Called to Write

Writing.

I’d say it’s what I do, but that’s not exactly all there is to it.

It’s who I am. It’s who I was meant to be. It is my gift to regift.

In 2010 when I thought to start a website, I knew I did not want a blog as blogs go. Don’t get my thoughts wrong here… I loved that people were blogging! But the vision God impressed upon my heart was to make it a ministry. I was being called into ministry. I trusted Him. The website came first with snippets of my story and then people from all over the globe started connecting with me in ways I knew were more than just reading a blog … they were pursuing God. They were living #ALL IN. So today, as part of this blog tour interview, I will answer the questions given in a deeper way than in the only other one I participated in earlier this year. I also will introduce you to 5 other bloggers who have touched my heart and soul in very specific ways.

The lovely Kristin Smith over at The Riches of His Love invited me to take part and what she said about my writing was such a huge blessing! But that didn’t surprise me because she is a sweet, sweet encourager! Kristin is also the Managing Editor at the God-Sized Dreams community, and she co-hosts a private in{Courage} group of encouragers of these dreams we all have, so she certainly understands my “God-Sized” Dream. You should all visit her writing spaces to see her heart as it shines light and love! I was so blessed she asked me to be one of her featured writers. That is the reason I said yes to do this again ~ because I had already done a similar one months ago I hesitated, but since she asked I wanted to say yes.

I have thought more about “why I write” and these interview questions; I think you might be surprised at my answers a bit. I just don’t consider myself a blogger. It’s all God’s calling on my life… to love others while living #ALLIN.

1~ What am I working on?

As some of you know, I’m in the process of finishing my two books. Yes! Two! No I’m not overly ambitious, haha! God gave my heart a vision, a mission, about 10 years ago to write a book about my life. I knew it would happen and needed to since God laid it on my heart, but I also knew the time was not right then. I waited patiently until He said “Go” and then I began. Had I not waited I would have missed the things we endured the last several years ~ things that have touched lives in ways I never dreamed of in the past few years. Had I not waited I would have missed a big blessing coming out of those things.

My depression and brain disease ~ began around age 5 and was worse than any horror movie could ever dream up. I was healed completely of both at age 27. {I have an exciting announcement coming out soon of where I will be sharing my story in a series. I can’t wait to see how God works through it!} Then there was the matter of my husband nearly losing his life to meningitis and his miracle healing … and the bankruptcy and, well, everything in between which made for a very non-boring life.

So I am determined to not have anything I went through be in vain. I can not keep His story through my life quiet. So I write. Uglies and all, beauties and everything. The book is called “And I Heard Him Say”… because God still talks and I listen. I give Him my life.

The other book is a vision God gave me about two years ago. It’s a Q&A style book about God and faith in our everyday lives. I surveyed around 50 people from all over the globe; ages ranging from teens to the 70s, career ranges from a student to professionals, and all walks of life.

It’s called Live. Learn. Love. ~ Q&A for the Soul. {I heard God tell me that in the bathroom one day. Yes. Makeup putting-on was happening … and bam there it was… the title! And I was super excited! Makeup suffered I am sure.}

Both have been an amazing blessing to many already. I’m in awe of what He does!

I am shakin’ quakin’ with love over the Live. Learn. Love. ALL IN group I started on FB. Those who have joined are seeing blessings in a very real way. Come join us! I also maintain a freelance writing career and guest write for other sites, but I do nothing… absolutely nothing… that I don’t hear Him say “yes” too. I don’t do anything without leaning into God first. It just doesn’t work any other way. And that is the answer to why I have come to see this as the ministry he laid on my heart years ago… because it belongs to Him.

2 ~ How does my work differ from others of its genre?

That’s a hard and easy question to answer. I’ve got a hard and easy answer.

My writing work is what it is because of Him. There is no other reason.

I don’t follow writing or grammar fads.. I don’t go after “platform” or obsess over stats {rarely pay any attention to them!}. And while I strive for and appreciate a Koinonia type community, I don’t connect just to connect, just to get a “book connection”, just to be noticed. {You can’t Tweet that because I leave it to God as to who shares and where my words go… because they are His.}

It’s different because of that … it’s Him loving others through me. His Story is my story.

So it’s conversational style usually. My conversations with Him. And mine with readers like you. {I might occasionally throw in conversations I have with myself, too. Because nothing He has me do “swims with the stream”.  I love His sense of humor! }

Even in writing I see people following the crowded stream.
Be individual by actually being who YOU are.
I see that so many of us try to fit in by doing what every one else is doing and that includes our writing. The occasional “thing” now and again isn’t what I’m referring to… but over and over?

I pray every person who claims Christ would be who God made them to be. Unique in OUR own voice. God loves us no matter what, but I think it pleases Him when we aren’t trying to follow the crowd.

We need more writers and bloggers who aren’t afraid to write in their own God-given voice about what God has impressed upon them to write. Your own topics, our own calling, and remember… He has all the followers {platform} you need.

Be who you ARE, not who they are. You are perfectly made, Sisters and Brothers.
Live #ALLIN.

3 ~ Why do I write what I do?

I write because it’s my regifting of the gift He has given me. To love and to encourage. The big reason though….

Because He asks me to.

4 ~ How does my writing process work?

It just comes to me because I pray over it all constantly in thanksgiving and giving all the blunt end parts to Him.

I honestly can’t grasp writer’s block. It just never happens to me. I write what He leads me to write. No agendas. No quotas. No worries about platforms, or followers, or stats, or… nope, nada. The process… just happens.

I tell Him that is what I want… for it to be all Him. And I believe. And that is how it happens. I trust that He will guide my fingers.

Now to my featured writers for this tour, and their blogs, because I want you to meet them! They are proving that they are living ALL IN and I connect with each of them for very specific reasons.

Katie Oldam and I connected right away. Immediately! I love how she takes God at His word for complete health and blessings… body, mind, soul, and health. She touched my heart with her emails… she has lifted me up and I returned the blessing to her, because that is living ALL IN. You’ll find amazing encouragement, recipes, health tips, and more… all from a Christ centered point of view… over at Katie’s site. Here is a bit about Katie in her words.

I’m the creator and writer on Happily Whole, but I’m only feeling happy or whole when my living well starts at the seat of my soul. I’m a lover of all things wellness with a passion to share my words in a Christ loving and inspired living kind of way. While by profession I might be defined by the world’s idea of wellness, my version stands far from the million dollar industry defining beauty as aesthetics on the outside. I’m into simple living, real food and refreshing exercise. But, until I learned to lean hard into what the Lord wants from me, I might have come across the same as any other recipe or fitness writer on the web. Now, those technical titles and credentials take a backseat to Christ follower, Lord Lover and encourager towards all things eternal!

At the heart of who I am is a single mom, a widow actually, of two precious little girls who teach me more about life than I ever thought I’d know. After losing my beloved best friend to cancer, I realized how insignificant all my ‘eating clean’ and exercising meant without what’s at the heart of really living well: authenticity in and obedience to Christ! Around that time, God began pouring words into my mind along with a fierce desire to share. Now, I infuse my healthy living lessons with His inspiration and humbly hope to serve women with a refreshing new look at life lived well…from the inside out!

So, yeah, I’m a widow living well, embracing life as I let God chisel away at the life as a wife I once knew to become more of who He wants me to be.

Karan and I met via social media and from day one I just loved her zest for life! She makes me laugh ~ you know… I gotta’ laugh! ~ and she speaks Truth in the middle of the laughs. She is a dynamic woman of God who loves to love others.  You will love her sense of humor on her site!

Caroline has been very special to me for a long time now. She found my website and dove in… ALL IN. She shared with me personally in deep ways because of one post that struck her heart and we connected from there in a deep way. She has been a soul sister! Her site is raw and beautiful, and trust she will tell it straight up!

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Caroline has always been writing in some form or another. As a child, she wrote stories and poems, loved to draw and used to entertain the children in her area with story -telling. She has a voracious reading appetite.

She began keeping a diary at 12years old having received her first journal as a birthday gift. Year later, with the arrival of the internet, she dipped her toe in the online waters by posting pictures and poems and, with the encouragement of a friend, began regular blogging in 2007.  She doesn’t see her blog as instructional or a manual of Apologetics but rather an “on the ground” account of day to day living seen through the lens of her faith in God and hopes that each post encourages others to “keep going” when the road gets tough and let them know they are not alone in various struggles.

It is her dream one day to become a published writer, if she can figure out how to, and to counsel women in areas of marriage, self-esteem and abortion. Caroline is a full-time homemaker and loves creative pursuits as well as snorkeling, walking and being an avid reader.

Joy is a doll! I receive the most prayerful emails from Joy. She and I share the suffering of chronic pain illnesses, and she and I both believe that while we are waiting on our healing we will bless as many people as we can. I just love her attitude to always live out her namesake! She exudes Joy! You will find JOY at her sites. True joy.

These ladies are truly #ALLIN for Jesus. No perfection sought, just honest to goodness running after God.

You’ll love them like I do I’m sure!

Live Blessed,
Heather

If you’d like to read the soul-deep stuff I share… I’m eternally grateful. You can get this sweet stuff in your email inbox.

Please come on over here for a beautiful guest post by my friend, Michelle DeRusha, author of the book Spiritual Misfit; and a chance to win a very special copy of her book in my TRAVELING BOOK Giveaway!

I invite you to join my “very-different-kind-a” link-up prompt each week ~ #SharingYou. Come on over and share.