Unread for 16 years

He kindly handed me my voice through a pen...

If there's one thing I've learned through writing (well, there are actually many things), it's to do it for me.

Now if you're a follower of Jesus like myself, you might be thinking, "wait, aren't we to do everything for God?" The answer is yes; however what I'm talking about is a little different.

From the time I was a little girl, writing and words have always carried so much weight and importance.

God knew I would be weaker at speaking for a few reasons, so through my mother He gave me my voice through a pen.

For 16 years, nobody read my writing...

(outside of school essays and work projects). I filled journals with thoughts, prayers, and even short fiction stories on topics and life lessons that helped me understand the world and my place in it.

For 12 of those 16 years, I used writing solely to process emotions, thoughts, experiences and understand my relationship with God and myself. I've always known that writing is a gift, and I'm grateful that it's God's gift to me.

I've had four previous attempts at sharing my writing through a blog platform, and none of them lasted more than four months. After consistently sharing my thoughts for a handful of Fridays, the discouragement and defeat that came from knowing nobody was reading them "so what's the point" was enough to cause me to give up.

Wanting others to read your writing isn't a bad thing, but it must not be your reason for writing. As embarrassing as it is, when I attempted my first four blogs, I was simultaneously picturing myself becoming an overnight sensation-- a twenty-two year old famous writer for her work on her self-started, un-promoted, personal blog...

That is the perfect example of writing for the wrong reasons, and as it did, it was destined to fail from the beginning.

I wanted to share my writing, but it took me years to figure out what I wanted to share. I knew the most successful writers all had a niche or a theme to their work, but I didn't travel a ton, I'm definitely not a food critic, I'm not a mom, nor an avid reader with weekly book recommendations.

The things I do know a lot about are writing, school, and my faith and relationship with Jesus. I love sharing my tips about writing but I didn't think it was enough to fill 52 blogs worth. I also didn't think very many people would resonate or find it interesting to hear what it's like to be a full-time student and employee.

What I did think people would resonate with was general encouragement from Jesus. So, I started writing about the many times Jesus encouraged me in life through His character or Word. I think everyone can use more encouragement in their lives, and I consider it a call to action from the verse 1 Thessalonians 5:11, "Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

Fortunately, God has given me a mind that thinks very deeply about things, and a soul that process emotions very deeply as well. I don't have a spreadsheet of topics I want to write about because the Lord and I are always in conversation about something, which makes coming up with blog content fairly easy.

The beauty about what I write about (and the reason why I think it works) is that while I've been told that it encourages those who stumble upon it, it simultaneously encourages me, and I find so much joy doing it. If I could spend every evening on earth walking through nature and then coming home to write, I would consider my life a joy-filled success.

All that to say, if you want to write and potentially share it, write about something you know a lot about and enjoy writing on it-- and if others happen to find it encouraging, helpful or entertaining too, well then that's a fun bonus :)

Recently, I have had the honor of writing a piece about my experience with church for Ann Voskamp's blog, as well as the privilege of talking with Joni Eareckson Tada and writing a feature story on her. If you're interested in reading either, click the links below.

Ann Voskamp

Joni Eareckson Tada

And thanks for reading today :)