching and beautiful story that I hope you enjoy as well! I am excited to see how each of their characters grow as individuals and with each other in the future books in this series!
Heart of God is (finally) in the printing stage, so will be available very, very soon!! You can pre-buy your copy here, and I will ship it as soon as I have it available. Buying direct from me will be a little cheaper than buying online, and, buying direct from me helps me out in the end, so consider buying your copy from me if you’re thinking of buying the paperback!!
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 