The Heart Behind the Pen: Finding Your Creative Voice

 “When I am with Him there, nothing frightens me. But the slightest diversion away from Him is painful to me. Spending time in God’s presence doesn't weaken the body. Leaving the seemingly innocent and permissible pleasure of the world for a time will, on the contrary, give us comfort. The only requirement is that we place our confidence entirely in God. Abandon any other concerns, including any special devotions you’ve undertaken simply as a means to an end.”

~ 3rd Letter, The Practice of the Presence of God (Whitaker House, 1982)

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Discovering Faith-Driven Purpose Through Brother Lawrence 

If I could use the entire letter here, I probably would. The third letter in my copy of this timely little book is just that meaningful to me. Never in my life have words been so plainly stated that I dropped everything to digest them.

When I read this the first time, I wasn’t trying to build a lifelong career out of being a faith-based author or Christian storyteller. My focus wasn’t on creating stories that could possibly stand the test of time; I was trying to figure out who I really was as a person.

The Heart Behind the Pen: Finding God in the Distraction

 “Encourage him to put all his confidence in God, Who is always with him. He should communicate with God at all times, especially in the greatest dangers. Lifting our hearts up to God is sufficient. Remembering Him briefly or praising Him even in the midst of battle is very pleasing to God.”

~ 7th Letter, The Practice of the Presence of God (Whitaker House, 1982)

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Navigating the Battle of ADHD and Writing Distractions

On many occasions, as I write I find myself battling my ADHD on all sides. I get distracted very easily and my mind tends to pick up details that won’t ever matter to the story I am writing.

When I know something needs to be written and a deadline is swiftly coming upon me, the pressure almost always pulls me away from the story and into something else.

As I began to understand this more in my life, I thought back to the quote for today from the 7th Letter in The Practice of the Presence of God. It has never been something that just pops into my head either, although that does happen from time to time.

This time the quote stuck out to me on a recent read-through of this little book and I connected the dots as I pondered what to write this week.

The Heart Behind the Pen: The Silence of a Blank Page

Sometimes overcoming blank page syndrome when starting a story you feel called to write can be overwhelming. As a Christian fiction author, it was that way with A Broken Embrace, which is the novel I plan to release for the 2026 year. The idea of the man from Bethesda found its way into my imagination shortly before I published The Hope of Inheritance, my award-winning novel from 2025.

The Heart Behind the Pen: Transforming Your Writing Process into an Act of Worship

There is a practice that every author comes into when their stories find their way through the dark and scary spaces of writing a first draft.  It is a distinct kind of silence that exists between the desire to write something meaningful and the calling to write something purposeful. The faith-based creative process becomes the calling.

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Embracing the Unseen Space from the beginning

The ideas come to us still in the infancy phase of their existence and even the thought of outlining something seems providential. It sparks something genuine and encouraging to our very essence, the idea… I could really be seen through this.

But then, reality sets in and you’re overwhelmed with everything all at once. How am I ever going to get this done? Why should I even be doing this? Who am I that I could even fathom writing something that others may, or may never, pay attention to. 

It’s just you, a blank page, and the quiet weight of what you feel you were always meant to share.