Thursday, October 23, 2008

More Than I Know...

I love to write. That is naturally why in today’s computer age, I have a blog. I admit, I don’t keep up with it like I used to when I sat in a cubicle all day. Family, work and ministry keep me away more than I’d like. What I used to do daily (sometimes more like hourly!) I get around to monthly. But the desire to write hasn’t waned, I am happy to report.

Unfortunately, it seems the content has. I have been dealing with writer’s block some. That’s when I read a post on a blog I enjoy, called Evotional, by Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church in DC. Mark wrote of the experiences he’s been having as a writer. He’s now got 3 books published, and he is amazed at how God is using his pen around the world to touch people he’d never even dreamed possible to reach.

That got me thinking about my own (very) limited experience with this very thing. From time to time, it seems some things I write strike people and minister to them. It’s not like I got an idea, had a scenario in mind and a target audience. I simply wrote what was on my heart, and God did the rest. The reader happened upon my blog, read the post, and God touched them.

Like the time I received an email from a guy who read a devotion I’d written on God’s activity in us during those “silent times”, when he seems a million miles away. He said that God had told him that he would be entering into a period of what would seem like heavenly silence, but assuring him that He was at work in his heart. He went into that time confident that God was with him, even though he couldn’t sense it.

Then there was the time that a lady I’d talked with on a Christian message board in Tennessee had printed off one of my blog entries to give to a young Christian she knew who was struggling with her newfound faith.

Moments like these get me mad when I am dealing with writer’s block. Really, the reason is that I know there are souls out there who need a touch from God, and I want to be available for Him to use. I want to be that arrow He pulls from His quiver that Isaiah wrote of in the 49th chapter of his book.

I’m so glad I navigated over to Pastor Mark’s blog yesterday. It lit a fire under me, both to burn through writer’s block, and to use my gift to reach people. If you blog, don’t ever get discouraged that you aren’t reaching people. There are people out there, even if they don’t respond (something I wish I got more of, personally!), that are blessed by what you are saying. So, don’t lose heart. God is using you!

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