The Artisan Soul

Have you read a book lately that really spoke to your heart? I have to say that The Artisan Soul by Erwin Raphael McManus is one of those books for me. From the very first chapter, the words I read made my soul burn with yearning, agreement, and connection. I've highlighted most of the book so far, wanting the words to be imprinted on my heart, for they encourage and motivate me to be creative, to be brave, to risk, and to truly be an artist.

McManus is not just an artist. He is a creative who uses his gifts to further the work of God. He started a church in LA, CA called Mosaic where the people of his congregation use their creative talents for the Kingdom. And what he calls us to in The Artisan Soul is a life of creativity...every day...no matter the medium or vehicle through which we create. What he teaches is that every soul is a creative soul, whether they think so or not.

"...the great divide is not between those who are artists and those who are not, but between those who understand that they are creative and those who have become convinced that they are not."

We are all creative. We are created by a creative God who made us into His image.

"Yet what humanity needs most is for us  to set creativity free from this singular category of the extraordinary and release it into the hands of the ordinary. Creativity should be an everyday experience. Creativity should be as common as breathing. We breathe, therefore we create."

A person might say that not all people are creative and that saying everyone is just sets a person up for failure. But as people who have the Spirit of God living within them, we are creative beings. We want to create whether it is through decorating a room, cooking a fabulous dish, writing a short story, blogging, painting, making a yard look good, or crocheting a blanket.

Being creative doesn't mean there won't be failures. There will be.

"...we live in the fear that if we aspire to be more we will discover ourselves to be less. We live in fear of failure, convinced that failure will prove us to be frauds. We have bought into the lie that creative people never fail and hence failure is proof that we are not creative."

"Fear is the shadow of creativity....The creative act is inherently an act of courage....To make our lives a creative act is to marry ourselves to risk and failure...creativity is born of risk and refined from failure. If we are at the core both spiritual beings and creative beings, then the artisan soul is where we live when we have the courage to be our truest selves."

It's so hard to step out and risk it all to share our creative selves. When we hit send on the manuscript we have written, we feel we are sending a part of very essence out for the world to judge. We fear we will be judged as inferior, which reflects on who we are at our core. But those rejections are the building stones of creativity. They are what grounds us and molds us. We are indeed "refined by failure".

This book is one that should grace every artist's bookshelf.

Do you consider yourself creative? Do you embrace your artistic soul? Or is it hard for you to say you are an artistic person...whether it is with words, paint, landscape, or food, etc? 

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Sherrinda Ketchersid is a born and bred Texan, preacher’s wife, mother of 4 children, and works part-time as a bookseller at Amazon. With the children grown and out of the house, she weaves tales of fierce knights and their ladies in a time where men were warriors and women had to be strong enough to keep them in check.

After taking time off from writing, she has returned with a new motto in place to spur her on. “Writers write. Everyone else makes excuses.” ~Jack Bickham.  No excuses this time. She is weaving her love of romance with history to bring joy and the hope of love to those who may one day read her stories. Her first book, Lord of Her Heart, released in May 2019.

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What If We Try And Fail?

Photo by Stuart Miles
freedigitalphotos.net

Have you ever not tried something just because you were afraid you might fail? Been there, done that, right? It's normal to fear failure and I can safely say that everyone of you have had that fear.

At church Sunday, the preacher spoke about the parable of the talents from Luke 19. You know the one where the king leaves three of his servants money while he goes away. When the king comes back, two of the servants had used their money to make more money for the king. The third servant was afraid to even invest his money to earn the king interest and buried his money to keep it safe.

Here's the thing...the king didn't want his money back. He wanted productivity. He doesn't want us to keep to ourselves what He has given. He wants us to be bold and brave.

But sometimes being brave is hard. What if we try and fail?

The question of failing shows our misunderstanding. Failure is not really failure. The end result may not look like what we expected, but it is in the trying...the journey...where our success lies. It is what we learn on the journey. It is the truths we uncover in the process.

To play it safe is not safe. It is when we open up completely, giving all of ourselves and pursuing the purpose laid out for us that we find the blessing.

And remember, when we are giving of ourselves and blessing others, we make God smile.

So if you are thinking about beginning a writing career, or if you have been on the writing journey for quite some time, don't be afraid. Just write. Just pour the story of your heart onto the page, knowing that the process is a blessing. A blessing for you and a success to God.

What are you afraid of? What is it that you really fear?

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This post is brought to you by

 Sherrinda Ketchersid

Sherrinda is a minister's wife and mother to three giant sons and one gorgeous daughter. A born and bred Texan, she writes historical romance filled with fun, faith, and forever love.

The View from the Sky-- Learning How to Wait Expectantly

This year, my ACFW conference experience did not go as expected.

You may have seen me like this:




Or with my handy crutch:





I actually don't have any pictures of my black boot because my friends knew better than to take any full-length shots! But you can use your own imagination. We're talking shin-length, black padding, lots of velcro. Much better than a cast. Much more disappointing than regular shoes.

I tried to make the best of my broken foot. Really, I did. I hobbled around to workshops and appointments, and my sweet Alley Cat friends got me ice and pushed me around in that wheelchair any time we went outside the hotel. I smiled a lot and tried to pretend everything was normal.

But let's face it. You can only ignore a broken bone--any kind of brokenness, really--for so long.

After a day or two, the fatigue began to catch up with me. I felt tired, worn-down, and weary. I just wanted the whole typical conference experience. I wanted to walk up to my editor appointments like a normal person, and to sashay down to Starbucks afterwards with a spring in my step. Not an ill-balanced hobble.

This general fatigue began to affect my usual fighting attitude. I generally take challenges head-on. But brokenness began to get the best of me, and doubts crept in. Did I pitch my novel with enough clarity? Did I inspire enough enthusiasm? Did I leave an impression with those I came into contact with, aside from being known as the broken-foot girl?

The problem with all these questions is they're I-centered.

Have you ever noticed that brokenness has a way of zapping our strength? That it blatantly attacks the promises of God in our lives? It tells us if we keep reaching toward our dreams, we may end up even more broken. Before long, we start considering whether we've really got what it takes to get all the way to our dreams. But the thing is, we don't have it in us.

We can not accomplish the will of God in our lives, the dreams He has given us, on our own accord. They're too big. Too full of beauty. That's the whole point. So it's no wonder we get tired trying.

What if the point of this whole writing gig isn't doing it well enough, but being the person God desires us to become? What if He isn't asking for results, but for intimacy with us?

Now, flash forward a few days to my trip home. I had this brief moment in the airplane when I looked out the window, and felt a stab of panic about being stuck in the air. I'm not usually one to get super nervous on airplanes, but for some reason, the idea of being stuck inside of one made me so uneasy. I wanted out. I wanted to get where I was going.

Are you feeling panic about your writing, like you may be "stuck in the air," so to speak? Let me encourage you that just like airplane travel, you're not actually stuck at all. Just because you're not "there" yet does not mean you're not making progress. Sometimes the landscape below is just difficult to discern. But God has your journey mapped out, and He knows where you're going next.

You are in transit. You may not be there yet, but you are on the way. You're a little closer now than you were yesterday. And that's something to get excited about.



Learn to enjoy where you are in this journey. When we recognize the beauty all around us--the beautiful heights of the sky we're flying through--we can look to the future with expectancy.

If we're always hanging our hearts on achievement, we will never feel satisfied. But if we allow hope to fill our expectations, we can enjoy each step of the journey as we recognize the beauty of our moments.

Though this conference experience was different for me, and though I came away with a foot that was still broken, I learned something very important, and that is this: God is comfortable with our brokenness. He really doesn't mind. See, He can work through it, even when we feel like we're at the end of our rope. So if you are feeling tired today, or your heart is weary, don't try to keep going on your own strength. Instead, give it to Him. Allow Him to take the responsibility of making His promises happen. You were never created to carry such a heavy burden yourself.

Have you ever found yourself weary or discouraged about your writing journey? How do you fin beauty in the journey and wait expectantly for the promises of God to come to pass?

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Ashley Clark writes romantic comedy with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

Keeping a sweet spirit from the sidelines

Some of you went to ACFW and had successful agent and editor appointments, requests for material, and positive feedback on your work.

Others of you attended, but felt that your meetings did not go well. Perhaps you bungled your pitch; maybe the agent wasn’t interested in what you had to offer, or the editor felt your genre was already over-represented at their house. Whatever the case, you came away deflated and feeling the sting of failure.

Still others weren’t able to attend at all. You watched from the sidelines as your friends went and returned, glowing with their successes and accomplishments. Your role has been a cheerleader, and although you’re glad to celebrate with your friends, a deep-down part of you wonders when it will be your turn.

freedigitalphotos.net, image by photostock

For those who fall into the last two categories, this post is for you. How do you keep a sweet spirit when it seems as if everyone is being promoted around you and you’ve been left far behind?

Here are some ideas.

1. Pray a blessing over those who are doing well.

Bless them? Aren’t they the last people in need of your prayers?! They’re already being blessed!

Perhaps, but this exercise has more to do with the state of your spirit than the state of the person you’re praying for.

Praying a blessing over someone else in their time of success is the best way to do spiritual warfare against jealousy. (click to tweet.) The enemy wants you to feel jealous; to compare yourself and feel like you come up short. When you turn this on its head and pray for God to heap blessing on the person you envy, Satan’s attack on your heart loses its power.

So pray, even if – especially if – you don’t feel like it. Pray for those God has blessed, for even more abundance, for favour, for new and better opportunities, for success overflowing.

The more you exercise this sort of spiritual warfare against resistance, the more God will transform your heart, bringing it into line with the words you’re praying, until you forget about yourself and genuinely desire the success of others.

2. Focus on the kingdom picture, not the glory of self.

We say our motivation in writing is to bring glory to God, but nothing tests this assertion like moments when there is no glory for self to be found. (click to tweet.)

Is your heart for God’s kingdom to grow? Meditate on this. Spend time in the word, reminding yourself daily of the bigger picture at stake. All our accomplishments will one day pass away, but God’s kingdom will last forever.

When our heart is in tune with God’s heart, our focus naturally shifts away from ourselves and toward kingdom values. Competition is replaced with teamwork. We’re all working for a common goal, so the success of another is your success, too.

Praise God for any way in which his word goes forth, whether it’s carried by you or someone else. The important thing is God glorified.

freedigitalphotos.net, image by Sura Nualpradid

3. Rest in God’s good plan for your life

Striving ties us up in knots and brings dissatisfaction.

It says, “I don’t trust God to work this out, so I must make it happen on my own.”

And when you can’t make it happen, or things don’t go the way you hoped, you feel depressed and lose your confidence.

Hebrews 10:35 says: “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!” (NLT)

This type of confidence doesn’t depend on attending a writer’s conference or having agents and editors request your work.

It’s a confidence rooted in your deep soul-knowledge that God loves you, that he wants his best for you, that he has ordered your steps from before you were born and is daily working out his purposes in your life.

Don’t throw that away to lean on your own striving.

Confident trust brings peace and rest and joy in the journey, no matter what the outward circumstances look like.

Be blessed, take heart and take joy! God has you in the palm of his hand.

 Did ACFW leave you elated or deflated? What is God speaking to you through this experience?

Tweetables:

How to keep a sweet spirit from the sidelines of the writing life: Click to Tweet

Celebrate the success of others without jealousy or comparison - here's how: Click to Tweet

Karen Schravemade lives in Australia. When she's not chasing after her three preschool-age kids, she spends her spare minutes daydreaming about the intricate lives of characters who don't actually exist. Find her on her website and Twitter.

A Leap of Faith

**Disclaimer** Blogger is having some technical difficulties formatting this post properly. Sorry for all the little quirks and snafus.

In order to counteract the wild cravings for carbs and cheese that I instilled with my pizza post I thought I'd broach a topic that couldn't be more unappetizing.

I'm thinking something extreme like, dare I say it . . . dirty diapers.

Okay, so now that we are all safely back on track with our New Year's resolutions let me explain why I have been thinking about diapers.

I have two little boys and we are currently on the very messy journey called potty training. Each morning when I am about to commence the rather undesirable ritual of the day's first diaper change my youngest son, Rafe, issues me a warning.

"Mommy," he says with a gleam of mischief in his cobalt blue eyes, points at fresh load he just emptied beneath his jammies. "Tinky, poo poo. Issa big one!"

**Sighs** Is there any other kind?

Though I can appreciate the heads up, it is obvious what my next step will be, and that it will be unquestionably unsavory. Sometimes we can anticipate exactly what’s ahead. Whether from previous experience, or from some general street smarts, the stepping stones are marked, expectations and consequences are clear.

 Though life can dish out its fair share of, um . . . poop, it's often the unknown that causes the most stink.

We've all heard the ago old adage "Look before you leap." Problem is, even when you look, sometimes you can't see anything. The next step might very well be firm and sturdy, but how can we know that? And without visual confirmation, how can we even be sure it's there? 

What if we misstep? What if we garner our courage, crest the edge of comfort, and fall?  So much in life is uncertain. Our dreams, our future, our calling. Though the Bible gives a great blueprint to build a life, we simply cannot know what plans He has drafted.

For me, writing was one of those unexpected additions to the building plan. I'd never taken a creative writing class. In fact, I'm fairly certain I hadn't even read a book cover to cover until college. I didn't grow up with fanciful visions of holding my own story in my hands--didn't know I had one to tell.

And when that light flicked on and exposed the frame work for a new addition--a new dream God was practically etching on my heart so I couldn't resist--I was scared. What if I step out, take a run at this thing and land flat on my keester? What if my heart gets wrapped up in the hopes and dreams that the next step could lead to, but I'm not good enough, my steps falter, my foot slips through and I fall headlong into disappointment and failure?

Sometimes God calls us to leap, trust, fling ourselves out into the dark scary void without knowledge of what's to come. 

For us writers, sometimes that means putting pen to paper, not knowing exactly where the story will go but forging ahead to form, shape, sculpt, dream what it could become.
 
Sometimes that means exposing the stories of your heart to criticism like contests or critiques. These are an 
unknown step, a shot in the dark--an opportunity to learn or even get the encouragement needed to boost you on toward your goal.


For me, that step is now called submission. Funny that it is called that. Appropriate, because with all the clamoring energy stripping your nerves bare, the weight of the unknown tossing your dreams on tumultuous doubts and what-ifs. I feel I am called to submit. Submit my fears, my hopes, the fragile thing that God is building within me. 
 

It may not be poured of impenetrable concrete or triple enforced with rebar. And your knees might wobble when you stand on the edge, but sometimes, God's not willing to give your dream wings until you prove you are brave enough to take that leap and risk the possibility of the fall before you can soar to new heights.

 

How do you know when you are ready to leap? What 
helps you step out into the unknown? And what things are holding you back?
 
Just remember, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see. 
Be strong and courageous. 
Don't let the enemy rob you of the beautiful hope of the 
unseen.