The Writer's Path ~ Valerie Ronald

 

I watched from a short distance behind to see how long it would take before she looked back for me. My firstborn had only learned to walk a few weeks ago, now nothing would stop her. She toddled down the forest path as fast as her small legs could carry her, eager to find out what was around the next bend, not once looking back to see if I followed. Decades later, she and her husband are seasoned hikers, roaming beautiful forest paths in remote mountain regions. No matter how far she goes, I carry in my mind the image of her as a tiny girl in a bright yellow jacket following the first path of many she would someday explore.

Do you remember the first steps you took on the pathway to becoming a writer? Did it begin as a dream in your heart ˗˗ perhaps the discovery you were good with words ˗˗ or a desire to tell your story? Many writers forge paths fueled by their own ambition, however, as a writer who follows Christ, I have learned to trust Him to show me the path He wants me to take.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Prov. 3:5-6 NIV)

My path as a writer has had many twists and turns, memorable mountaintop moments and times when I’ve lost the trail. Lessons learned along the way strengthened my writing muscles and taught me obedience to the One who laid out my path. Gradually I learned to see God’s providence in each step on the path, even in the wrong turns I took.

Like the conviction that I was to write a memoir about a time of personal trauma in my past. I spent hours dredging up painful memories, trying to bleed them onto the page, yet often deleting hours of writing because of my reluctance to reveal such private details to future readers. Guiltily stalling work on the manuscript, I found it too emotionally difficult to unearth a chapter in my life God had closed long ago. Then I noticed a theme emerging. I realized I was weaving parts of my trauma story into other projects, yet without stirring up the emotional pain the focused memoir caused. I could share how God met me and taught me in those dark places, then move on to the healing and wholeness of the new life He blessed me with. I believe this is the path He wanted for me all along.

“Your great Teacher will reveal Himself to you; your eyes will see Him. Your ears will hear sweet words behind you: “Go this way. There is your path; this is how you should go” whenever you must decide whether to turn to the right or the left.” (Isa. 30:19-21 The Voice)

If you are truly seeking God’s will for your writing path, He will make your way clear. He has given you the best guidebook in His Word and the compass of the Holy Spirit to point you in the right direction. Even if you take a wrong turn, He can make a way where there is no way. I pray you experience joyful purpose and beauty with each step as you follow the writing path God has set before you.

 

Valerie Ronald writes from an old roll top desk in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, with her tortoiseshell cat for a muse. A graduate of Langara College School of Journalism, she writes devotionals, fiction and inspirational prose. Her purpose in writing is to encourage others to grow in their spiritual walk.

Providential Connections - Bruce Atchison

How I wish providence was taught as a primary doctrine in churches. Had this been done in my hearing before I joined a cult, I would have realized that house church for what it was.

This congregation believed that the name of Jesus was like a limitless credit card. If we just had enough faith, we could get whatever we wanted from God. And when my many tearful petitions during fifteen-and-a-half years for good sight went unanswered, I grew bitter.

This rage at a supposedly stingy deity drove me away from him for nine years. But he never gave up on me. For that, I'm eternally grateful.

I happened to be scanning the shortwave dial one winter evening when I discovered, of all things, a Christian death metal show called Tempered Steel. The enthusiasm of announcer Dale Early drew me into the music and I became a regular listener.

Since Dale seemed like a level-headed guy, I wrote and asked him about why I hadn't been healed of my poor sight in spite of my striving to build up my faith.

His hand-written answer pinpointed the problem. Nobody explained God's providence as plainly as he did.

Even knowing this, I still felt cheated by God since he could easily have healed me. But after some circumstances, which I need not explain here, I realized that I'd been swindled by phony Christians.

I wrote my third memoir in 2012 so that other victims of false teachers would see how the heavenly Father used providence to guide me out of error and into his restorative truth. Never have I ever been so content to rely upon his will for my life.

Fair Well MS DOS - Bruce Atchison

Like many older folks, I began using MS DOS back in the early nineties. Learning its commands was difficult but I managed to do so. At the time, I bought WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS because my IBM clone didn't have enough memory to run Windows 3.1. There also weren't screen readers capable of operating in Windows at that time.

My old PCs and WordPerfect served me well for more than fifteen years. With both tools, I wrote many freelance articles and my three books.

Until XP, I felt that Windows was too unstable to rely upon, especially Windows 98. It was the worst operating system I ever used.

Recently, I find myself relying more on Windows-based programs for my writing. This is because converting from ASCII text to .DOC or .RTF files is a bit of a chore. I had to spend time tidying up improper carriage returns and line breaks. Even WordPerfect 12 for Home was somewhat clunky, in my estimation of course.

As time goes by, I find myself using old technology less and less. I now write with a Windows-based program called Jarte and I store files on USB drives rather than floppy disks. Since the new PCs come without floppy drives, I use an external drive if I do need to read from that old format.

In a similar way, I'm learning new things about our Lord. I've unlearned old ideas which I was taught at a toxic house church. I now know the heavenly Father much better than I once did. This has made a powerful difference in how I pray and study. God isn't the miserly being I once assumed he was. The Holy Spirit is a person and not, as the wicked house church leader taught, composed of departed saints. And Jesus isn't alone in the Godhead as that blasphemous leader claimed.

I now understand that  providence is far more miraculous than the miracles Jesus and his followers performed. So many divergent factors must line up in order for God's will to be done.

Though I still love MS DOS and WordPerfect 5.1, I have grown to enjoy the new technology. In the same way, I no longer view God as somebody to whom I must beg for blessings. Neither do I worry about having enough faith power to satisfy him. Just knowing the real characters of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a blessing.

New Toys Mean New Joys by Bruce Atchison

Have you ever noticed that purchasing something new, or even second hand, can stir your creativity? At the risk of sounding like a materialist, I've found that having some sort of new technology is one way of firing up one's creative imagination.

June, 1993 was when I finally had access to a real computer. I bought a Vic-20 in 1984 but I'd hardly call that a computer when compared to the IBM clone. By today's standards, it was primitive. The PC only had 100 MB of hard disk space and 2 MB of memory. It couldn't even run Windows 3.1 because that program required a minimum of 4 MB of memory.

Also, a friend gave me an amber monochrome monitor and I bought a dot matrix printer from another friend. Even so, it was a huge leap from writing by hand. WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS allowed me the ease of cutting and pasting text as well as correcting it with the spell checker. Additionally, I wrote my first three memoirs with that word processor program.

My first digital camera was likewise a boon. Though I had a good quality 35mm camera, I had to wait to get the film developed before I could see if the photo was good or if my thumb got in the way. With a digital camera, it's easy to load the photo onto a computer and edit out boo-boos. Additionally, it's immediately obvious if the photo didn't quite work out.

Even better, cell phones have cameras which take photos and video. I've used mine to snap great photos which later appeared in my blog posts. As long as the battery is charged, I can even make notes to myself of great ideas I had while away from my PC.

Even my electronic music compositions were inspired by new equipment. It would take far too long to list the ways here but suffice it to say that whenever I bought a new keyboard, it inspired new music. Better still, I can edit it and burn CD-R copies of my albums. I've done that as well as designed the labels and tray cards.

The same process applies in the spiritual realm. When I learned about the heavenly Father's providence and true character, it gave me a much happier outlook on his role in my life. Far from being a disciplinarian who set impossible faith goals, he lovingly led me to accept my disability as his tool to sculpt me into the person he wants me to be. Because of this new understanding, I'm much happier than I was in that cultic house church. John 9:3 is now my life verse because I understand why I wasn't healed of my sight impairment.

@ve6xtc