I'm a Writer but not just because Jeff Goins says so! - Five Minute Friday

I spent a good portion of my day today listening to Lisa-Jo read me her book, Surprised by Motherhood.  Yeah - it's not quite like it sounds! Oh I would love to have her across the table, sipping tea, reading chapter after chapter - in real life! Still - this feels oh so close to that!  It's making me thankful... grateful... longing for my girlie and my Mama - both of whom live feet and yards away and I am blessed and warmed... (as Lisa-Jo says in the book... "Love, like hot chocolate, can warm us from the inside.")

I'm joyfully worn out... but you know me and how I just can't stay away from a good Twitter party!  So - let's do this...

Oh but - first - the fine print: if you don't know what FMF is!  Five Minute Fridays are hosted by Lisa Jo Baker.  It is open to anyone, so to learn more about it - and to jump in yourself (the more the merrier!) or just to find a linky to see what everyone is writing about today - click HERE!  The idea is to simply write... for Five Minutes flat... no editing, no deep thinking - or at least REthinking, no spell check - just write! Let it flow! We all write using a prompt that Lisa posts at 10pm Thursday night (EST.)  I'm loving the community of amazing bloggers and the creativity that flows from these magical Five Minutes!

So - here goes: Five Minute Friday - The Word Prompt is: WRITER

{GO}

So, a year or so ago I came across the Writers Manifesto by Jeff Goins.  It's good... really good!  You should read it.  And then, you know, you should go and write!

It was not a new thought or a new revelation. God had been calling me to step into who He kept whispering me into being.  He kept telling me things about myself that were hard to believe except for, well - He's God and all.

So - reading the Manifesto was confirmation and fuel for the fires that burn when I try to not write.  I have journals and journals filled and piled up, spilling over... years of All The Thoughts and Feelings and Prayers and Praises.

I started this blog because He asked me to.  To give Him a year of Tuesdays and what happened in those years (yeah... whatever... I got spoiled and didn't want to quit!) was amazing and incredible and unlike any other time in my life... We had a standing date every Tuesday, God and I.  And that Guy - He knows how to show up big!  

That was way back in the day and I was pretty confident that no one was reading anything and that was fine with me.  This is my foundation - to know that I am writing for Him and Him alone.  After a couple of years, my writing was less consistent and my dates with Jesus got rescheduled.  They still happened, but the flow was gone and the call to write them all out seemed to lift. 

Then I came back to it, the writing and blogging and He was reminding me that all of my years, He has called me Writer.  It's in me.  It's part of who I am.  I write on a blog and in a journal and in cards and letters... I can't not write.  So the Manifesto was a hearty Amen.

He had whispered once again and asked me to simply just be consistent here.  So - that is where we are.  Consistently meeting here... filling up and pouring out and being real as I live my life out loud.  

I have had short seasons of being distracted with all those fancy key Bloggy words like Platform and Tribe and SEOs (I still don't even know) and pressure to be a 'real' blogger and head on over to Wordpress (not that there's anything wrong with that!) 

But until He fills me in on what is next... I write.  I sit here, and I wait... I listen and lean in and pray for you - yes, you - and I write what He begins to speak to my heart and I believe that what happens here is holy.  

This is my calling.  This is my ministry.
This is me.  I am a Writer.
(even if no one 'gets' it! Even if I don't get paid.)

{STOP}

... I have to remind myself that when I am simply making art with my life and doing what He has made me to do, there is no competition.  I don't need a following as much as I need to follow Him.  I rarely get caught up in the numbers (or lack there of) but that is because I no longer doubt who I am or what I am called to do.

I'm a Writer.  I am called to write.
I am called to: (say it with me now!)

Five Minute Fridays gives us the chance to dive right in and share what He puts on our hearts! Click here to read what others have to say about "WRITER"