One of the keys to writing is having the right stuff in your heart. You cannot write one thing while being something else. I cannot write as a gracious human being when I am full of criticism and snark. It’s too much work to be one thing and write something else. Writing flows from the soul. When the soul is yielded to the spirit, then spirit stuff comes out. When the soul is not yielded to the spirit, then soulish stuff comes out. It takes a lot of work to write things not in your heart.
It goes back to obedience to God. Am I willing to write what I hear from God or do I have to change it to make it palatable, to make it something people want to hear, stuff that appeals to my perceived reader, whether it is in my heart or not.
God has always called for radical obedience. He is gracious, loving, and kind, but the degree that we step into God’s plan for our life is proportional to the brokenness, the clarity of revelation resulting from the clarity of spirit, and the degree to which we are willing to listen and live in alignment.
I almost used the word “obedience” instead of “alignment” in the former sentence, but felt prompted of the Holy Spirit to listen for a different word. “Alignment” surfaced. Obedience is doing what we are told, which is a very good thing when it is the God of the Universe commanding us. I have found the difference between obedience and alignment. Alignment is obedience in that it is conforming to the pattern, the path, the will of God.
I want my writing to align with God’s plane. Others may write to be read, I write because I feel a calling to share the words of life God has given me, about myself, and I find the fulfillment of this calling when others can apply the same revelation to their lives, perhaps in a different way, but it inches them forward on their transformational journey.
My words don’t have the power to inspire transformation in another. God’s words do.
