Why I need you to keep writing

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Monday, March 26, was the worst day of my life.

And on Monday, March 26, I came home from a traumatic experience, opened up my email and found a blog post by Greg Johnson on the ACFW Blog entitled "My Day in Prison."

I couldn't believe what I was reading.

God is into details. His timing is perfect. It amazes me how our Lord orchestrates the logistics of our lives to give us exactly what we need when we need it. I don't know why I marvel. He says He takes care of the little sparrow so why wouldn't He tell Greg Johnson to write what I needed and post it on the day I needed it?

And why wouldn’t He give the idea of ACFW to someone because He knew that Karla Akins would need Greg Johnson to post on the ACFW organization's blog?

That’s just like Him. He is faithful. And I’m grateful.

In that post on March 26, Greg Johnson talks about how very much prisoners need what we write. He interviewed a prisoner who said that books get passed around in prison. “Books communicate, through story, God’s grace and the love of Jesus in a form that women can grasp. A woman can get swept away into the love of God through a story, well told."

  

When I came home that day I wanted to crawl into bed, curl up in a fetal position and plead with God to just let me die. I wanted to wallow in self-pity and sorrow.

But the ACFW blog post was the first thing I read when I opened my email so I couldn't. I knew God had His eye on me and was carrying me, bloody, wounded and bruised because I barely had the will to breathe or the strength to pray or the resolve to stand.

This was the day the vivid colors in my life disappeared and my world became shades of gray.

Because you see, on this day, Monday, March 26, my oldest son went to prison.

My 27-year-old golden boy, born on Easter Sunday, father of three beautiful little girls, is addicted to meth.

I write this, five days after my son's sentencing, not in a fetal position in my bed, but from a small writing conference where Dave Lambert is one of our anointed speakers. He said something profound yesterday I just have to share with you (part of this quote is attributed to Eugene Petersen):

 "Once upon a time there was a great truth teller named Jesus. Because He knew the Truths He decided to be a great story teller. Why did Jesus teach in stories?  Jesus was a master of subversion. His favorite speech form, the parable, was subversive. The [parables] sounded ordinary; secular; of his 40 parables only one has a setting in church and only a couple mention the name of God. Nothing in them threatened their own sovereignty. Like a time bomb they would explode in their unprotected hearts.  Jesus continually threw odd stories along ordinary lives and walked away without explanation or altar call."

Will you follow in Jesus' footsteps and keep writing so that the lost, like my darling boy, will hear His Voice? There's a blindness that only God's grace can heal.

Please don't give up. I need you. The world needs to hear what God has to say through you. God gave you the dream for a reason, and it's not all about you.

Someone's life depends on your perseverance.

“Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. 2 Chronicles 15:7”

 

 Karla Akins is a pastor's wife, mother of five, grandma to five beautiful little girls and author of O Canada! Her Story. She lives in North Manchester with her husband, twin teenage boys with autism, and three rambunctious dogs. Her favorite color is purple, favorite hobby is book-hoarding, and favorite food group is cupcakes.

Desperate Writers, Desperate Readers

You and I love a good story.

God has called us to write them.

But you and I are powerless to write even one life-giving word.

We are desperate writers.

Since writing is the work of God may I challenge us to follow the example of Jesus?

Jesus spoke what the Father commanded Him to speak. (John 12:49)

Since it is His work, may I challenge us to listen to the Father as we form, think and write? Could I further challenge us to kneel daily before the Creator whose words called into being more than we can imagine, and confess we are needy?

Jesus did whatever He saw the Father doing. (John 5:19)

I don’t know about you, but when I turn inward my writing turns sour. The best writing comes from engaging in others’ lives. May I challenge us to leave our laptops, watch what the Father is doing around us and join Him in His work?

Jesus laid down His life. (John 15:13)

Today I was interrupted lots of times. First it was frustrating. Then it was frightening. At last it dawned on me: surrender now, write later.

Jesus interceded. (John 17; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 4:15,16)

Readers are desperate, too. They are deceived, confused, discouraged and heartbroken. We don’t know most of our readers and we can’t choose them. But why not ask the Father to make us faithful to write the stories only He can give and prepare readers for them so that in His fullness of time they intersect powerfully?

Jesus, our great high priest who sympathizes with our weakness, lives to make intercession for us at the right hand of God. Let us boldly approach the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.