Trip of a Lifetime - guest post by Sheri Hathaway

Madeleine L’Engle wrote: 

When the words mean even more than the writer knew they meant,

then the writer has been listening.

And sometimes when we listen, we are led into places we do not expect,

into adventures we do not always understand.

Madeleine L’Engle had a deep faith, a member of an Episcopalian church in the United States. Although she doesn’t give God’s name specifically, I think in this quote she’s thinking of the rewards of listening to God’s voice as she writes. She has certainly gone to places she didn’t expect when she wrote the book she is best remembered for, A Wrinkle in Time, where her characters journey into outer space. Her imagined planets and strange beings that populate them are the product of her imagination, gifted of course, from God. 

I think she was using the gifts God gave her, to craft a story, but left them in God’s hands to use as He desired after publication. Her characters who quoted scripture remind the reader of Christianity without being preachy, and that’s what we are told to do as writers today. But her work of science fiction where she mixed science and Christianity was unorthodox for her day and not always appreciated. Today that theme is more widely accepted and her book is still celebrated. 

Mother Teresa wrote, 

“I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.” 

I think when little Teresa was growing up in Macedonia she never imagined she’d spend her adult life in Calcutta, India but what an achievement she accomplished by listening and allowing God to use her life. God began by planting a seed and when she listened, He used her for much good, telling people of God’s love. 

As for me, well, I don’t see a work of science fiction or a trip to Calcutta in my future, but who knows what God will do with my writing, such as it is. I have a prayer group that I send out an email to every week. I update them on my current work and a shortlist of prayer requests. I haven’t felt led to produce explicitly Christian writing but I want God in everything I do. So, I ask for prayer that He will lead my writing. I want to do my best for Him. I have a keen interest in history – the victories and failures of past lives. A few people have sent me a message about my published writing, thanking me and telling me what my article has meant to them, but perhaps there are more that have enjoyed my writing and even been changed in some way, and not told me. I know I have read lots of good stories by wonderful writers and not contacted the author to tell them how much I enjoyed it. Like releasing children into the world when they’re grown, a writer sends their words out to find their own way, guided by God. Writing history is the interest God has given me, and I leave the future of the words in His hands. I hope my writing has gone places and done good in someone’s life that I do not know of, perhaps not around the world or into outer space, but perhaps into someone’s heart. Now there’s the trip of a lifetime! 

“He is at work on your behalf, not to make you a best-seller, but to make you the best tool for His work. As much as we’d like to think this whole gig is about selling books, it’s not. It’s about obedience. About writing, because that’s the task He’s given us. It’s about seeking to serve Him and others through the gifts He’s given us.” ~Karen Ball.

Sheri Hathaway is a freelance writer and watercolour artist living in Saskatoon. She writes historical pieces focusing on farm and family. Her writing has been published in the Western Producer, Neighbourhood Express, Freelance magazine and others. Her online home is sherihathaway.com and on Facebook at Author Sheri Hathaway.