• About
  • Fiction
  • Non-Fiction
  • How Can I Accept Christ?
  • Join Michelle’s Email List!
  • Warrior Wives
  • Consult with Michelle

Michelle Stimpson.com

~ Where Writing and Faith Got Married

Michelle Stimpson.com

Tag Archives: literature

When NOT to write…

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by michellestimpson1 in For Writers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

christian gifts, ephesians 4, literature, michelle stimpson, spirituality, writing

I’d like for you to read this article prayerfully. My intent is not to discourage any writers – God knows we need you all! But a few months ago, I wrote a blog entitled Born to Write??? It occurred to me that for every person who should be writing, there is probably someone else who’s trying to write, but writing is not really what they’re called to do—or maybe they’re not supposed to do it now. They’re watching other writers write, reading writers’ blogs and getting the message, “If I did it, you can do it, too! C’mon!”

Well, America is certainly a place where anything is possible. Almost anyone can work hard and experience success here. We like to tell our kids that they can experience success in anything they want, if they just try. Not true. Not if your definition of success = pleasing God. God loves to open doors for His children – but that same love also closes those doors He does not want us to walk through.

I experienced this firsthand when I tried to sell insurance. I can honestly tell you it was the single biggest career foolery of my life. I was AWFUL. Always nervous, I hated cold-calling, I hated calling people back. I actually didn’t even like the product I was selling. It was all a hot mess. 

Why did I try it? Because it seemed…glamorous! Flexible schedule, residual income, a super-busy, important-looking job in a people-related business.Those who talked me into joining their team made it seem almost effortless. Granted, some of them had been selling insurance longer than I had, but after a while, even the new people outperformed me.

I thank God every day that He graciously let me fail at insurance sales, forcing me to get back in my writing lane. (Truly, success in an “uncalled” area can be a distraction from your real destiny.)

Lesson learned: Everyone in the body of Christ was created to do a specific job (Ephesians 4:7-8). In other words, if you are a knee, don’t waste your time going to ear-conferences, reading ear-books, trying your best to be an ear. Be happy for successful ears, but don’t follow their plan for ear-success because it won’t work on knees. Instead, learn all you can about knee-life so that you can be the best knee possible for His service.

With that in mind, I think it’s important to know when writing is not for you.  After conducting dozens of workshops, seeing the same people year after year who haven’t finished their book, I may very well have arrived at some of the REAL reasons I think some people (believers, specifically) say they want to write books but never do (procrastinators aside). OR they do write the book, but it turns out to be a frustrating, discouraging experience.

  1. Perhaps you are supposed to be writing—but not necessarily for the masses at this time. Many of us sing and lift our voices to God in praise, but we were not meant to record albums. Does God still receive our praise? Yes. Writing can be the same way. Be obedient to the writing He has assigned to you now (whether it’s your journal or the church bulletin). After proving faithful and getting into the habit of writing regularly, you may find that writing books or stories comes much more easily, as an extension of Your relationship with Him.
  2. Understand the difference between having a story and actually writing the story. Writing can be very challenging, isolating work. If you have a story to tell but don’t actually have the desire or the skills to write effectively, consider getting a co-author or a ghost writer. Their gift coupled with your story may be an ideal match. You might also consider other ways to share your story – video or audio teaching, podcasting, etc.
  3. Be clear about why you want to write a book. In your private time with God, examine your motives for wanting to write a book. Is it because you want to touch people’s lives or because you want people to admire you? Is it because you want to see Christ glorified through your gift or because you want to be proud of yourself or feel important? It’s okay for people to help each other, but helping yourself under the guise of helping others rarely fools people, and certainly does not fool God. Be honest before Him and ask Him to reveal His great love for you and cause you to write (or not) for reasons that glorify Him.
  4. Be patient – maybe it’s not time to write the book yet. If you’ve got two kids who are both in diapers, I submit to you that now is probably not the time to pour all of your energy into writing the great American novel. When it is time for you to write, God will arrange your life so that you can actually accomplish this task.

What about you? Have you ever tried to do something you weren’t called to do at the time? Have you ever done something in pride and suffered the consequences? What advice or comments can you share?

Bless someone by sharing:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Get in the Word – For Real!

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,008 other followers

Archives

  • September 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • November 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
Follow Michelle Stimpson.com on WordPress.com

Let’s Connect through Facebook!

Let’s Connect through Facebook!

Types of Posts

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: