A number of years ago, we hosted a wonderful couple, Lynn and Linda Reddick in our home. They often give a word to people from the Lord (prophesy), and what they say is usually very accurate. During one of the gatherings we had, Linda spoke very emphatically to me.
“The Lord has called you to write,” she said. She repeated it several times. In fact, she came back to it time and time again.
My heart sank. I loathed writing with a passion. I would never respond to letters, (if you leave them long enough, any reply becomes irrelevant) and avoided writing whenever possible. I’m not sure why–maybe it tied in with having to write so many dry, scientific papers during high school and medical training.
I felt so strongly that she was wrong that I went up to her afterwards.
“I’m sorry, but you got this one wrong. I hate writing. There’s no way I’m ever going to write.”
I’ve since apologized to her.
Photo Credit: splorp via Compfight cc
I started writing when Tony lured me away to northern California on a “writing vacation” so we could co-author a book together. He promised the mornings writing and the afternoons and evenings enjoying the magnificent coastline. I fell for it. The scenery was spectacular and the writing part wasn’t as bad as I thought.
By this time we had helped to start House2House, and so many questions were coming in that I wrote a manual that we could point people to save time responding to each person at length individually. Then followed two other books, An Army of Ordinary People and Small Is Big! Then an enhanced ebook on hearing God that is available as a free download if you subscribe to Simply Church. Currently I’m in the middle of compiling a book on women.
I now love writing! It’s what the Lord has called me to do. Charlie “Tremendous” Jones once said, “You will be the same in five years as you are today except for two things; the people you meet and the books you read.” I’m motivated by the thought that something I write might possibly change people’s lives for the better.
Why do I tell you this?
I’ve found blogging to be one of the most effective ways to reach people. On any given day, as far as I can tell, more people are reading my posts than might be reading a book I’ve written. I started this blog to, as the title says, give people an insider perspective on the simple/organic church movement. I wanted to equip people in a number of areas. My passions include starting churches amongst not-yet-believers, which is far easier and more effective than working with existing Christians, and helping people avoid the “Honey, I shrunk the church!” syndrome.
A few months ago, I started blogging about women in ministry, as much as anything to gauge the reaction of people to the topic and to make sure the book that I’m helping to compile “scratches where it itches.” To my great surprise, the readership of my blog increased almost overnight, and other blogging indicators demonstrated that people are spending more time reading my posts. I still cannot account for this except that the Holy Spirit is causing an interest amongst many on this subject. Could this be one of the next moves of the Holy Spirit?
Some of you reading this get my blog via Google Reader. On Wednesday, Google announced that they are closing this at the beginning of July. (Bummer–I read some blogs via this too.) However, the blogs I really want to stay current with, I subscribe to via email. Can I suggest that if you currently use Google reader for this blog, that you instead subscribe via email. (Another option: the techno gurus I read suggest Feedly as a viable alternative and it already has migration instructions from Google Reader posted. But I’m sure there will be many more options in the coming months.)
And finally, thank you to all who do read this blog, who’ve stayed with me through good posts and bad, and especially to those who join the conversation by commenting. I appreciate you all.
10 replies on “Why I write…”
Thank you for writing!
Maria, thank you for the encouragement.
I enjoyed this post, Felicity. In fact you hardly ever post anything I don’t enjoy reading. Or to be even more accurate, I can’t recall any post I didn’t like!
I’m glad you are blogging regularly and I agree that the women in church topic is very important. I’m not sure it’s the next big thing, but I think it’s certainly PART of the next big thing. And that, in my opinion, is obedience.
We need to become a more obedient people. We need to hear more clearly, take what we do hear more seriously, and turn hearing into action. All my life, one of the things I’ve been hearing is that men and women are the two halves of a whole and that what Papa wants is the whole working as one. This may be in marriage, but it is also in every situation in life – in friendship, in leading, in following, in family, in business, and yes, in writing in northern California!
In fact, I’d say another part of this need for obedience is in seeing that church is not separate from the rest of life. There is no holy and secular, there is just life as a whole and society as a whole and Christ in and through his people bringing light and flavour into the whole of life in all its aspects. Alan Hirsch makes this point very clear in ‘The Forgotten Ways’.
You just go for it, Felicity. And Tony too. Bless you both for you are indeed hearers and doers of the word. Good examples for others to follow.
Chris, thank you! And I totally agree with your comments about sacred and secular. That’s another whole discussion… Interesting thought: If there’s genuinely no difference between the two (which we would certainly agree on) then if women are “allowed” to hold secular positions, that should transfer across the the sacred too.
Good point, I hadn’t thought of that 🙂
Have been enjoying the messages. No local church here. Only fellowship is this way. Means a lot.
Dona, thank you!
Felicity, this is quite a hilarious story, one more proof of God’s humor. You are one of the finest writers I know, and have loved seeing how your writing, and more importantly, your heart, is touching the world and blessing people. I pray for an ever-expanding influence on generations and nations in the name of Jesus.
Wow, Bruce. I’m humbled by your comments and prayers.
When Jesus said “lay not your treasures up on earth where rot and (the fungus) rust doth corrupt and thieves break in and steal “, was Jesus suggesting we live as hunter gatherers without homes where we store our treasures that thieves want to break in and steal? I know Professor Jared Diamond has written on the Discover website that agriculture was the biggest mistake in the history of the human race because people in agricultural societies actually worked more hours and had poorer nutrition than hunter gatherers. How did Jesus come up with the idea of living as a hunter gatherer? Did Jesus think of Adam and Eve and how sin began in the Garden of Eden (and gardens are places where food is grown for people.). I think of how selfishness might begin with “ this is my land and my food that I grew with my hard work.” I compare that with reports of hunter gatherers being “fiercely egalitarian “, like Jesus when he said “don’t call anyone Rabbi or Father, you have but one teacher and one Father in heaven.” In this time of global warming and the threat of nuclear war, hunter gatherer society certainly has the advantages of no global warming, no nuclear war and no mass extinctions from humans taking over the habitat of other animals. How did Jesus want us to become a hunter gatherer society? Did he think Our Father would be telling people in their prayers to “lay down their life for the sheep of Jesus “ like Jesus lay down his life for his sheep? Did Jesus think wars should be resolved by the citizens of each side laying down their lives for the sheep of Jesus? Thank you for considering it, Bruce