“If inspiration is the breath of heaven, then the critic who sits on your shoulder and whispers discouraging words into your ear is its opposite. Inspiration comes from God, and the voice that tells us that what we are doing is not any good (will never sell, will never get published, is trivial, is lousy, is keeping us from our real responsibilities) comes right out of the pits of hell.” ~Janice Elsheimer, The Creative Call

Over the years I’ve plowed through my own field of self-doubt, not to mention some rather obsessive-compulsive editing {wink}. I still love the revision process. Sick, isn’t it?

At some point we have to let it go, trusting we’ve done our best for the time being. Give your labor of love to Him and watch it blossom.

God is building the writer in you.

“Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you are not willing to move your feet.” ~ author unknown

“Dreaming about a thing in order to do it properly is right; but dreaming about it when we should be doing it is wrong.” ~ Oswald Chambers

“Even a calling received on a mountaintop must be lived in the valley. Living your divine callings requires getting to work and figuring out how to bring them to life in your everyday world.” ~ Kevin Brennfleck

Hmmm…how do these quotes hit you?

Do you struggle to live your calling?

Ponderables:

* What is your primary calling?
* What are your secondary callings?
* What undergirds your ability to live it out?

……. a. Self-effort?
……. b. Grace?

Someone thinks I’m nice, and thoughtful. How ’bout that?

My thanks to Tami for the Thoughtful Blogger Award, and Paula, for the Nice Matters Award. I always appreciate it when folks remember Light for the Writer’s Soul. It’s a little busy this side of my desk, so I’ve not had ample time to interact and blog. Hopefully, the pace will pick up once I’m past this next deadline. I’ll pass these awards along soon.

Thanks again, friends.

“Risk is a part of creativity. Maybe no one will embrace your idea. Maybe no one will like it. Worse, maybe everyone will love it and more will be expected of you. The possibility of success and the threat of failure both produce strangling fears that keep us from participating, but in view of God’s mercy we should offer our creativity, our very selves.” ~ Alice Bass

Sometimes we experience a failure to launch. But, as the above author notes:

1. It doesn’t matter who likes my work or not.
2. The focus is not so much my audience anyway.

God is the focus of our creative life. Yet we’ve let our fears about creativity cripple us. It’s time to move forward and launch those projects.

What projects still hide in your heart’s closet? What’s holding you back?

What is your focus today?

“We must empty ourselves of our own ambition, our own answers, and our anxieties. We need to remember who resides within us. Don’t focus on what you can’t do, but focus on what God can do for you and through you in the lives of others. Have faith that He will work all things to your eternal good (see Romans 8:28).” ~ Michael Youssef

“The problem is not entirely in finding the room of one’s own, the time alone, difficult and necessary as that is. The problem is more how to still the soul in the midst of its activities.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“The more you intentionally look for illustrations of biblical truth, the more insight you’ll have into Scripture. And the more you’ll find yourself setting ‘your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.’ (Colossians 3:2).” ~ Donald Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life

Whitney tells us that one of the more common forms of creative thought is analogy. Jesus taught using analogy in His parables. Likewise, the 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, emphasized how and where to find good illustrations when he taught his students at the pastor’s college:

“Find them anywhere. Anything that occurs around you, if you have but brains in your head, will be of service to you; but…you will need to keep your eyes open…If you do so, you will find that, in simply walking through the streets, something or other will suggest a passage of Scripture…”

Are you praying for wisdom, and looking. . . intentionally?

“For the sake of your joy in Christ read Christian biography. It will take you out of yourself and put you in another time and another skin, so that you see Jesus with eyes more full of wonder than your own.” ~ John Piper, author of When I Don’t Desire God

Disappointment. Discouragement. Doubt.

So you got another rejection slip. They sting. Flippant remarks don’t help either. For the umpteenth time, your friend tells you to ‘can’ the writing if you’re that discouraged.

I say, find another friend.

Okay, kidding…

Keep plugging. We all get discouraged. Eventually, with God’s grace, we learn to persevere through the dry spell, the brain fog, the writers block, the lack of support, the bills, the kids, and even the most difficult writing assignments. So pluck those deadly D’s right out of your root system. Don’t EVEN let ‘em grow.

You are being fashioned into a lovely writer. Let God’s Word uphold you:

“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” ~ 1 Corinthians 7:17 (ESV)

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” ~ James 1:2-4 (ESV)

Noel Piper shares her creative approach in walking through the Word, in her article entitled Never in January

“…This “hunt for God” was irresistible to me. It drew me like a magnet. And once I was inside the pages, it kept my mind moving—no more drowsing and waking up two chapters later…”