The Writer Who Keeps On Writing

When I was eleven, I felt called to write for God–particularly, I wanted to create fiction of literary merit that would teem with the life found in knowing Jesus. I made the ambitious goal of being published by 15 (didn’t manage to have a book deal, but did have a short story published online!) and transforming the Christian literary scene.

Now this was pretty presumptuous of me. If I even have a small voice in the literary scene, I am honored. I hope my work will bring light and beauty into the world, but I know each word is also capable of harm. Words hold incredible power. They must be wielded well, and I don’t always do that… but still… I’ve felt many callings over the years–some that were both devastatingly and joyously wrong, some that were more fruitful–but one goal has stayed the same: I want to write beautiful things for God.

I have always been transfixed by language and lost in scenes. Right now I am here to remind myself of why I write. My ideas always pull me in seventeen directions, but perhaps it’ll help me focus if I remember why. If I don’t give up. If even knowing the risks of the written word, whether it’s failure or harm or something else, I persist.

Lord, focus me on Your eternal presence. You are the original creator, and I am Your daughter. Draw me into Your embrace that I may write like someone embraced by You, someone redeemed by Your love. Show me how to choose details and plot lines and character arcs that pass this love onto any readers, onto myself, and back onto Yourself. I want to love You in my writing, and although I don’t always know how and I often fall short, I trust in Your help. I open my hands wide. I receive. I love You. In Jesus’s name, amen.