Transforming Your Creative Process

by Allen Arnold

When you sit down to write, you become aware of many things.

How the words are flowing. Whether you are in the zone. How comfortable your chair is...or isn’t. If you’re on track to hit your daily word count.

But would you notice if God didn’t show up?

I find it fascinating that when Moses was called to lead his people through the desert, he placed God’s presence before the very mission itself. He felt so passionate about this Moses said he’d call the entire trip off if God didn’t lead it (Exodus 33:12 – 18).

And by leading – Moses didn’t mean that God simply bless their trip in some vague way.

Moses was hungry for God’s tangible glory and presence. His deepest longing – to see the face of God – was rooted in a desire for intimate fellowship during the journey.

He literally demanded that God join him on the trip. You can bet he’d notice if God didn’t show up.

So back to my earlier question. In your writing, would you notice if God didn’t show up?

 Do you feel you can lean on craft, discipline and past experience to tell a story even when you don’t sense God’s presence? Or do you so depend on writing with him in Creative Fellowship that you’d call off a day of writing if you knew you were doing it on your own?

Because really there are only two ways to write.

Alone or with God.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the Giver of your gift waits for you to invite him into the creative process.

I think God loves it when our posture is like that of Moses.

God doesn’t just want to be asked to bless our efforts or watch us strike out on our own to prove what we can do.

He wants us to crave him.

To refuse to move forward without him.

When you invite God into your writing time, you enter into a new realm of artistry. You are creating with the One who created the mountains, music, whales, sunsets, and stars.

(If that thought doesn’t take your breath away, pause until it does.)

You get to enter a creative playground with God where you discover and develop story together. It’s an active process - like tossing a baseball back and forth. Something you can’t do alone.

What the world needs most is the warmth from the glow off the face of those who spend time with God. And that only happens with writers who savor the presence of God more than even story itself.

It’s the difference of a storyteller who sits around a small campfire telling her own stories...and a storyteller who’s face is glowing so bright she doesn’t need a campfire to warm the souls of those listening.

You can’t fake that kind of glow.

Just ask Moses.

So let me ask you...

What are you and God creating together today? 

Allen Arnold loves the epic adventure God has set before him. From the mountains of Colorado, he leads Content & Resources for Ransomed Heart Ministries (led by John Eldredge). Before that, he spent 20 years in Christian Publishing - overseeing  the development of more than 500 novels as founder and Publisher of Thomas Nelson Fiction. He was awarded the ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. But that doesn't really describe the man. Allen savors time with his family, craves the beach, drinks salsa by the glass, is hooked on the TV series "Once Upon a Time" and is passionate about helping storytellers tell better stories from an awakened heart.