In the writing group I attend, Words for The Journey, Michelle reminds us that our goal is to bring hope to people through our writing. When we reach out to give that hope we sometimes have to cause pain, pain to ourselves. To offer others hope we uncover who we are, the broken roads we have traveled and the pits we have fallen into. Sometimes we want to write a story without showing that brokenness but when we do, no one can relate. We must take off the bandages and show the scars.
I wrote a story for the Chicken Soup for the Soul book on Tough Times, Tough People but I did not share the tears. I did not go deep because if I went deep I would have to dig up the buried pain. I had not sent in my story yet and I thank God that I had delayed. This morning God showed me that what I wrote would not cause anyone to say “that’s me”. There was no substance in it. So I took the bandages off and rewrote the story.
It is not easy to put your life out there for the world to read but our lives and callings are not for our comfort. Everything we do is for the Kingdom. If one person is encouraged not to quit, because if we can make it so can they, then it is worth showing the scars. You don’t have to be a writer to do this. People are put in your path everyday that are hurting, they need to hear your story of victory.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
On the Other Side of a "Career"
It has been 5 months since I “officially” stopped working, which means I no longer leave the house in the morning to go to another location to work. I now go to my home office and write and study the craft of writing.
I have spent the last 11 years in the enviable position of being an executive secretary to a pastor of a large church. It was an honor to serve him and his wife for so many years. I now sit in my seat at church and drink in the wisdom of this Godly man without having to be alert to his needs or the needs of the congregation around me. Not that I don’t care about those things but he has a new assistant who is filling those needs.
God takes us through seasons in our lives, transition is not always easy. I am no longer the “go to” person for answers about what is going on at the church. Someone asked me this morning where our Prayer Coordinator person was and I told her I did not know. This person then asked, “aren’t you in the know anymore”, to which I replied, “nope.” At first I missed knowing everything before others but that has passed.
We can let our identity get wrapped up in our title and what we “do” and if we stop “doing” or lose our title, then we think we are nothing and of no worth. We are valuable in God’s sight whether we are a great evangelist, a mother, a waitress, a lawyer, or a clerk. When we are secure in the knowledge that we are beloved children of God it doesn’t matter what we are “doing.” The world has a different standard of success: title, money, honor. Success in God’s eyes is being obedient to the call he has put on your life. He has called me to use words to touch people’s lives. The scripture in Luke where Jesus goes into the temple and reads from Isaiah has been a hook in me for years. Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” What is so awesome is that all of the above can be accomplished with written words. We all have been in that place where we desperately needed to hear from God or needed a word of comfort and have picked up our Bible, a book or magazine and there on the page was a message just for us.
So, right now, in the world’s eyes I don’t have much value but in God’s eyes I am exactly where he wants me, at His feet, learning how to put forth words that will set the captives free.
I have spent the last 11 years in the enviable position of being an executive secretary to a pastor of a large church. It was an honor to serve him and his wife for so many years. I now sit in my seat at church and drink in the wisdom of this Godly man without having to be alert to his needs or the needs of the congregation around me. Not that I don’t care about those things but he has a new assistant who is filling those needs.
God takes us through seasons in our lives, transition is not always easy. I am no longer the “go to” person for answers about what is going on at the church. Someone asked me this morning where our Prayer Coordinator person was and I told her I did not know. This person then asked, “aren’t you in the know anymore”, to which I replied, “nope.” At first I missed knowing everything before others but that has passed.
We can let our identity get wrapped up in our title and what we “do” and if we stop “doing” or lose our title, then we think we are nothing and of no worth. We are valuable in God’s sight whether we are a great evangelist, a mother, a waitress, a lawyer, or a clerk. When we are secure in the knowledge that we are beloved children of God it doesn’t matter what we are “doing.” The world has a different standard of success: title, money, honor. Success in God’s eyes is being obedient to the call he has put on your life. He has called me to use words to touch people’s lives. The scripture in Luke where Jesus goes into the temple and reads from Isaiah has been a hook in me for years. Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” What is so awesome is that all of the above can be accomplished with written words. We all have been in that place where we desperately needed to hear from God or needed a word of comfort and have picked up our Bible, a book or magazine and there on the page was a message just for us.
So, right now, in the world’s eyes I don’t have much value but in God’s eyes I am exactly where he wants me, at His feet, learning how to put forth words that will set the captives free.
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