"I've Never Met a Writer Before"

Have you ever felt like your career or passions were overlooked? Maybe your parents didn't seem proud of you, or maybe society made you feel like a failure for not having a career in one of the highly respected fields. Maybe you're a senior in high school and you feel pressured to get a degree in computer science, but your passion is to be an art teacher.

I've been writing since I was seven years old, but when it came time to pick a major in college, writing didn't even feel like an option. I didn't know anyone with a career in writing, so to me it was just my hobby. By the time I finished my sophomore year of college, I discovered room in my schedule for a minor. So after a lot of consideration, I picked writing simply because "I like to write." That was my reasoning.

Low and behold, I graduated in 2020 and my first job was as a Proposal Writer for a substitute staffing agency. After thirteen months, I accepted a new position as a copywriter for a publishing house, and started a masters degree program for creative writing a year later.

I feel so fortunate to have parents who support and encourage me in my writing endeavors because I think there are a lot of writers who are overlooked for "just wanting to write" in their life. It makes me sad because how can the same people who declare that "every part of the body of Christ is necessary" be the same people who make someone feel inferior for the way God created them?

I've had friends and roommates say backhanded comments about my "easy major" in college, or try to make me feel less important or not taken seriously because I didn't finish college with a nursing, engineering, business or teaching degree. They didn't always take my work and the stress that came with it seriously because in their eyes it never even compared to the workload they had. Why we were comparing degrees is beyond me.

In a recent webinar lead by Lysa Terkeurst, the founder of Proverbs 31 Ministries, she said that "writing is a lonely process." Even writing with friends who know what you're writing about, the process of just you and your thoughts can feel very isolating.

I didn't necessarily choose to have a career in writing, but I am so happy that God preordained that for me. When people ask me what my job is, I am proud to tell them that I am a writer, even if I still get the questionable "ohhh..." responses. This summer, I went with some friends to visit an elderly couple who they knew, and when they asked me what my profession was, the sweet woman put her hands to her cheeks and said, "Oh! I've never met a writer before!"

I've gotten used to the unimpressed responses so it doesn't truly phase me much anymore, but she made me feel, perhaps for the first time in my life, appreciated and unique, and I will probably carry that feeling with me the rest of my life. It's funny how when I was writing in my childhood "Madeline" journal at eight years old, my parents saw a content little girl, but God saw a tiny writer in training.

Writing has helped me process heavy emotions, develop my relationship with Jesus, express my understanding of topics, and my favorite to love and encourage my friends.God has graciously opened doors for me to share my writing in ways I never dreamed of- one of them being Proverbs 31 Ministries. On November 6, they will be publishing an article of mine on their blog, and I am still in disbelief!

Their ministry and blog has encouraged me in my faith journey, and I know it will encourage yours too. You can subscribe to Proverbs 31 Ministries here for daily encouragement, and be on the lookout for November 6 :)

And whatever your profession is, whether it's a respected career in society or not, remember that no one is more important than anyone else or worthy of more respect. God doesn't make mistakes when He creates someone, and He wastes nothing.

"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." --Romans 12:4-5