As I writer, I see and feel things, which to me require capturing in written form. It’s like my fingers are connected to my heart. I suppose that’s true in a kind of literal sense, but when I sit with my hands on a keyboard, my eyes are open to visual stimulation and mind pictures. I’m not sure how other writers feel. Some are quite intentional about what they write.
A story forms in their mind, and they carefully plan, build characters and worlds and write about these. For me, the pattern is different. I write down things that touch me and capture them in a small journal. These are the triggers for emotions that soon attach themselves to characters and a story begins to form.
Sometimes I journal my feelings because I can’t help myself. God gave me a gift to paint pictures with words and when I write, the words seem to come from outside myself. From God? I don’t believe He is speaking directly to me to write specific words, but I do believe He provides the fodder that grows into a story, showing emotions He stimulates through life experiences of various forms.
I am a writer. Words caress my soul. And I want to give back to God, using my gift to honor Him. Just as God gave gifts to the craftsmen who created the first tabernacle in the desert, He has equipped me as an artisan of sorts. They created with their gifts according to God’s instructions to Moses. I have not received such a direct command, yet I am urged to write through God speaking to me in different ways. In the beauty of a morning sunrise, in silent suffering, in the joys and pain of dearly loved ones, in the beauty and ugliness of the world. God opens my heart and fills me with the desire to spill out the emotions onto paper. Sometimes in a journal, sometimes in a story.
And I’m grateful.
Carol Ann Erhardt, Author 