The Design of Providence by Lynne Tagawa
The Design of Providence: An Anthology Celebrating America’s 250 Years
Whew! For those of you who’ve had a baby… well, books are a lot like that. Especially this one.
Because I didn’t write it all. I merely contributed—and then had to manage it. I’m the managing editor of a huge project I’m still excited about. I’ve never overseen a project like this… but it was worth it.
This book is a collection of short stories set during the American Revolution. Some authors you may recognize, like Shannon McNear. Others you may not. One remarkable history teacher wrote a story about John Laurens, one of those little-known heroes who deserves more attention. A writer friend blew my socks off with her captivating tale of William Lee, George Washington’s enslaved manservant. I closed the collection with a short story featuring John Adams and the king, a scene I fear HBO flubbed. You be the judge.
As I wrote my own contributions, received the others, critiqued, edited, and revised, I noticed some things.
The stories were darker than I expected. Maybe I still wear rose-colored glasses when I look back at the War for Independence. But the fact was, we were fighting the world’s greatest superpower at the time.
France had lost the Seven Years’ War (we know it as the French and Indian War, but it was a global conflict). From 1763 onward, the plea “Rule, Brittania!” became fact. Britain’s navy would soon dominate the globe. Meanwhile, France nursed her wounds.
For the Thirteen Colonies to unite, much less win their struggle for independence, took a true miracle. The first miracle was the Great Awakening.
George Whitefield crossed the Atlantic thirteen times as he preached—often in open fields. His voice could reach tens of thousands without a mike. He became a household name, and in 1775, five years after his death in Massachusetts, militiamen broke open the crypt where he was buried. They wanted to touch his clothing in superstitious hope. In their minds, this minister had become fused with the God he preached.
During this awakening, the gospel affected everyone. Not everyone was converted, but the men who wrote and approved the Declaration of Independence understood biblical principles. They understood that men were not angels. They understood that natural rights came from heaven, not the government. So the Crown—or Parliament—had no right to take certain things away.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…
Our Creator gives us these things. Not the government. What a concept!
Throughout the struggles and near-impossibilities he faced, Washington looked to God. In a letter he wrote later, he said this:
“The Man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf.”
So yes, some of the stories are a little dark. In a few, there is battle and bloodshed. In all of them, we get a peek into what it must have been like.
I have thought more about the Founding of our country as a result. I appreciate these men more and resolve to understand better the principles upon which a nation was established. And I give thanks to God for what we can only marvel at.
Website: www.lynnetagawa.com
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Providence-Anthology-Celebrating-Americas-ebook/dp/B0GSCQ7ZYY
Lynne Tagawa is an educator, author, and editor living in South Texas. She’s a mom of four and a grandma to six who loves writing historical fiction with a theological emphasis. A Fallen Sparrow: A Novel of the American Revolution, is a 2023 Selah Awards finalist, and The Root of the Matter: The American Puritans Book One, won the 2025 Angel Book Award for Speculative fiction.
The Design of Providence, a collaborative anthology with nine other writers, including Shannon McNear and Jayna Baas releases May 1st. Jezebel’s Children: The American Puritans Book Two will be available soon.
Lynne sometimes falls down rabbit holes in her research, and her husband enables her by ignoring the dust. Coffee and chocolate, in that order.
