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Archive for the ‘Called to write’ Category

Be Still, and Know . . .

Posted in Called to write, Overcoming distractions, Praying for our nation on October 30, 2010| 3 Comments »

Has your week been like mine with exhausting mental gymnastics and information overload? I’ve been struggling to convert an InDesign file to Word of a book I’ve agreed to edit.  My email inbox continues to hover at around 800 messages (please forgive me if I’ve not yet answered an email you sent me), and I’ve spent tons of valuable time on a serious Facebook problem. Someone from Birmingham, United Kingdom, has stolen my Facebook profile – my photo and bio and some of my likes and interests. I’m very concerned, especially since a friend has alerted me to emails she’s received from bagnullmarlene @yahoo about a $25K government grant. If you’ve received an email message from bagnullmarlene @yahoo or a Facebook friend request seemingly from me, please let me know. If you have a Facebook account, I’d really appreciate it if you’d do a search for Marlene Bagnull and report my imposter by clicking on Block/Report on the bottom of her page.

Life does get complicated and overwhelming. Finding time to “write His answer” may seem impossible much less making time to first wait on Him for His answer (Hab. 2:1). In the midst of this challenging week Father is showing me the need to “be still, and know that he is God” (Psa. 46:10 NIV).

The fact is Jesus never promised it would be easy to follow Him. Indeed, the opposition will become more intense as the day of His return approaches. But He has promised always to be with us and offers us a place of quiet rest in the midst of all that threatens to overwhelm us.

I especially want to encourage you to seek that quiet place before you go to the polls this Tuesday. Make time to examine each candidate’s record and to ask, “How would You vote, Lord?”

Father, please help us to clearly hear from You and to write Your answer. And please have mercy on our nation and bring us back to You.

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The Twenty-third Channel

Posted in Called to write, Overcoming distractions on October 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

Last weekend I was in Wisconsin teaching a two-day Write His Answer seminar. What a joy and privilege!

Throughout the seminar we sang  “Write the Answer.” My good friend, Becky Spencer, wrote the music and first verse. I added the second verse.  (See words below.)

Father, help us to make the most of our opportunities to share the good news, to be “bold enough to tell it freely and fully, and make it plain” (Col. 4:5 TLB). And Father, please help us take control of those things that can so easily consume the hours in each day such as “The Twenty-third Channel” and the Internet.

If you’ve never done the “Called to ‘Write His Answer'” Bible study, I hope you’ll go to http://writehisanswer.com/called_to_wha.htm for the free study sheet.

God bless you and your writing ministry.

The Twenty-third Channel

The TV is my shepherd,
I shall want more.
It makes me lie down on the sofa.
It leads me away from the Scriptures.
It destroys my soul.
It leads me in the path of sex and violence
for the sponsor’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in the shadow
of my Christian responsibilities,
there will be no interruption,
for the TV is with me.
Its cable and remote control – 
they comfort me.
It prepares a commercial before me
in the presence of my worldliness.
It anoints my head with humanism;
my coveting runneth over.
Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house
watching TV forever.

—Author Unknown

Write the Answer

Write the answer;
make it clear.
Shout My message;
help them hear.
All who read it–
how they’ll run
to share the vision
that has come.

Live My answer;;
make it clear.
Love My people;
help them hear.
All who know You,
how they’ll run
to share the Good News
of Your Son.

 

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Called to Write?

Posted in Called to write on October 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

How can I know God has called me to write? It’s an important question to be answered and the first chapter of my book, Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers. You can read the chapter online by clicking here.

Betty Lethcoe, one of my At Home Writing Workshop students, wrote the following about her call to write. Because I believe it will encourage you I asked permission to share it. 

Am I Called to Write?
Betty Lethcoe

Why do I feel that if God called me to write, it should be easier? Isn’t a calling a mystical anointing of favor, enabling me to sit down and easily tap out beautiful words that evoke passion for our Lord or instant clarity of a complex theological concept? If I am called to write, shouldn’t fabulous story ideas be pouring forth like a gushing stream, without a lot of effort on my part?    Calling is defined as a vocation, work, mission or passion. There is nothing about “easy” in those definitions. To write for publication requires a great deal of faith. Faith that I’ll eventually be successful. Faith that the time I spend thinking and nurturing my imagination wouldn’t be better spent serving the homeless, helping the sick, or working in a crisis nursery.

If I was attending college, I could work hard and complete assignments. Regularly I would be evaluated with a grade, A through F. When I finished all my assignments, I would have something tangible—a degree. There is no wondering if I will achieve the goal. I just have to work hard. There is no wondering if I have what it takes as I am graded all along. If I am failing, the teachers will tell me!

I could work hard and write for years and never sell anything. I could invest hundreds of hours and never touch a single person’s life.  Is the ease in which I sell my work the gauge I use to confirm God’s call?  

Paul was called to be a missionary to the Gentiles, but living out his calling was anything but easy. Consider the persecutions, shipwrecks, imprisonments and all those difficult people he had to deal with! Of course, he had the visit from Jesus on the Damascus road. Did he ever wonder if he heard right?

I feel as though I want God to assure me, before I start, that it won’t be a waste of time. I need to know that it isn’t my ego, wanting me to “be something” but it is God wanting my writing to “be something” that glorifies Him.  But that wouldn’t be faith, would it?            

Someone I respect once told me they thought writing was a very self-centered activity and not a service to the Lord. I quit writing and thinking about writing for a couple of years. But I love to read others’ writing, and as a child I loved to read fiction. I believe children need fiction that glorifies and recognizes the Creator God of the universe.

So I will continue to believe I am called to write. I believe my trustworthy God will not waste any time that is offered to Him in faith, and He will use it all to build my faith, to edify me and one day others, and to bring Him glory. I am called to obedience & to trust God with the outcome!                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                     © Betty Lethcoe 2010

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