Writers Shape Who We Become...

"Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this."   Revelations 1:19

(My favorite Scripture verse regarding writing :) )

From the fourth grade I have wanted to be a writer.  I had a wonderful teacher who loved to read and encouraged me to write.  She would tell me stories and read my stories with enthusiasm.  She made fourth grade my favorite grade ever.  She gave me the desire to write and thus she gave me a way of counseling myself...a free therapy...a way to remember.  By instilling into me a love of words, and reading, and writing...she gave me a way to express myself when my voice would not.  She gave me a way to speak freely when I could not.  She gave me a way to explore who I was on paper with different characters...so that I did not have to actually try out different personas in "real life" and make mistakes I would have been better off not making.
Writing is what I have always wanted to do.  I have been blessed to have poems published in magazines, win short story and poetry contests, have my poetry on greeting cards in stores across America.  I say this not to brag but just to share how much writing means to me.  As a relatively shy person, it means a lot to know that through writing I can communicate the way I wish I could in conversation.
I have dear friends who are expert conversationalists...and I am amazed at their skills in communication.  My communication skills are basic...but through writing and being published I am able to find a voice to communicate to many, many people.
Writing is not just about being published though.  For me, writing is about recording, remembering, and studying myself.  I used to keep a journal daily when I was in school.  As I went on to college, life became busier and I didn't have time to journal daily.  I firmly believe that I suffered because of this.  It is in the journaling that I "spoke" with myself about things going on and made my decisions.  As I have entered into this time period, there is this wonderful thing called "blogging".  Who knows who is reading what I blog!  Similar to being published, you never know who is reading your writings.  However, I still think being published is better than blogging unless you have put time into making your blog popular.   Writing for a publication gives you a voice to a certain targeted group of people...and you know they are reading the magazines because they subscribe.  Blogging...not so much :)
All of this I am writing about today because of the still small voice of the Lord that I heard today that reminded me of how I am to write, and MUST write.
Today I passed by a benefit yard sale at a local high school.  I stopped to look for a pair of pants for my husband.  Surprisingly I found just the ones I had hoped to find.  I was given a bag and told that I could "fill it up for a dollar".  So I continued looking, heading as I usually do to the boxes of books.
I look for the books with no pictures on the front.  You know, paperback novels always have pictures on the front.  That has no appeal to me.  I like the mystery books....the ones that are old, hardcover books with just a title on the front...no summary on the back with the author's photo.  No blurbs in star shapes stating how many copies have been sold.  The solid, old books with meaning.

I found two today by one of my favorite writers as a young lady...Grace Livingston Hill.  One had another name on it...which I had never seen on her books before.  This made it special to me.  I had read the book as a teenager but it is just as good or better now.  It was published in the 1920s.  This writer taught me much about being a young lady.  I have always felt I would have been better suited being born in the early 1900s...but the Lord knows what He is doing.  Perhaps He needed a 1920s,30s,40s type woman to be living and writing today in the early 2000s'.  :)
I also found another one of my favorite writers plain covered book today...her name is Taylor Caldwell.  The book I found was Dear and Glorious Physician.  I have read it before as well but intend to re-read it.  Books that I can re-read are wonderful to me.  Some are only worth a one time read...even though they may be great books.  Some are not worth even a one time read.  And some...some are stories that stay with you and benefit you over and over again.  Grace Livingston Hill and Taylor Caldwell are two authors that have had that effect on me.

I heard the whisper of the Lord today in the writings of women from different time eras who loved Him dearly and wove that love into their writings in order to inspire young women.  I hope and pray that I can inspire others with my writings as these two wonderful servants of the Lord did during their lifetimes with their writings.
Where did you hear the whisper of the Lord today?