The Right Write-Life Formula

by Anusha Atukorala

Years ago when I was desperate to conceive my second child, a well-meaning friend suggested that I needed to pray in a certain way in order to have my prayers answered. Hmm...! Isn’t God more interested in my heart than in any prayer formula? God did not give me a second child. But many years on, He blessed me with two lovely daughters in Christ, satisfying my heart’s desires for 3 children—one son and two daughters. The parents of my "daughters" did all the hard work! I had the joy of having them without changing even one nappy! (A great idea, God. Thank you.) My prayers may have been frail and faulty, but they were answered.

More recently, when sharing my health struggles with another (also well meaning) friend, she asked if I prayed daily for good health, telling me it has worked for her. She implied that it was a must in order to receive healing. I do spend plenty of time with God each day. I do talk to Him often. But I don’t ask God for healing every single day, because I don’t think it matters. God knows my heart. Even if my words aren’t quite right or the number of times I pray not the perfect number, I can count on Him to give me His best. After all, it’s not my impeccable prayers which bring results but the mercy and love of a faithful God.

The only Prayer formula I know is not to have one. Instead I seek the Giver of all good gifts. And oh, it’s been a thrilling journey. So … what’s the correct Write Formula if there such a thing?  I’ve spent hours learning the craft. I’ve attended conferences (fabulous times), borrowed a plethora of books from the library, (and read them from cover to cover), written articles and essays, poetry and songs, books and blogs. Perhaps unlike prayer, there IS a right Write Formula? Yes, I believe there is!

It’s true that in order to do most things well, we need instructions to guide us and help us stay on par. We can’t play a game of Cricket or Tennis or Footy without rules, could we, or there would be mayhem. We can’t write a sentence without using grammatical rules or it would not make sense. But what about the right Write Life? Does that have rules too? 

Jesus did not come to bind us with rules and regulations. He came to release the prisoners and set the captives free. As Christian writers, we can take a joyful leap across the chasm of legalism and into fields of grace. Perhaps the biggest decree for our writing lives is that there are no rules? There is only GRACE! Precious, glorious, bountiful grace. The Grace that overflows into our lives as we seek to live for God and for His glory.

Grace means that …

1.     Despite my sins, mistakes and imperfections, He still calls me to write for Him.

2.     It’s not following His laws which will help me thrive as a Christian writer but desiring and seeking intimacy with Him.

3.     If He calls me, He will equip me and help me. It’s as simple as that!

4.     As Paula Vince shared with us so beautifully last week, success as a Christian writer is very different from the world’s view of success

5.     God will use even the deficiencies and failures in my Write Life to touch and bless others

6.     Perfection may often be unattainable but I can aim at excellence

7.     God’s ways are often unusual, unexpected and unfathomable but always trustworthy

8.     My writing may not be exceptional but when I do my best, led by His Spirit, miracles happen

9.     He will always give me a second chance

10.  When I yield to the Holy Spirit. He will use my words, weak and frail as they might be, to prod and poke, to lead and lift, to bless and build

11.  We are each not called to be a carbon copy of other writers but free to pursue our own calling

12.  Most importantly, it’s His glory that we are on about, not our own

So how do I grow into a Christian writer? By spending time with Him, by following the Spirit’s leading, by using my time wisely, by learning writing skills (yes, following those rules), walking in integrity, allowing Him to shape me. being part of the body of Christ and by helping other writers thrive.

Grace frees me to become the writer I was meant to be.

Grace gives me wings to partner with the Holy Spirit.

Grace spurs me on to dare to change the world through words.

Let’s do it! Let's dance in fields of grace!

Anusha’s been on many interesting detours in life, as a lab technician, a computer programmer, a full time Mum, a full time volunteer, a charity director, a full time job chaser, until one golden day (or was it a dark moonless night?) God tapped her on her shoulder and called her to write for Him. She has never recovered from the joy it brought her. She loves to see others enjoying life with Jesus and does her mite to hurry the process in her world through her writing and through her life. The goodness of God is her theme song through each season, as she dances in the rain with Jesus. Please stop by at her website to say G’day to her. Dancing in the Rain. She’d love to see you there.

Her first book "Enjoying the Journey" comprises 75 little life lessons and 16 colour photos. Her second book "Dancing in the Rain - words of comfort and hope for a sad heart" will be published in 2018 by Armour Books. Please stay tuned.

Searching for Treasure

I dig around – it must be in here somewhere. I’m sure it’s here…

I keep searching – going deeper – getting to the bottom and finding fluff and broken bits and things that haven’t seen the light of day for a while.

I strain my eyes – sometimes when looking for something, my eyes pass right over it. I’m sure you’ve done the same. So I look at each item and name it, just so I can’t miss what I’m looking for.

There’s a lot of stuff in here: treasures, junk, forgotten things, insights, incomplete thoughts, words from other people, words that belong to other people, half-started piece of writing…

Surely amidst all the experiences of my life, I can find something to write about. I have friends for whom there simply are not enough hours in the day to get it all on paper. But I rarely write like that. I have to discipline myself to stop and listen; to chew over experiences and insights; and to listen to what God is asking me to put on paper. It’s all too easy not to be a writer! I even struggle with calling myself a writer – more than 20 short pieces and a booklet in print and I hesitate with the epithet ‘author’. An author? Are you sure? I don’t write much really. In fact not at all sometimes.

And I realize, I’m letting my thoughts undermine my ‘work’ as a writer. And that leaves me wide open to the enemy undermining who I am and who I can become: ‘A testimony? You? With your safe little life? Ha, ha, you’re so ordinary.’
I’ve started two new jobs recently – it’s pretty busy. There’s not a lot of time to write, (or market my booklet!), and I’ve been wondering how to go about meeting my writing commitments. However, my new jobs provide me with plenty of driving time, mostly alone, and I try to discipline my mind to prayer and meditating on Bible verses.

I think over books I read last year – books that talk about who we are and who we can become with the power of God in our lives. Our application of faith to our lives is often so small – we see our lives empowered within the context of who we are and what we do with each day. Our Heavenly Father sees our lives empowered by His Spirit within the context of the world with all the resources of Heaven at our disposal.

So I refute the arguments that try to destroy my identity and my inheritance.
I have the Spirit of the Living God dwelling in me
I have all the resources of Heaven at my disposal and for the glory of God
I am being changed into the perfect image of Christ
I have a strong testimony about the work of God in me and in my life
And there is a whole world out there needing to hear about the saving grace, goodness and love of God through the written word

I am…a writer.

Why Grace Works for Me by Hayley Solich

Over the past eighteen months I have been sitting under the ministry of Ps John Latta, who moved to our church from Tambourine Mountain.  John shifted my thinking about God, life and everything really when he started to share his concept of God and grace.  It changed the way I viewed myself and the way I viewed others.  When you look through the lens of grace and unconditional love, so many small things that previously were beacons of offense become way less obvious because instead of looking at actions you look at motivation and instead of looking at behaviour you look at the real person.  And you recognise that your words have power to create life or death, so you can choose to use them more wisely, more compassionately.

Coupled with John's ministry I have also gone through several of the Carefore LifeKeys training programs and once again received the bombshell of grace and unconditional love impacting my life. And also the impartation of skills for living life walking in unconditional love by better communicating and using words to build up rather than tear down.

In the Search for Life course, Alan Meyers' re-telling of the prodigal son's story was absolutely lifechanging to me.  The story of a father who saw his errant son afar off and against all of the rules of the time lifted up his skirts and ran to him.  He didn't wait for him to apologise, to grovel, to beg forgiveness.  No, this father ran to him.  He covered his shame.  He restored his dignity.  He restored his position in the father's household and his father wanted to celebrate with anyone and everyone who was willing to come.  He was willing to kill the fattened calf which was reserved for very specific celebrations, in honour of a son who had returned.  His words and actions changed his son's future.

As I listened to that story I recognised that God is like that with all of us.  He is not sitting in some distant place with a hammer ready to strike us when we err and we all err.  Regardless of how righteous we think we are, when we look at another with judgment in our heart we have erred, because we are told to 'judge not'.  We are not to be like the older brother, viewing the behaviour of others and making judgments about it based on how good we think we are.  He totally missed the point.

Today, as you go about your business I wanted to encourage you to see life through the lens of grace and unconditional love.

At times I feel trampled by people or life's circumstances and I want to pull out my claws and claw my way back but grace is wanting to teach me a better way, to teach us all a better way.  Grace is wanting me to not react, but to really assess why others have behaved the way they have because it is always a story about them that has led them to that behaviour.  Sometimes our presence is just a catalyst for another's healing.

My exhortation today is to look around you and when you see someone 'lying in their blood' -  Exekiel 16:6 - the image of the rejected person, even the image of the prodigal son - looking to all the world like the yukkiest or most unwise person on the planet, and probably behaving like one, challenge yourself to view them through the eyes of the Father.  The eyes of unconditional love.  For He says to all of us, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love and I have chosen you before the foundations of the earth."  They are not the words of a judgmental, vengeful God.  They are the words of a loving father.

And when you look at yourself, be kinder to yourself.  I truly believe that if we see God through the lens of the new testament, which is a new convenant, where our salvation is not dependent upon our works, then we can move from doing to being, from judging ourselves and others to loving ourselves and others and allowing God's abundant love to inhabit every aspect of our lives.  Then our works will have eternal value for all.

Begin with thanks

I'm beginning 2013 with thankfulness.

I'm being very intentional about thankfulness this year after having read a wonderful book called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. Hers is a story of growing from bitterness to joy through giving thanks for the gifts she found around her in everyday life. She says, "A friend dare me to start counting one thousand things I loved. I took the dare, acepted the challenge, kept track of one thousand things, one thousand gifts - a thousand graces - on a quiet, anassuming blog. Before I knew it, thankfulness to God began to fully change me."

I found this a really inspiring story and a great challenge. I have so much to be thankful for. It's not hard to find things, small and great, every day, that I can give thanks for, even in the midst of frustrations, struggles, or even pain and tragedy. In fact to focus on those gifts really does change my reactions to the hard things of life. There is always something to give thanks for and Ann's book and her journey show that it is so often through gratitude that God can do a wonderful work in our lives. I've taken up the challenge to write down a thousand gifts over the coming months and am already finding it an attitude changer.

This month I've had the perfect opportunity to be thankful as I've just returned from ten days in Cambodia and this has heightened my awareness of how gifted my life here in Australia is. We spent time in a small village which our church supports and I found the people in that seemingly deprived and poverty stricken place, really do understand the graces of God and truly appreciate what we would see as small, almost insignificant gifts.



Happy children despite having so little

 

Three generations in a country where this is rare



Being with these people was truly challenging and inspiring. So what can I do but humbly give thanks and pray we all have a year of seeing the grace of God in all things.

Carol Preston has written a series of historica novels, based on her family history.
The fourth book in this series, Truly Free, will be released in March this year -
for which she is TRULY THANKFUL. 
www.carolpreston.com.au 
www.amazon.com/author/carolpreston

Writing that changes lives.

Words are powerful. A few words strung together can destroy or encourage, bring hope and joy or dash every expectation. As writers we exert power in every paragraph we offer to others. Will our writing amuse, tickle ears, or inspire our readers?

Just after Christmas, Steve and I saw  'Les Miserables.'  Having loved the stage production in the late 1980s, I was both excited and apprehensive as I entered the theatre, tissues in hand. I was totally captivated and pleased I only cried a little. But this film didn't stop when I tore my eyes from the screen. It invaded my mind, interrupting my sleep and demanding answers. 

It challenged me. Could I, or would I, extend grace the way the Bishop offered grace to Jean Valjean. Could such costly grace be a hallmark of my life! The extent of grace was reflected in the shocked eyes of the women in this scene. Their Bishop gave away the family silver. Gave it to a man in chains. Gave it to a man who had stolen from him in the middle of the night,  thrusting into his hands two more silver candle sticks. The Bishop's offering of grace literally removed chains from Jean's legs, saved him from returning to a life of slavery. One act of love and generosity burned so hot in Jean Valjean's heart that he turned to God. He, in turn, extended that love and compassion to  many others, often costing him dearly, including his safety and freedom. It bought life and hope to those who could receive grace, but bought death to the one who was bound by law. 

Les Miserable is one of the most profound expressions of the gospel that I have seen. Better than any sermon I've heard or delivered. 

The film is based on the book of the same name written by Victor Hugo and published to 1862. Hugo was so sure of this book that he sold the publishing rights to the highest bidder! His writing was so powerful it forced the highlighted social issues onto the agenda of the National Assembly of France. But I doubt that he foresaw over 14 million people flocking to see the movie 150 years later. Nor did he expect it to speak into hearts over so many generations.

As I writer, I honour his skill and imagination. I would love to be able to encapsulate the love of God in such a story. Which raises a question. If any of us wrote a similar book today would it be accepted as a Christian fiction, or would it be considered too 'edgy', to risqué for  Christians to read? Or would it receive similar reviews to some given to Hugo's masterpiece, when it was first released. Lambasting its artificiality, one reviewer wrote, "neither truth nor greatness". Another, despite giving favourable reviews in newspapers, castigated it in private as "tasteless and inept".

My local radio station summarized the film as 'a convict rescuing a prostitute'. I was stunned, arguing that there wasn't a prostitute in the movie. Instead I saw a deeply devoted young mother who would do anything to keep her daughter alive. I was offended by the description and wondered if the reporter had viewed the same film. Which demonstrates that a great story tells a different tale to each individual , depending on the tint of the coloured glasses worn at the time. 

"Is not my word like fire," declares the Lord, "And like a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces?"

Les Miserables has the Word of God hidden within its fast moving story, and three weeks later the hammer is still  pounding my heart, challenging me to walk every day in deep grace.

Oh, to be able to string words together with such skill and imagination. I'm determined to practice my word building until it brings such positive challenges, renewed hope and deep revelation! 

Lord take my heart, my mind and my words and let them be instruments in your hand. 

Jo Wanmer apologises for the highlighting! She had an argument with blogger and blogger won! Meanwhile she is working on her new book, praying that God will give her words that will bring life and a deeper experience of the amazing, powerful love of God. Her recent publication 'Though the Bud be Bruised' continues to challenge thinking and bring hope and healing.