My writing life: the introduction

     As I shared in my opening post, I plan to share sneak peaks of my writing on my blog. As you’ve probably realized if this is not your first visit, providing our children with quality Christian literature is a high priority of mine. I want to try my hand at creating some. While I’m not quite ready to share my first sneak peek, I would like to give you a glimpse into "my writing life."

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 The beginning: 

     In high school I was blessed to have a really special newswriting internship at our local newspaper. My wonderful bosses and co-workers helped me lay a solid foundation. I entered college with a communications major and landed a job in the advertising department of our school paper. Then I got a little sidetracked. I switched majors and never returned to working in the news industry.

      I’d like to say I kept writing but, honestly, life got busy and I quit. I graduated one day, got married the next (literally), moved overseas to do missions work, popped out two babies, returned to the States, and birthed child number three.

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Writing Re-up #1:

     I never was able to shake a little nagging feeling that God had put a passion for the written word within me, and I was neglecting my stewardship of it.

     Finally, after my second child’s third birthday and a move to a new state, I was ready to get started again. Discouraged by the lack of Christian fiction for grade-school aged kids, I had an idea for a series aimed at girls ages seven to ten or so.

     I holed myself away in the basement and began writing. In a matter of weeks, I produced a manuscript, let some of my mom friends read it, made a few tweaks, and began studying the publishing industry. I was quickly overwhelmed. I shelved the manuscript. After all, it’s easier to let something sit than to send proposal after proposal to multitudes of publishers.

Writing Re-up #2

       

     While the manuscript sat on my computer for nearly two years and I busied myself with other pursuits, I could never get rid of that nasty little nagging feeling I was still wasting my passion. A few months ago, I finally emailed the pastor of our church, Adam Feldman, for advice. He is the author of a wonderful book called Jounaling: Catalyzing Spiritual Growth Through Reflection. I arranged a meeting with him and his wife and canceled a week later. (Do you see a pattern here?) My life was too busy to add anything new.

      This time I knew what I needed to do and began de-cluttering my life so I could focus on where God was nudging me. I rescheduled the meeting and got some great ideas for my next steps, which I’ll share soon.

Linking up at Titus 2sdays, Mom 2 Mom, Mama  Moments, and Life of Faith.

From the mouths of babes: Independence Day Edition

     Happy Independence Day! Thank You, Lord, for our freedoms. May we never take them for granted.

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     Tonight while putting my children to bed, I asked them what they thought it meant to be free. My five-year-old replied it meant we had the freedom to believe in any god we wanted. We could even choose to not believe in any god at all.

     Perceptive.

    "Which god do you believe in?" I asked.

    "The ONE TRUE GOD," she replied.

     

     Here's the part that made my heart overflow. Without further prompting she continued, "We should tell others about Jesus so they can believe in God, too."

     Amen. Let's use our freedom to share the Good News of Jesus with all.

I'm linking up at Missional Women.

Does every book have to expressly mention Christ?

     Every day I strive to teach my children the Bible is a living and active, life-giving book that’s essential to prioritize. We delve into exciting stories of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Joshua watching the walls of Jericho crumble around him, and Daniel pacing a lion’s den unharmed. We learn that God is the one who parts the Red Sea, defeats the enemy, and seals the mouths of lions. We learn this same God will also deliver us.

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       Why do we work so hard to teach our children truths about God and then allow them to fill their minds with books that fall far short of God’s glory? We must not. The chief question I ask myself when evaluating books for my children is does the book exalt Christ? Would I be embarrassed to caught reading it if He walked into the room? While it’s easier for me to grab whatever secular book is available on the library shelf, it is worth me going to a little extra trouble to steer my children toward Christian books.

      Does every book have to explicitly mention Christ? Of course not! I regularly read all varieties of secular books. When we need to research an animal for a science project or study an autobiography of a children’s author, we typically turn to the library instead of the Christian bookstore. 

     We also let the kids read for plain old fun! Beautifully written fiction that is not expressly Christian still moves me to both laughter and tears. I love to share with my children powerfully written literature that resonates with the human soul. If we consistently teach our children, they will gradually learn to use a Christian worldview to evaluate the characters and plot in all books. As long as the book satisfies my criteria for moral appropriateness, we read it.

     Although we read anything appropriate, we seek Christian books, It's worth it to this mom to put in a little extra leg work providing my kids with plenty of Christian reading material.

     How do you guide your children into finding wholesome books? Please share in the comments.

I'm linking this post up at Grace & Truth.