"How is God speaking to you about your faith and writing? How are you
anticipating God’s presence? How does He want you to step forward in
faith?"
When I put the words
‘my faith’ and ‘writing’ together these are the thoughts that come to mind:
Last year I took
the opportunity to write a short story for Inscribes Anthology, Christmas
Stories & More. It was a faith inducing experience for me as I’ve resisted
sending my work out for publication for years (other than newspaper articles
and columns). Due to the encouragement of a good friend I pushed through that
wall of resistance and sent in my story, even though I wasn’t happy with it and
could only think about its flaws after it was sent. Thankfully the editor team
saw more than flaws and it was published in the book.
I’d always had
the tendency to simply forget about my newspaper articles and columns once they
were in print. Once in a while someone would mention an article or column they
liked and I was always so surprised and just brush off their kind comments.
And so I thought
I’d just forget about this story too. But for some reason that story just would
not go away. Some people who read it offered encouraging comments more than
once. Then a friend (also an Inscribe member with a story in the book) read it
out loud at her Author’s Reading (things were getting out of control) and then
told me that a lady who attended the meeting wanted to read it at her church’s
Christmas program (now things had really gone off the deep end) This story seemed
to be taking on a life of its own.
I had offered a copy to my physiotherapist to
leave in her waiting room and she phoned and left a message just to encourage
me that she loved the story. And then at my appointment she brought it up again
and wanted to know more about my writing. Being the encouraging person that she
is she asked me if I’d ever thought of writing for Christian magazines,
especially since I had experience as a reporter. Little did she know that she
had touched on a dream in my heart; to be able to write articles for a faith
based magazine on a regular basis.
I have to admit
that I’ve always been the ‘hide my talents under a bushel’ kind of person. But
with the comments and other promptings I’ve been coming to understand that that
maybe my writing is meant to expand beyond my small thinking.
This year, I will
choose to anticipate that God’s presence will go with me as I make more attempts
into the published world. I haven’t decided yet what they will be and I may
never write for a faith based magazine, but I’m trusting that when I hear that
small voice prompt me to step forward in some way, that I will and can act.
“I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me,” [Phil 4:13 NKJV] is the perfect
scripture for my writing life this year.
