One of the young ladies, Sherilyn, in the young adult ministry my husband and I lead had an interesting prayer request one night after Bible study. We had a guest speaker come and talk about a documentary she was producing to bring light to the AID epidemic in Africa. As the guest spoke, the class was completely quiet, everyone engrossed with this ordinary person doing this extraordinary thing. And at the end of class, Sherilyn asked if we could pray for everyone in the class to know what resources we already have to change the world.
That class was two weeks ago and her simple prayer request still rings in my head. Of course that night, while we were praying, I asked God what resources did I have to make a difference in the world. And the first thing that popped into my mind was words.
I've been writing since I learned how to read and write. Words have always been a close friend to me and a journal was never too far away from me. And I have lots of words. But sad to say, until Sherilyn presented that prayer request, I didn't consider words a resource. They are just words.
I think that's one of the challenges of people with a natural gifting. We take the gift for granted. We can work to improve our gifts but human nature makes us discard the gift God gave us. And most of the time, that's the very thing wants to use to bless the Kingdom!
I can't say I've always known that God wanted to use my words to change the world. This revelation came about three years ago at my first writers conference. As I learned more about the impact that well written pieces make on human hearts, I felt like I had a light bulb moment.
The problem is that I'm not the best writer in the world (my Genesis scores prove that). I'm not a great speller and sometimes certain grammar rules escape me. I find myself wondering how God could use my words to bless someone? Don't I have to be a good writer in order to do that?
The truth is my resource is words. Not a book or a manuscript. Words spoken to lonely hearts, words written in cards, words of comfort spoken over the phone. God has given me the gift of words to be used wherever words are needed.
I have to remember that publishing is not the sole way God wants to use my words. A book would be great, but a card to a friend would be better. A publishing contract would make me feel better, but words of encouragement would make someone else feel better. I have the gift of words to be a blessing to others, no matter what format they come in.
That class was two weeks ago and her simple prayer request still rings in my head. Of course that night, while we were praying, I asked God what resources did I have to make a difference in the world. And the first thing that popped into my mind was words.
I've been writing since I learned how to read and write. Words have always been a close friend to me and a journal was never too far away from me. And I have lots of words. But sad to say, until Sherilyn presented that prayer request, I didn't consider words a resource. They are just words.
I think that's one of the challenges of people with a natural gifting. We take the gift for granted. We can work to improve our gifts but human nature makes us discard the gift God gave us. And most of the time, that's the very thing wants to use to bless the Kingdom!
I can't say I've always known that God wanted to use my words to change the world. This revelation came about three years ago at my first writers conference. As I learned more about the impact that well written pieces make on human hearts, I felt like I had a light bulb moment.
The problem is that I'm not the best writer in the world (my Genesis scores prove that). I'm not a great speller and sometimes certain grammar rules escape me. I find myself wondering how God could use my words to bless someone? Don't I have to be a good writer in order to do that?
The truth is my resource is words. Not a book or a manuscript. Words spoken to lonely hearts, words written in cards, words of comfort spoken over the phone. God has given me the gift of words to be used wherever words are needed.
I have to remember that publishing is not the sole way God wants to use my words. A book would be great, but a card to a friend would be better. A publishing contract would make me feel better, but words of encouragement would make someone else feel better. I have the gift of words to be a blessing to others, no matter what format they come in.
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