How Pages Speak to the Heart

What first catapulted you into a love for books?

When I was growing up, I didn’t love to read. I got through high school reading what I had to read, but I didn’t like reading books that someone told me to read. I read Janette Oke’s books because they transported me to a time period that I loved. I also loved the romance in the stories. And if I was going to read, I might as well enjoy the stories! I was cheering for the stories where the woman fell in love with the man, and they worked hard on the land and depended on God to sustain them and their livelihood.

All of us have books that speak to us. What keeps you coming back to books?

I presume that part of it is that, as a writer, you like to read. We’re taught that great writers are great readers!

As a writer, how much do you think about the way your writing can speak to the heart of someone like me who didn’t love to read, but wouldn’t mind spending time with a great story?

Or, as life has moved forward and we find ourselves needing some encouragement, have you thought about how you could write devotionals that lead someone to say: “That was for me.”

Recently a friend wrote something on social media and it hit me right when I needed it. I told her afterward and she said: “I have to be honest; I was sitting here enjoying lunch and felt the impression to write it out of nowhere. It’s not a typical post I would write, but I said, Lord someone needs to hear it for me to feel this so strongly.”

I told her it was for me! Her writing spoke to me and that’s what we need to keep in mind. You never know who will see something you write on your social media page or on the page of a book and be impacted. They may even share it with someone else who will also resonate with your words.

Writers can sometimes think, “These words are burning inside of me and whether anyone acknowledges them or not, I have to get them out of me.” And that’s exactly what you need to do. Writing is as much ministry to your heart as it can be to others.

I think about how someone may read something we write more than hear something we say. Or, for those who wouldn’t walk into a church, they may read something you write and it’s the message they needed to hear that they wouldn’t have run across otherwise.

We expect people to go to a church and then allow a pastor to say something to them that we hope will “stick.” But why aren’t we bold enough? I think we are to take the Church (us, ourselves) to others by the words we share to bring life to them. Our words are on the pages of our lives and the ones we write.

What is keeping you from sharing the words by which you can minister to others? Do you first need to have someone minister to your heart so that you can minister to others? Sometimes we need someone to tell us “You have what it takes to be a writer.” We all need that affirmation.

I believe that if you have a heart to write, you have a heart to minister. And the opposite can also be true. Sometimes we see others as more gifted than we are, or we assume they have more elaborate words in their vocabulary. Why would someone else’s words keep yours from coming out? We need to steward our gifts well and part of the process is to let others decide on what words speak to them, not to censor them ahead of time and refrain from sharing.

Whether you write curriculum for your church, a novel, or a non-fiction book, there are many different readers to fit the wide variety of books writers create. Ministry can happen in person, but also in books. What do you think is your next ministry assignment via the pages you write?

Questions:  What first got you interested in reading books?  What is one goal you can activate now toward writing as ministry?