Dear Writer, I hope you had a beautiful week and took up your invitation into God’s creativity! This week, we’ll look at an often unintended consequence of writing. That’s the way our lives bleed into our work!
You see, writer, we all have trials and difficulties we’ve gone through and undiscovered cellars of the soul, where old disappointments and wounds lie dormant. Sometimes, when we begin to write, those things bubble up to the surface, seemingly out of nowhere! When that happens, it can be tempting to scrub our stories clean. But here’s the thing…
God strategically uses our stories to redeem both our lives and others. Often, the pieces we most wish were different are the pieces that others most need to hear. Not only that, our writing helps us see our own life events in a way we never have before.
But before we jump in, let’s look at others whose willingness to share their full story made a huge impact on the world for the better…
The Full Story in History
John Newton is a powerful example of a man who refused to hide his past. Newton walked an unusual life path before becoming an Anglican priest in his later years. His journey included captaining a slave ship. Though haunted by his past, Newton refused to hide it. His willingness to share both his sins and God’s redemption of them, greatly impacted thousands. Including a young man named William Wilberforce. Newton’s witness was a key spark that ignited Wilberforce with a passion to abolish the slave trade Newton had once participated in.
You see, writer, when we allow God to use all the pieces of our life, as He sees fit, we never know how He may be using our story ignite the calling of others.
The Full Story in the Bible
The Apostle Paul was another powerful example of a man who shamelessly allowed God to use his whole story. Paul did not shy away from his past as a murderer and persecutor of God’s people. Though he deeply regretted his action, he pointed often to his history to show the immense power of God’s redemption. Instead of hiding in unworthiness, Paul let his past launch him into one of the boldest missionary careers the early church ever saw. Paul knew that if God could save him, He could save anyone.
You see, writer, when we allow God to use every part of our story, we will see He is indeed a great redeemer. And not only does He redeem our stories, He can and will reach through those stories to redeem others as well.
The Full Story in Life
I allowed God to use all of my story after several negative run-ins with His church. Now, I love the church. Maybe more than most people you will meet! That said, the church is full of people. And I had one terrible experience with the daughters of a pastor as a teen and was disinvited from another church altogether as an adult! However, God graciously led me through and healed from the first and kept me whole in the second, but here’s the thing.
Because I have not shied away from that part of my story, I’ve now been able to intervene and prevent similar situations from happening. As a result, believers who may have been alienated have instead been launched in to their callings.
The Full Story in Your Life
God never wastes anything. Though He is not the author of chaos, loss, or heartache, He never allows anything to touch us that He cannot redeem into an outcome greater than we could have ever imagined. You see, life’s most glorious and most mortifying moments all become a powerful force for good in His hands. Let me prove it to you…
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- And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28
- What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. – Romans 8:31-37
- But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. – 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
You see, writer, God’s power to redeem is incalculable. So, whether fiction or nonfiction, if you notice part of your story bubbling up through the text of your writing, I encourage you to embrace it. He may be about to work something powerful through you!
Where to Start with the Full Story
So are you ready to allow God to use all parts of your story? Here are a few things to keep in mind…
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- Don’t Force It. If you are writing and themes from your past keep popping up, don’t fight them. Follow the flow of His Spirit to see what He’s doing with your story. In the same way, don’t force your past into your story where it doesn’t fit. Allow His Spirit to lead.
- Ask God for Wisdom. Sometimes what bubbles up are lessons you’ve already. Sometimes, they are lessons God’s about to teach you. Walk prayerfully with your story, and allow God to speak into those painful spaces with His wisdom. You might not write word for word what He shows you, but the journey He leads you through will play an integral role in your story.
- Get Feedback. Sometimes, we’ll need to process through what pops up with others. Share with your prayer partner what God’s revealing to you. Share with your critique partners and writing friends what you’ve written. So much additional wisdom comes from the Body of Christ when we are willing to share our walk with others.
- Let It Be New. Though God may touch on old life themes in the story you are writing, allow them to show up in a new way. Often, what we experience is reborn, especially in fiction, in a different context. This process can be very illuminating. If you notice threads of your life showing in your writing, don’t try to force them into the pattern they originally came in. Because here’s the deal…
When we write, God takes what He’s put in us, and He breathes something new into it. There is nothing new under the sun, and yet our God takes the tired old tragedies we all experience and creates something no one has ever seen before. And the marvelous thing is that He does it in every life differently. And if we let Him, that new thing has the potential to multiply His glory into the lives of others, too.
Just like Newton’s story helped ignite one of God’s key agents to end slavery in the civilized world. Just like Paul’s miraculous story launched him into a ministry whose impact continues to redound throughout the generations. Just like God leveraged my past to launch others into their future.
So I encourage you today, writer, not to fear the unsavory parts of your life. God delights in taking what was meant for evil and turning it into glorious good beyond our greatest imagining. If He can do it with the cross of Christ, He can do it in your life—and through you—in the lives of countless others, too.
#redemption #glory #nofear #EveryWriterWriting
