My one year anniversary of working on staff at my church is coming up in a couple weeks. As an adult ministry associate, for the most part I have thoroughly explored some pretty solid research in discipleship. Mostly, we have discussed the stages of faith that a disciple walks through to grow in their faith, in their community, and intimately with God. While I won't go into detail all this involves, something has resonated with me during our exploration of the stages--THE WALL.
When a person begins to look into God and faith, they step on the discipleship path that will lead to belief and learning and centering on God. But we all know there are moments in life that we don't feel like we are going forward, that we actually feel stuck in old patterns that have stopped working for us. This is a WALL. It stops us from growing out of one stage to grow into the next.
Perhaps someone has walked along and gone through the motions of a good believer, they've gathered the knowledge from Bible study and wise teachers...they've felt God's Spirit and set a quiet time..and raised their family in the church...and ...and...
They are up against a wall and hope is nowhere to be found.
Ever been there?
I have. I have been up against such a monstrous wall before that I couldn't see past the brick at my nose. All seemed lost, and all I could do was depend on others to start knocking the wall down for me.
You may think that those of little faith hit those walls...but I would like to suggest that those who God is calling to go deeper with Him might just find a wall coming up soon.
I would say, the wall, while it is painful and dark, might just be the greatest blessing. In my brokenness and humility, I did two things at that wall that saved me--
I got rid of my pretenses and depended on others--a lot.
I evaluated my perspective of God, and doubted...and found that I had been stopped for good reason.
The wall was my protection to not go so far into a false idea about who God was that I would be trapped by a cultural version of Him.
COMMUNITY and PERSPECTIVE.
That's what I got from hitting the wall.
I am sure you may have guessed how this relates to writing. Ever hit a wall there? Maybe in that story that you just can't move forward with, maybe in that next step toward publication?
If you are on this writing journey out of calling, then may I suggest that you have something wonderful ahead. That the wall might be your chance to re-evaluate, depend on community, and come at your writing with a new perspective--one that might only be prayerfully discovered?
The wall, in faith and in writing, is a place where the old way isn't working and a new way is on the other side. There is work involved in climbing up and over that wall. Or just knocking it down. Two things I know for sure, we aren't meant to do it alone--lean into the writing community, and God is much too big to only fit in our present perspective--let Him work alongside you as you write...and maybe, your stories will be a place where bricks might just come tumbling down.
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Angie Dicken is a mom of four children and lives in the Midwest with her Texas Aggie sweetheart. An ACFW member since 2010, she writes historical, historical romance, and dabbles in contemporary romance. Her debut, The Outlaw's Second Chance from Harlequin Love Inspired Historical releases in September of 2017, and her novel, My Heart Belongs in Castle Gate, Utah from Barbour, releases in November 2017. Angie is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency.
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Angie, this is deep and so true. The ONLY way to get through The Wall is with Jesus and His people. This applies to both writing and the faith journey in general. We will never understand everything, at least on this earth.
ReplyDeleteThank you for a great post.
Kathy Bailey