What’s Your Writing Verse?

A few years into my writing journey, I was frustrated and anxious. Events were not unfolding as I thought they should, yet I still felt that deep desire to write. If I was doing what God wanted me to do, why was I experiencing roadblocks? When I set aside a time of prayer and Bible reading to find my focus, Proverbs 16:3 seemed to jump off of the page in large letters.  After studying it in several translations, I’ve paraphrased it:

Entrust your efforts completely to the LORD and he will cause your thoughts to align with his so that your works shall be established and successful.

Through one sentence with a simple message God built my confidence and clarified my focus. That is renewed every time I revisit this verse.

1.       I’m not alone. I’m in a relationship with the almighty, all-powerful God.

2.       I must exercise faith.  If I say, “Sit back. I’ve got this one God.”  He will, until I learn how hopelessly bereft I am doing it my way.

3.       When I take his path, step by step, my thoughts merge into his will. He gives fresh and new desires in my heart that I find pleasing, joyful, fulfilling.  God doesn’t usually take me on the route that I’ve mapped out, but he always takes me on the best route.

4.       The results are successful, externally as well as internally.

5.       I find myself firmly in places I didn’t know I would go, but which bring satisfying results to me and which touch others.

The verse deserved a place on my office wall where my forgetful heart can readily see it. How about you? What verse has God given you for your writing life? If you haven’t accepted it, take some time to quiet yourself before God. He has so much he wants to give you. A Writing Verse is just one.

Mary Allen lives in the Midwest. She was La Porte County Poet Laureate from 2010-2011 and serves as Arts in the Park Poetry Chair. Mary can be found on  The Barn Door.net, has published numerous article, two real life stories in "Kernels of Hope", and a book of poems, "Journey to Christmas"

Writing Through Emotional Pain

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Life happens. And sometimes it happens painfully. Professional writers must write even when their hearts are broken, and life is delivering its most powerful punches. 

I’ve lost two dear friends within a few months of one another and have another devastating situation in my family right now. Crying myself to sleep, navigating my days in a vice-like fog and swallowing a constant lump in my throat—these physical reactions to emotional pain challenge my ability, nay, my desire to write. But write I must, because, you see, I’m a writer. And that’s what we do. And the publishing world doesn’t care that I have issues. The publishing world will go right along publishing without me. 

The only way we can write through hard days is to keep our focus. And frankly, the only way we can survive through hard days is to keep our focus. The focus isn’t on the writing. The focus for the Christian writer is on Him.

Psalm 22:5 says, They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed (NIV). 

In Kay Arthur’s book, As Silver Refined: Answers to Life's Disappointments, she writes about how life’s disappointments are really His Appointments. By changing just one letter in the word, we have a whole new perspective because the focus is on Him. 

We can trust Him, even when things don’t make sense.

We can trust Him to give us the words to write even when we’re so broken we can barely move our pen over the page, or our fingers across the keyboard.

We can cry unto God, and not be disappointed.

We will be appointed.

We will write.

"Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later"

(Revelation 1:19, NIV).

 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 silly dogs. Her favorite color is purple, favorite hobby is book-hoarding, and favorite food group is cupcakes.

My Teacher is a Witch

At the ripe old age of 49, I've decided to return to college. It's not that I don't have enough to do. My writing plate is full, as are my pastor's wife and homeschool Mom platters. But God stirred my nest to step out and learn something new, and quite frankly, I love school.

I'm attending classes at a liberal arts community college, and it's been a refreshing wake-up call. Stepping out of my Christian bubble and interacting with the "real world" hasn't shocked me. (I don't live in a cave and kill my meat with a club. I have access to TV and the Internet and grew up in the '60s and '70s.) But stepping outside my comfort zone has reminded me of Whose I am and why I write.

My English teacher is a Witch. She announced to the class that Christians have caused more wars and wielded more hate than any other religion on earth. She holds degrees in philosophy and comparative religions. "I grew up Christian and studied all the religions of the world," she said, "and this is the one that best suits me because I believe there are many paths to God."

My history class has an element in it that believes anyone connected to the Tea Party are members of the Ku Klux Klan, are racist bigots, and ignorant rednecks. I'm not astonished. If highly educated peoples believe we evolved from a blob in a bog, I suppose the same sort of logic can lead them to a warped view of Tea Party folks.

If you know me, you know I can't remain mute when someone voices a fringe opinion. My English class is an arguments class and arguments are encouraged.  Before I fully considered the consequences of my words, I heard myself speak. "I've searched all the religions, too, and I've decided to follow Jesus."

Silence.

I probably kissed an "A" good-bye in that class but that's okay. I don't think God puts us in those positions to sit idly by and remain quiet. I believe it's the same with writing. He doesn't give us the passion to endure this grueling profession for some random willy nilly purpose.

Being  in the daily presence of humanists has solidified my mission as a writer. I write to expose Truth, to help people see the love of God in the midst of the failures of man. People are hungry to know God, whether they realize it or not. I write because God-inspired words contain the power of life and God's Words heal rather than destroy.

I yearn deeply for people to see God's character and this is why I sit at my computer for hours a day weaving stories that will lead seekers to the Promise. I want them to meet God's Son, so they can know that peace and hope are only a prayer away.

The lost write a message, too, and it's the opposite of hope. Only those of us who follow Jesus know True Hope, True Love, and True Eternal Victory. The world is starving for what we write. Would we pass by hungry children and refuse to feed them? When we let our egos get in the way of God's call, that's exactly what we do. It's tempting to give up after rejection by a publisher or agent. Jesus was rejected, too. What hope would there be if Jesus had felt sorry for Himself? His humiliation didn't stop Him from answering His call.

What matters is our obedience, being able to hear the voice of God, and answering the call to write what is true, noble, pure and just. God placed a fire in us to share the One True Path to God. People need our words to light the way because the path they travel is too dark and they are blinded by fallible human knowledge.  Our obedience is paramount so those searching for Truth will hear God's call the loudest.

Too many fall away simply because they didn't have the right information put in front of them at the right time. We would do well to remember that we must write so the lost can find their way.

Put your hands to the plow (i.e., keyboard, pen, et. al.) dear writer, and WRITE, to the glory of God.

Someone is dying and needs to read what God has to say.

More-than-enough

Psalms 4:6-7 in the Message says,
Why is everyone hungry for more?
"More, more," they say.
"More, more."
I have God's more-than-enough.
More joy in one ordinary day.

At first glance this didn't seem to apply to my writing life. I was wrong. As writers, we often lament for "more" time, "more" words, "more" cooperation from life outside our writing world. We can be hungry to write, and imagine that "more" of what we think we need is the magic ticket. God's word promises that we already have what we need, in this case, time. The possibility for joy in our work is already within our grasp. We have more-than-enough. What a comfort!
Learning to be productive within the confines of our day sometimes takes a jump start. Let me share a few resources that might encourage and enable us:
Conquering the Time Factor by Julie-Allyson Leron
Pen on Fire by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
A fun little box of writing games to spark your imagination-
The Writer's Toolbox by Jamie Cat Callan

Let's go forth with confidence, accepting what we can do today.Thank God for what we do accomplish-not regretting what we didn't.