“There’s something delicious about writing those first few words of a story. You can never quite tell where they will take you. Mine took me here, where I belong.” –Beatrix Potter in the movie, Miss Potter.

I love this quote from Miss Potter.

She is so right. Yet, finding the next few words that come after “Chapter One” is one of the most difficult things to do. Yes, as Miss Potter said, writing them is delicious and fun. But hard.

My mind is flooded with doubt and fear.

Will this be any good?

Will it ever be published?

Will anyone get it but me?

Am I doing it right?

What if I’m wasting my time?

As I started writing my next book this morning, these doubts and fears circled me like fruit flies around a freshly sliced pear. If I was going to write, I needed to deal with them immediately.

The best way to deal with them is not to answer any of the questions except the last one.

What if I’m wasting my time? For the answer I go back to Miss Potter’s quote. “Mine took me here where I belong.”

After all these years of writing and not always having the results I expected or could see, God has adjusted my motive for writing. Yes, I still deeply desire to share God’s love and truth with you in a way for you to know Him better, love Him more, and live more fully the life He planned for you. But my primary purpose in writing is obedience to God. I must write what He puts on my heart. I would be disobedient to God if I did not. I would be miserable and be less of who God made me to be. I would not have the joy that comes from doing what He put in me to do.

I don’t understand the journey God has me on, but it has brought me to where I am today—where I belong—walking with Him and knowing Him in a way I could not have had it not been for the journey—the joys, the disappointments, the stretching in ways I could not have imagined. It’s been a journey I wouldn’t trade for anything.

God has things for each of us to do, things He has given us gifts and talents to do. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.”

Is God prompting you to write the first delicious words of your story? I’m not asking you to write, but do what God put in you to do. Unless you take those first difficult, but exciting steps, you will never be “where you belong.”

I would love to hear where you feel the nudge from God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brenda Garrison is an author and speaker who empowers women with the confidence to live their calling. Brenda is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Ministry Leadership with a Concentration in Women’s Ministry at Moody Bible Institute. She and her husband, Gene, are the parents of three young adult daughters and live near Metamora, IL.