Seriously Write: Finding a Focus for the Journey

Monday, July 28, 2014

Finding a Focus for the Journey

by Mary Manners

"Be still and know that I am God."

Psalm 46:10

Whenever the smallest kernel of a story finds its way to my imagination, I begin the process of praying over the message I'd like to convey to readers. That is when Psalm 46:10 is my focus...I seek wisdom to begin that particular writing adventure along my journey. Every story that I have ever written is based on a Bible verse. The words act as a guide map for where I intend to go and what I intend to say. Do I always end up at the destination I envisioned? No. That's when I know for certain that God is having His way with the words. Learning to let go and let God is not always easy for this control freak, but I have found ways (teeth gritting) to step back and relinquish the reins.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." ~ Psalm 28:7

My song is a melody fashioned through words...through each story that flows forth from the fountain of prayer. Long ago, when I was barely double-digits in age, I stumbled upon Psalm 90:20, "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Immediately I began to ponder just what types of events, exactly, might lead a person to gain a heart of wisdom. Out of those many days and nights of questioning grew my very first book, Wisdom Tree.

So, as you write today remember to take time to pray and to listen for His gentle guidance. You never know what you might learn...where you might journey along the wonderful and amazing bends-in-the-road that will most certainly come your way.

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Mary Manners is an award-winning romance writer who lives in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee with her husband Tim and the cherished cats they've rescued from local animal shelters...Lucky and Gus.