But it can sure feel like it is. Master enough techniques, write enough words, and expand your social media platform enough and you can make it happen.
In other word, we write and live as if it is all up to us. But imagine what it might look like to step into your creativity with a power that isn’t limited to your solutions, strength, or striving.
God created you for union with him. Not one part of your life – including your calling as a writer – is dependent on you making it happen apart from him.
You didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to be a writer. God infused you with the love of story as a way for the two of you to get to know each other better as you create together.
This shift to with is essential. Writing with God is different from a quick prayer asking God to bless your work. It is active, intimate creativity with the Creator. You can sense his presence, hear his voice, go at his pace, and let his ideas fuel your imagination. He may tell you not to write at all one day…even when you’re on deadline. Are you okay with that? The process will be beautifully disruptive, wonderfully counter-intuitive, often inefficient, and immensely freeing. And the outcome will be transformative – both in the Story you are living and the stories you are writing.
Remember, you are not on your own and it’s not all up to you. The life you have with God will determine the life your art ultimately has. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Join me on Twitter @TheStoryofWith for more thoughts on deeper identity, intimacy, and imagination with God .
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Allen Arnold is the author of The Story of With, an allegory that reveals a better way to live and create through the doorway of identity, imagination, and intimacy. His mission is to help people actively pursue and transform their talent by discovering how to pursue it with God. As the founding Fiction Publisher for one of the world's largest Christian publishing houses, Allen oversaw the development of more than five hundred novels. He knows first-hand how common it is for creators to become disheartened, overwhelmed or burnt-out–as well as what it takes to help the dreams of writers become reality. In his current role at Ransomed Heart, he oversees content from the mountains of Colorado for the ministry. Before becoming a Board Member for ACFW, he was awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 for his substantial contributions to the world of Christian Fiction.
