The Value of Encouragement

Two summers ago, I was hard at work on a research paper about Fort Stevens. It was my second research paper for that particular professor, so I knew I had to work hard for the A+ I so desired.  He was a stickler for good quality sources and proper punctuation in citations. He was probably one of my strictest professors, and I had him for two terms in a row. Although he was strict on the academic details, he was also kind when I reached out for help or had a question. And, most importantly for me, he chose to be an encourager.

When I received my grade from the first paper, I noticed that he said it was well-written. That was a complement, indeed, and I was thrilled, but didn’t really think about it much after that. I was just happy my professor was pleased with my work.

The next class I took from him was even harder and required me to write quite a lot. The paper was the final project, and I worked even harder, digging up sources, and taking notes, even taking a couple "field trips" to gather information. When it came time to write the paper, I spent the whole day in my room writing the draft. I usually could type up a pretty good paper in a couple hours, but this one had to be longer and the punctuation in the citations had to be perfect. I wanted an A+.

When I got my grade back, I was again delighted that my professor mentioned something about the paper being well-written. He was a historian, and I knew he could tell good writing when he saw it, so to be told by him a second time that something was written well made me think.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, and in college I would often breeze through my written assignments, enjoying the quest for just the right word or phrase.

My very first college professor (English class) had encouraged each of us to start a blog for the purpose of practicing our writing, and I had, but no thought of “being a writer” had ever occurred to me until that last round of college classes and that one professor who said my paper was well-written.

I don’t know why it sparked ambition in me –I’ve never been ambitious. But it did. I began to think seriously about being a history writer. I asked my professor if he thought my paper would be helpful to the historical society of the place I had written about, and he said he did. Then I began to think about other topics I could write about.  I didn’t have a degree in history, nor did I have anything else to recommend me except my research skills, but I knew I wanted to write, and history had always been a favorite topic of study.

Then the school year started, and I was too busy to think of doing any in-depth research projects. The months flew by in a flurry of schoolwork and ministry work. The next summer I researched the Tillamook Burn, but when it came to writing about it, I just didn’t seem to be able to begin.  Again, the school year intervened, and brought with it a busy schedule and the need to focus on what was before me. 

But as spring arrived, God shifted my plans about writing, and guided me to renew my efforts on this blog. He showed me that He wanted me to write about the things He was teaching me, and to focus my writing on truths from His Word. And here we are.

This summer, I am a writer. Now, that doesn’t mean that writing is my “job” for which I get paid, (yet) but rather, that I have finally admitted that writing has been a part of me all along, and now I’m seeking to use that part of me for God’s glory as He directs. Lord willing, I will have two short works in print by the end of the fall, the first of which is that same research paper from the history class, and the other is a short devotional. There are several more books in the works, and it has been so exciting to see just how far God has taken my writing in the last year.

And as I finish up this summer of "taking writing seriously", I have never been more grateful to that professor for his ministry of encouragement and the words God used to redirect me!

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24)

--Dear reader, who is it that God wants you to encourage today? 

Priorities of a Christian Writer

This last week, being a writer has looked like: filing a business name, purchasing a domain name, trying to learn the ins-and-outs of my web design program, and creating more passwords than I ever would have thought necessary.

I have to admit, I'm no businesswoman. I greatly dislike learning software, and turning my writing hobby into a business requires detail after detail after detail, each of which is a new experience with a learning curve attached. And as I prepare to launch my website and work through the detail-heavy process of preparing to self-publish my first little book, it's all a bit overwhelming. I am caught between excitement that this might actually all come together, a feeling of urgency about sorting out all the details and getting things done before school starts, and the nagging feeling that I do actually need to write something at some point...

All this wrestling with tasks and details has got me thinking about priorities. I have been reminded daily of the need to be intentional about what I want to accomplish each day, and my to-do lists have become very detailed and extensive. But as I sat down and mapped out how many weeks I had left before the beginning of the school year, I knew it would be all-too-easy to get myself on the wrong track and prioritize things God didn't want at the top of the list.

So I sat down and looked for verses about priorities. These two stood out as the verses I needed to keep in mind when setting my priorities:

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:2-3

Both of these verses remind me to keep my focus on God, and to make my relationship with Him my top priority. This means more than just "doing my devotions" when I get up each morning.

It means purposefully, intentionally taking time to shut out everything else and focus on God as I pray and read His Word.

It means taking my decisions and frustrations to Him first, before picking up my phone to text a friend.

It means yielding my list of things I want to do or accomplish to be conformed to what God has planned for the day.

It means being focused, but not inflexible.

It means keeping up a running dialogue with God throughout the day.

It means not quitting when I feel overwhelmed by all the details.

And finally, being a writer with a set of God-focused priorities means remembering that He is the One I am doing all this for in the first place!

The Magnitude of Small Things

I recently finished my tenth year of classroom teaching. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in my first staff meeting, trying to comprehend all the ins and outs of how a school worked. In thinking back over the last ten years, I would have to say that one of the most significant things I have learned is the importance of small things. Small victories build upon one another, as do small defeats. Small kindnesses make big inroads into hearts. Small adjustments make big differences. Small weaknesses lead to big failures.

We naturally want to accomplish big things. We want our work to be meaningful, to make a difference. And it can be easy to get discouraged when your biggest efforts seem to yield only small results.

The prophet Zechariah ministered in a time of just such discouragement. The people of Israel had returned to the land after their exile in Babylon, and had begun to rebuild Jerusalem. You can read in Ezra and Nehemiah about all the opposition they faced from within and without as they attempted to build.

When the foundations of the temple were laid, those who remembered the glory of Solomon's temple wept because the second temple was so much smaller. Their work of rebuilding of the temple stirred up heavy opposition, and I think they must have wondered at times if it was really worth the effort. We know that God sent the prophet Zechariah to encourage them, and after assuring the people that the temple would be finished, the remarkable statement is made:

"For who hath despised the day of small things?"

Zechariah 4:10a

There is more to the verse than that, but basically, God assures them that His might is behind their efforts. Though their strength, their materials, their abilities may have been small, His are limitless!

That would have been encouraging to the post-exilic Israelites, for sure, but what about us? We are just as prone as the Israelites of old to "despise" small things, counting them as of little importance, perhaps even worthless.

But God doesn't see it that way. Everything has importance to Him, because He made it. From the great expanse of the universe to the very smallest electron, He made it all, and has a purpose for each and every part of His creation. He has a purpose for every millisecond of your life, and for the very smallest of your joys and sorrows. It all matters to Him.

I recently entered a writing contest for the first time. Although my entries did not make it into the finals, I did get the judging sheets back for each one. To my perfectionist sensibilities, my scores seemed like a "small thing" --I had hoped to do much better. But as I read through and analyzed the scores and comments, I began to realize that they weren't as low or as negative as I had initially thought, and that there was much to be encouraged about, as well as some things I needed to work on. Because I swallowed my pride and examined the "small things", I was encouraged in my writing instead of being discouraged by my need to grow in my writing skills.

It takes humility to look at the small, the inadequate, or the seemingly unimportant things in life and trust that God can indeed use them. At the same time, it takes faith to look at the large, overwhelming problems looming overhead and trust that God is bigger, and that He can use even your small strength to overcome them.

I am reminded of one of my favorite hymns by William Cowper:

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

A Christian Writer’s “Victory Garden”

My neighbor and I were doing some yard work on opposite sides of the driveway the other day, and got to chatting about our respective gardening plans. I told him what my parents had planted in the raised beds, and he told me about his new strawberry plants. He made the comment, “Our President says we’re in a war, so I planted a victory garden.”

The idea intrigued me, and I began to think about the victory gardens planted during the Second World War. The idea was that by turning lawns, flowerbeds, and any other available patch of land into food-producing gardens, the gardeners made a significant contribution to the cause of victory. In the days of food shortages and rationing, a kitchen garden was not only a help --it was often a necessity. And with every seed planted, the gardeners felt themselves one more step towards victory.

Now, whatever your views and opinions concerning our President, I have to say that when he mentioned that fighting this virus is basically like fighting a war against an unseen enemy, he summed up how many people were feeling. For the Christian, it is doubly so, because we are not just fighting the spread of a virus; we are in fact fighting against Satan’s attempts to use this crisis to derail any progress we might be making in our walk with the Lord. Whether through worry, fear, or anything else, Satan wants to get our eyes off God and onto circumstances. He wants to get our hearts and minds so distracted that we have no time or energy to focus on what God has for us to be learning and doing during this time.

And we have to fight. Not in our power, of course, because as Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5) But the fact that we need God to help us fight doesn’t mean it won't still be a fight. We are told to “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) A preacher I heard once said that this means we are to say “yes” to God, and when we say “yes” to God, we will say “no” to the devil.

This fight is different than the fight against the Coronavirus, because our spiritual war has already been won. Jesus has already won our final victory, and we can read about what Satan’s end will be in Revelation 20. 

As I Peter 2:24 says of Jesus: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” That is the victory He has won for us: victory over sin.

So what does a spiritual victory garden look like? It will look different for each one of us, since God has different "seeds" He wants sown during this time. The point of a victory garden was to produce fruit, and a spiritual victory garden is a decided and prolonged effort to produce fruit for God's kingdom, either in our own lives or the lives of those around us. Perhaps God wants you to be memorizing verses so you can confidently share the gospel with others. Maybe it is a skill God wants you to learn which He intends to use for His glory later on. Or perhaps it is a seed of character He wants planted in your own heart; a lesson learned now to prepare you for the next step in your Christian growth. Whatever it is, now is the time to be planting.

 I don’t know how better to illustrate than to tell you about my own victory garden, which has to do specifically with writing, but the principle is still applicable even if you aren’t a writer.

When the pandemic quarantine began, I was disappointed as plans were postponed indefinitely and even church was cancelled. As I began to try to adjust to this stay-at-home way of life, I was struck early on by the thought that God had a purpose for me during this time, and that it was no accident that I was faced with extra time at home just as writing was becoming a major part of my life. I knew God wanted me to use this time to develop my writing skill and to make progress on the different writing projects I had begun.

That was when I began to plant seeds in my writer's victory garden. I began a challenge of writing 500 words a day for 30 days, and carefully thought about how I was using my time. I listened to audio books and podcasts as I worked at tasks that didn’t require much mental exertion, and I started in on my substantial “to be read” pile, giving first priority to the two books I had bought about writing, but hadn’t had time to read yet.

I also thought seriously about what kind of schedule I wanted to keep to prepare me for the summer. I had already decided to treat writing just like a job during my summer break, and teaching from home via online lessons has given me the chance to get myself into a regular at-home schedule. Now that I’m in a routine, it is getting much easier to sit down and write when it’s time, and that summer schedule is looking more and more possible. I'm also learning important lessons and growing in my walk with God even more, since I have been focusing more on my relationship with Him, as the source from which I want my writing to flow.

To tend this victory garden of new skills, new habits, and new knowledge, I will have to weed out distractions and things that sound fun, but would eat into the time I need to use for writing. I will need to keep my mind well-watered by continuing to read and learn, first and foremost by immersing myself in Scripture, but also by soaking up all the knowledge I can about my subject matter, as well as about the writing craft itself. I will also need to keep out the “pests” of worry, fear, and self-reliance that will eat up my productivity.

And hopefully, by the end of the summer, my little victory garden will be bearing fruit, whether in finished projects, skills honed for further use, or simply in my own heart’s victory over the temptation to misuse this gift of time God has given me.

"But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

I Corinthians 15:57

Imagine the Possibilities

About a year ago, my life turned a corner. I didn't realize it was a corner at the time, but corner it was, and looking back, it's amazing where that one little decision has led.

It was almost a year ago when I wrote the post entitled, "New Beginnings, Slow Transitions, and a Long, Straight Pathway". In doing so, I began a journey I hadn't intended to take, and embarked upon the adventure of quietly and unconsciously becoming a writer.

I have always enjoyed writing, but this past year as I began to write more and more, I found that the  more I wrote, the more convinced I became that writing was something God wanted me to be focusing on. So I continued to write.

Then, as the new schoolyear began to ramp up, so did my writing, with another unconscious embarking, this time upon the genre of children's literature. Thankfully, I had an encouraging little class of students, and when, in December, I asked if they would like a sequel to the one little story I had written for them, they not only replied that they would, they hounded me for it until I had finished it. Then other stories came, and I took great delight in reading them to my captive audience. Their pleasure in hearing the stories encouraged me to continue to write more.

In January, I began writing a study on Biblical contentment, and while in the midst of that project I "accidentally" began writing a novel. I quite enjoyed what little flowed out of the first idea which sparked the story, and I wanted to find out what happened next, so I began to write a little more here and there, but I had no idea where to start with plots and characters, and so very many decisions which must be made when writing a story of any length.  So I listened to writer podcasts, and ordered books on structuring and outlining a novel.

Then a few weeks ago, I went to a writer's conference. At that writer's conference, I shared the first page of the "accidental novel" with a kind woman who was a published author, and who told me that I should enter it in the Cascade Awards. I needed fifteen pages, however, and a synopsis, which meant that I had to make some big decisions about the plot, theme, and characters. That much is done now, and this week I sent in three entries to my very first writing contest. 

I don't know if I will win, or even if I will be a finalist in any of the three categories, but I do know that I never would have even thought of entering a year ago, and whatever the outcome, I am excited to have the judges' feedback on the pieces I entered, and I am glad to have exercised the courage to put my entries out there.

My point is, you never know what God will awaken in you as you yield yourself, your talents, your dreams and your aspirations to Him. As I wrote that blog post a year ago, I was laying one dream to rest, and felt I did not dare search for a new one, for fear that I would pick up the old one again in a different form. Then, as time passed, I began to feel that God was telling me to dream again. But I scarcely knew what to dream of, for God had led me away from that which I had spent all my dreams upon in the past.

Yet, God already had a new dream ready for me, tailored exactly to my place, my season of life, and to the state of my heart. He had taken away the old dream that I might focus upon the new.

But this new chapter of life doesn't necessarily entail a changing of the previous one; if anything, it just adds more work and more busy-ness to an already busy life, but it also adds another layer of purpose and vision. It encourages me to imagine the possibilities that exist when one serves a God with whom nothing shall be impossible.

And so I embrace the extra work, the extra pressure on my schedule, the sometimes late nights when inspiration hits just as I ought to be going to sleep, and with it I embrace the joy of doing what I was made to do, the satisfaction of a well-worded phrase or sentence, and the greatest thrill: that of having been used by God to write something which He has chosen to use in the heart of someone else.

I dare to imagine God using my writing on this blog and in other ways, to touch the hearts of others I would never have come into contact with before. I dare to dream of achieving, succeeding, not materially or in any worldly way, but I do dare to dream that I might achieve something for the kingdom of Christ through the ability He has chosen to awake in me.

 I dare to imagine that God could use me in ways I never could have imagined before and I dare to have the courage to step forward along this new stretch of my long, straight pathway, feeling that there are now mileposts along the way in the form of things God wants me to accomplish for His glory between here and my final destination. 

Pursuing Excellence

When you think of excellence, what images come to mind? Perhaps you see in your mind's eye medals and trophies, or a musical virtuoso playing before a large crowd. Perhaps the idea of excellence conjures up visions of someone intimidatingly good in the area in which you feel yourself the least skilled. Or perhaps to you, excellence is some far-off and maybe impossible goal toward which you press, unsure if you will ever attain it.

A look at a modern dictionary will give us synonyms like "perfect", "preeminence", "superiority", and "supremacy". These descriptions can make the quest for excellence seem to be a daunting matter, indeed! Yet at the same time, the very fact that one does not somehow "arrive" at excellence suddenly or by accident is part of its charm. After all, the pursuit of excellence is a pathway one follows, not a destination one reaches.

Excellence isn't all about external accomplishments, either. It takes internal excellence to achieve external excellence. For the Christian, excellence in any external endeavor is completely dependent upon spiritual excellence within.

I have been thinking about this a lot recently, as writing has begun to morph into more than just a hobby. A while back, I came across a quote by William Wordsworth which says

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart".

This quote captivated me, and the more I thought about it, the more true it seemed. Writing is essentially the "breathings" of one's heart on paper. This brings to the Christian author a grave responsibility: if I am writing out of what is in my heart, I must make sure my heart is filled with Christlikeness. If my heart reflects Christ, so will my writings. To reflect Christ is, after all, my primary goal as a writer.

This brings me back to the thought of internal excellence. According to Scripture, Daniel was a man of "an excellent spirit". In fact, twice he was called so in the book which bears his name.

In reading through the first six chapters of Daniel which form the narrative section of the book, it is interesting to note just how many accomplishments Daniel is said to have had. He was known for wisdom and knowledge, he was known to have understanding, he was even said to have been ten times wiser than all the king's wise men, of whom he ended up the chief.

These all are aspects of outward excellence, but the source of Daniel's outward success can be found in Daniel 1:8, where we see him purposing in his heart to obey God rather than the pagan king. This resolve of righteousness is a hallmark of inward excellence, and can be seen again and again throughout the book of Daniel as he speaks boldly to the rulers he serves, telling them of the one true God to whose graciousness those same rulers owed everything they had. This boldness before the most powerful men in the land was rooted in that initial decision to serve God first of all.

This same resolve can be seen in Daniel 6, when he again stood firm in the face of pressure, this time praying to his God openly, though he knew it  meant endangering his life. I had never noticed before, but there is no record of Daniel trying to defend himself or convince the king of his loyalty or that the law had been unjust. He apparently just took his death sentence calmly. --I don't think he likely had any idea of God stopping the mouths of the lions. He probably thought he would be torn to pieces before he hit the bottom of the pit, as his enemies were later on.

Yet through all this, Daniel remained steadfast and faithful, wise, never sacrificing righteousness for expediency or even personal safety.

What a challenge to us, for we live in a day of far less social pressure and persecution. If Daniel could stay strong in the face of certain and very painful death, can we not remain strong for Christ in the face of angry words or disapproval?

The key is the heart. Daniel had a heart whose greatest desire --even greater than that of personal safety or even of life itself-- was to please God. That is what I want my heart to be, for then when I write, I can indeed fill my paper with the breathings of my heart, and know that those breathings will bring glory to God.

Philippians 4:8 for the Christian Writer

I've been thinking about writing this post for a while.

 I wasn't sure if it should be a blog post, an Instagram blurb, or if it was just something I was simply meant to learn. I have found, though, that what God teaches me, He usually means me to share with others.

That having been said, I should begin at the beginning: the night I began to write my "accidental novel". It was a school night, and  all day I had been looking forward to the hour I had planned to set aside and work on my nearly-finished manuscript of a study on a passage in Proverbs 30 (More to come about that!).

As I prepared to work, I went to the kitchen to get some tea. I had two kinds of loose-leaf tea I was trying to decide between, so I did what any tea lover would do and checked to see which one smelled the best. As I smelled first one, and then the other, something happened in the writer part of my imagination and next thing I knew, I was delightedly scribbling thoughts down in a notebook, curious where this little seed of a story might lead. After my fit of scribbling had subsided, I was left with several pages which read like the beginning of a novel. --And I loved where the story was going!

It was not until I had a couple of close friends read the short exerpt that I began to do some research into writing a novel. I listened to podcasts, found author advice videos on YouTube, and eventually ordered a book about structuring a novel. The more I learned, the more I realized just how much work there is in planning out a good story, and how lacking my very vague idea of a plot was.

And then there was the nagging thought that novels are not exactly what I want to be known for. I would much rather write nonfiction about things that matter. Then one night, I was listening to a podcast episode on choosing/writing characters, and the statement was made that the main characters should all flesh out the story's theme in some way. I felt utterly overwhelmed.

I didn't have a theme.

In fact, I didn't even have the faintest glimmering of a theme... and I wasn't sure how to get one.

 So, I did the only thing I could do and started talking to God about it. I hadn't talked to God about this story yet, and once I began, all my fears and apprehensions surfaced. I sat there in my car asking God if I should even be writing this story. It was so out of my league, and I was so overwhelmed by the structure and planning I didn't know how to start.

And besides, I thought, Is it right for me to be writing fiction at all? Can a novel glorify God? I have read Christian novels before, and I knew it was an accepted thing to write a novel that was meant to bring glory to God, but could my story really do that?

As I wrestled with these questions, I finally cried out to God:  I need a theme. But it has to be the right theme, a theme that will glorify You. I want my story to be true. I know it's fiction, but I want it to be built upon a truth.

God graciously helped me to find a theme which was founded upon a truth I have been learning in my own life in recent years, and once I had the theme, I knew exactly where the story would end up. (Even though I'm still not exactly sure how it will get there yet.) In fact, while thinking out the theme, I ended up writing what will eventually be the very last sentence of the novel.

My story is no longer just a few pages scribbled out for fun; it has a purpose I can get excited about, and I have a track to run on with all the numerous decisions necessary to planning out a plot.


In all this wrestling over what to write and how to write it, I have been reminded over and over again of Philippians 4:8.

"Finally, bretheren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

That is my standard against which my novel --and anything else I write-- must be judged. Will it cause people to think on that which is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy? Will readers come away with those things in their heads and hearts? Do the characters and plot exhibit or exalt these qualities? These are the questions that drive my writing decisions. It is a grave responsibility to represent Christ in irrevocable print, for all the world to see. I want to represent Him well. These qualities at least point me in the right direction as I consider whether my storyline and characters will fulfill their purpose of glorifying God and representing His truths well.