Being a Light - allume

Embracing Rest as a Writer

April 10, 2013 By Kayse • 11 Comments

Today is my first day back from a two week blogging sabbatical of sorts.

In December of 2012, I wrote and launched my first eBook. It was a big undertaking, but so rewarding. I’ve loved every part of it. It’s proven to be so helpful for so many, and I am blessed by that!

Then, in February of this year, I finished my first book and sent it in to my publisher. That was a much bigger undertaking. The deepest parts of my heart, my soul, and my story poured out in 30,000 words.

I was drained after that, emptied of words. Still, I kept blogging. But I found myself lost, my message cloudy, my voice distracted.

After such an emotionally intense season of writing, I heard God whispering rest to me. However, I am often guilty of halfway obedience, so instead of really resting, I just cut back on the writing. Three posts a week instead of five.

Still, a cloudy message and a distracted voice.

Also? A burned out me.

It took a teary conversation with my husband for me to be able to understand what God had been asking of me. Rest. Full and complete rest.

That meant no writing, no words at all.

And I panicked.

To take a complete break would mean a serious decrease in pageviews. A drop in followers. What if people left and never came back? What if they no longer took me seriously because I took a break? What if everything I had worked for came crashing down in two weeks of silence?

In asking myself those questions, and working through my panic, I realized why I so desperately needed a break.

My focus had shifted from His message to my numbers. I had gotten caught up in followers and subscribers and pageviews and link-ups and all of the things we are “supposed to do” in order to grow our ministries.

His message got lost. My voice got lost. And if I was honest with myself, it had been a while since I had written anything of quality.

That’s not the kind of writer I want to be. That’s not the kind of Jesus-follower I want to be.

When I write, I want to write the words He gives me. I want to use my voice to say the things He wants you to hear.

I want to do it because writing for Him makes me come alive. Writing for numbers wears out my soul.

So I took a break. I let my readers know what was going on.

Their responses blew me away. Comments and emails of encouragement, promises to be there when I returned, offers to pray and lift me up.

It was so incredibly freeing. So encouraging. Such an affirmation of the rest God had called me to.

This break, it has given me time to clear my head, to process deeply, to pray about my writing and the direction God has for me. And you know what? It doesn’t look like a million link-ups and book launches and strategies for building my numbers.

It looks like honest writing, a clear message, and rest.

I’m learning that good art requires rest. Creativity is choked out by busyness. We were created for rest, called to it. If we want to be the kind of people that write words of worth, we must embrace the call to rest.

All week long, I’m writing about rest over at my blog. I’d love for you to come visit, read along, and join in the conversation. Not because I want your page views, but because I believe this is the message I’ve been given. And maybe you need to hear it, too.

How do you find rest as a writer? Do you find it a struggle to refocus on the message instead of the numbers?

Kaysee

Kayse

Kayse is a teacher turned stay-at-home-mom, and is married to her favorite musician. She is addicted to books, baked goods, date nights, and car dancing, and she firmly believes that real is the only way to be. Kayse is the author of Getting It Together: Your Guide to Setting Up A Home Management System That Works, and writes about faith, family, and real life on her blog, kaysepratt.com.

When You Write

April 3, 2013 By Kristen • 23 Comments

When you write what the Spirit whispers, all the hosts in the heavenlies bend to listen and adore to the praises of their King. On coal-burnished lips they whisper holy over the soft sound of beating wings. The word echoes through eternity in unending repetition, holy, holy, holy.

But in the shadows where the light has cut the line and fenced the darkness, the hosts of hell take up arms. It is not their habit to let a battle-cry go unanswered, and you have raised the colors of an enemy King when you wrote His words.

This is war, whether you realize it or not. The battle rages in highest heaven and deepest earth and you have been uniquely equipped for a place in the battle by the power of your pen. It is a pen that shreds the veil and open eyes because they are not your words, they are His, and His words have the power to ruin and restore with a single thrust.

Do you take that task lightly? It is no light task to listen to what the Spirit whispers and to write “Thus sayeth the Lord.” When you write those words, eyes are opened and swords are drawn.

God’s Word is powerful. Effective. Game-changing. It is no less powerful in the hands of little-known writers or back-woods pastors.

And that is the truth that makes the underlings rise when you dare to lift your pen. Because oh, if you realize how sharp is your sword and how mighty is He who is on your side, their ruin would be sure.

Their ruin is sure.

So they respond with the coarse whispers of those who must crawl on their bellies and grovel at the gates of the Kingdom. They must speak in lies and half-truths because there is no truth in them, and no love. Where there is no love there is only fear, so it is with fearful words they speak.

You must not listen.

But then, you will not hear them, not with your ears. You will feel it with your heart and with your emotions and even with your will. And if you listen, those lies will work their fear into you and fell you. They will keep you on the ground when God has called you to arm yourself.

They will keep you from your sword.

You have been there, perhaps more often than you wish. You have been crushed by something you cannot see. But it is no less real.

When you cannot get up, when you cannot write more, it is because deep inside, you heard the cadence of lying tongues and in your weakness, you believed it, and they won.

Listen, Writer, from your place on the ground and know this: the power they hold over you is nothing like the power that lifts you up.

That is what they fear, those demons who lurk in the shadows, working the truth over forked tongues and causing you to believe you are nothing more than a writer with a word. They fear that one day, you will come to understand the truth of your calling.

You are a writer with The Word.

You are armed with a sword that always hits its mark. It has never returned to its sheath in shame, and it never will. When you pen truth, you thrust that sword right into the den of the liars.

They will claw and fight when they find you there, and you will feel the blows.

But this is not the time to shrink back. You must get back up. Secure your armor, take up your pen, and write.

–Yours in the fight,

Kristen

Kristen

Kristen is the main character in a story in which a redemptive God takes a reluctant mother on a journey to find and reclaim her story. Now the wife of an Army chaplain and mother of five, Kristen writes about the joy of being part of God's audacious plan.

Why Encouragement Works

March 21, 2013 By Crystal • 22 Comments

Encourage one another.

It seems so simple, doesn’t it? Would you like to know a secret? It has been the single most effective way for me to build my blog.

And also required the heaviest sifting of my heart to find.

It has brought me the most joy and has found me more often than not on my knees before the Father in tears. I have had to put my selfish pride behind me and do things – in blogging, online communities, and real life – that bring glory to God. And it’s hard.

My natural tendency is to strive. To have a goal and do everything in my power to make it happen. When it works, my pride grows. When it fails, my pride suffers and I become insecure, comparing and wondering why it worked for “her” but not me. And that, sweet friends, is an ugly path I have traveled down far too often.

It is only by the grace of God, a powerful refining, and a softened heart that I now know the full joy of offering praise for the success of others. It’s not always easy. It takes practice, reaching out to someone and celebrating their achievement when you wish it was yours. In a world where competition is the norm and women are expected to be catty, not congratulatory, it takes practice.

But I can promise you this. When you go out of your way to share someone else’s amazing blog post, leave an encouraging comment for a blogger you admire, or send another writer information about an opportunity you think they would be perfect for, you are doing a hard thing. You are choosing not to keep it all for yourself, you are choosing to admit that you are not the only one who can do this thing and you showing this world that Christ’s light shines brightly when we live for Him and not ourselves. As I’ve opened my heart to those around me, as I’ve joined community and sought ways to encourage others, He has blessed me in incredible and unexpected ways.

Today, my amazing writing friends, let’s give God the opportunity to poke some holes in our pride so He has more room to shine. Be a light. Love one another the way Christ has commanded us to and take this “light living” from the pages of Scripture to the screens of blogs and out into our daily lives.

Encourage one another.

Who is God calling you to encourage today?

Crystal Stine
http://www.crystalstine.me

Crystal

Crystal’s heart is to encourage women through the written word. She is a full-time working mama dedicated to her family, pursuing God Sized Dreams & her jobs as a marketing/social media professional, (in)courage Community Leader Coordinator, & Raising Generations Today team member. Follow her on Twitter at @CrystalStine.