"Writing In The Glory" by Jennifer A. Miskov: A New Blog Series. Becoming the Message - Part 1.1: Writing In the Anointing

"While many times we write a book with other people in mind, the deepest transformation usually happens in our own lives," -Writing In the Glory, page 14

A wonderful friend at my church recommended this book to me, called Writing In the Glory by Jennifer A. Miskov. 

Writing In the Glory:  Living from Your Heart to Release a Book that will Impact the World

This book is sprinkled with writing prompts and things to think and pray about, and then, in turn, write about.  So once a month, I will be picking these prompts and posting them on my blog. 

This week's is titled Writing In the Anointing, and the prompt was this: 

1. In my research on revival, I have noticed many times that when babies are dedicated to God, either before or after their birth, a special blessing rests upon them for the rest of their lives. Take a few minutes to surrender your book to the Lord.  I encourage you to consecrate and release it to the Lord as an offering even before it is fully birthed.  Write a few paragraphs reflecting on how this felt or what God spoke prophetically over your book as you did this. 

And like the fickle little butterfly that I am, I totally started writing about something else. However, I do want to take a moment and focus on what the prompt is, and set that in stone. 

Lord, I surrender this idea to you in it's entirety.  I commit the words that I write, the characters I create, and the situations that I set up to ultimately reflect You and the purpose You want to reveal to the readers of this book. I ask that You flow through me as I am writing, and help me not get discouraged and remember that this is all for You - that there's a reason for all of this. 

When the Diary of Anne Frank was first made into a play, it was happy and cheerful - full on Disney fluff. This was in the fifties when the wounds of World War II were still raw and festering, and their deaths were only implied.  However, it was revamped in the nineties, harder and more realistic, but still containing the heart of the Diary itself.

And now, besides Isis, the greatest tragedy and threat that plagues America today is shootings. Cruel, insane people getting their hands on weapons, and walking into a place and opening hellfire. And back in early 2014, a dark idea blossomed in my mind.  While books have been written about school shootings before, never have they been very popular, however, I have felt a story blossoming within me -  a black rose with thorns that strike cringes when I mention the idea.  So I shut it down.  Ignored the plot bunny for a while while I worked on finishing the first draft of 'A Cactus In the Valley'.

But still, every once in awhile, I would be drawn back.  The story would stick it's hands in past the monster that was my current story and demand to be told. And so, during worship this Sunday, this story was once again brought to the forefront of my mind - I had noticed that many times I had been inspired to write this story when spending time in the presence of God.  So I asked him, "should I write this story?" because at that time, I was working on planning out a trilogy (crazy, I know).   And all I got from Him was a resounding 'yes'.

But my mind protested:  "It's about a school shooting, for goodness sake!" "No one will ever read this, much less publish it!"  "I'm not skilled, qualified, or experienced enough to write about something as raw and as tough as this!"

And after days of reluctantly sticking to this story regardless, I was doing some outlining work when God told me this: "Don't worry or give up on publication of this novel - there's a reason I'm having you write it."

And that's good enough for me.

~The WordShaker