By Debb Hackett @debb_hackett

We moved across an ocean during lockdown and are only now rolling up our sleeves and getting involved with life in our new area. When people ask what I do, I secretly brace myself for their reaction as I confess: I’m an aspiring Christian fiction author.

While living in the US, that statement was often met with curiosity. Here in England, it’s more confusion, because the only Christian author most here have heard of, is CS Lewis. And I often get sympathy. Because the person assumes anything I write will have virtually no market.

There are days (especially after any rejection) when I wonder… ‘What am I doing, Lord?’ Or ‘Why me, Lord?’ as if a call to write is an exquisite punishment. But then there are those moments of complete clarity of purpose that get me glued back to my desk, BICHOK (butt in chair, hands on keyboard). And I’d like to share one that I found in the Bible today. 

After a long silence (even longer than the waiting to hear back on a proposal) God put his plan for redemption into top gear. Elizabeth fell pregnant and her husband Zechariah fell silent. The story can be found in Luke 1. We reach the salient moment in verse 63:

⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 

Do you see it? From the time Moses grabbed a chisel and etched the Ten Commandments, God has used writers to bring His truth, His light, and His message to the world. Here, as Zechariah and Elizabeth’s family struggled to understand why they’d call their baby John, a name with no connection to the family at all, Zechariah motioned to be given writing tools. At this point, the Lord could have miraculously restored Zechariah’s ability to speak, but no. Some words need to be written down. 

Once Zechariah had written the name he’d been instructed to use, his tongue was released and what did he do? He began praising God. At this point I want to give Zechariah a high five, slap him on the back and yell ‘atta boy.’ Our new father here has given us a model. What if we shut up, wrote what we were told to write, then got up and praised God?  Perhaps you already do, in which case read my response to Zechariah. You are awesome. But maybe, some days, most days, or all the days, you struggle with any one or more of those elements. Let me challenge you to try this for a week – be quiet before the Lord, write what He has given you to write, then praise Him when you’re done – and see what God does with your words or your heart, or both.

Writer, broadcaster and speaker Debb Hackett has been a radio journalist for more than twenty years. Married to a Royal Air Force test pilot, Debb has written a Bible study for military wives.

A regular contributor to the Advanced Writers and Speakers Devotional Arise Daily, she’s also been privileged to writer chapters for Write Well Sell Well. For now, based near London, England she’s having lots of fun working on a contemporary romance series and was an ACFW Genesis award semi-finalist in 2020.

When she’s not writing, Debb can be found leading worship, playing bass or skiing. If you can swing by her house while she’s making scones, that would also be a win.