I have been asked, "How do you come up with ideas for your devotionals?"
"How do you find the time to write all that stuff?" I would like to try to answer those questions and a couple of others.
How did I start writing devotionals? I began writing for myself. Sometimes I would share what God had taught me with friends who needed encouragement and they began telling me I needed to write a book. It was through these comments that I began to realize God was calling me to share what He was teaching me with more people. I occasionally posted some of my writings at Beyond Surviving Home School, a Christian support group for ladies with chronic health issues who home-school. The administrator sent an email out saying they needed more volunteers to write weekly for them. I had been seriously thinking of volunteering but didn¹t think I should because I had not been a member all that long. I received an email from her asking if I would pray about becoming a devotional writer for the group and I told her I had been thinking about it already. So, this was how I realized God was truly calling me to write for others.
How do I find the time to write all these devotionals? Often the time comes in small snippets. I spend a lot of time thinking while I do other things. I jot down notes as I go through my day when I think of things to write. If I wake up early in the morning, I might get up and go to the computer and work on my writing. I will grab ten or fifteen minutes here or there to write, save it and come back later. If I am really on a roll, sometimes I will put in a two to four hour stretch of writing, but that doesn¹t happen very often.
How do I come up with ideas for devotionals? Many of my ideas for writing come from my own personal quiet time when I read my Bible each day. A verse might seem to jump off the page as I read and God speaks to me through it in some way and I write it down. Other times I will read something, hear something said or see something that reminds me of a scripture verse or principle from God¹s Word and I write about that. The Psalmist says he rejoices at God¹s Word like one who finds great spoil. Another translation calls it treasure. For me, reading my Bible is like finding treasure and when God shows me a treasure, I just have to write about it. It¹s a calling I can¹t ignore.
How has writing devotionals impacted my life? It has shown me how much I fall short of God¹s standards. He is changing me as I write, although I am sometimes slow to learn. I feel unworthy to write because I struggle to "practice what I preach" and fail so often.
But God has also given me a greater appreciation of how merciful and patient He is to keep on teaching me and showing me where I need to change. The study of God¹s Word that goes into my writing has also given me much comfort in difficult times as I realize that God is my Rock when all else is unstable around me.
No comments:
Post a Comment