by Alycia W. Morales     @AlyciaMorales

The first year I attended the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference was 2010. I’d been crying out to God asking what He wanted me to do, as I’d spent so much time serving my husband, our four children, and the church that I felt like I was losing myself and burying my talents. I wanted something that was personal between me and Father. When He responded, “Write for Me,” I sat at my computer and googled “Christian Writers.”

BRMCWC was the fourth item in the Google search. Curious, I clicked on it. When I saw that it was affordable and within driving distance, I immediately called and registered to attend. My life would never be the same.

But this isn’t about me. It’s about you too. It’s about our Father’s desire to change our world so that we can change the world around us. With the words He gives us to share with others. To encourage. Edify. Build one another up. To bring truth into a world full of untruth. Sometimes these words will be written. Other times, they’ll be spoken.

What we need to remember is to allow them to be His. Do our words line up with His Word? Do they promote a Christian world view, even if they are written for the secular market? Are our readers left with hope at the end of our novels? Are people changed when they read our nonfiction works? I’m not saying they can’t represent real life. The Bible is full of stories about the realities of life. But it always leaves us with a sense of hope. Love. Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy. And so much more. Ours should do the same.

How BRMCWC Changed My World

So, how did attending the conference change my world?

• I met my best friends. And my mentor.
• I fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains. They stole my heart. I found myself at home in Greenville, South Carolina, for the first time in years. It took the Lord four years to answer my prayer to move there, but He did in 2014.
• I discovered that all of my childhood/teenage dreams of writing were suddenly renewed.
• I sold my first article to Focus on the Family that year – a dream come true.
• God showed me that this is what He’d created me for. I had a greater purpose and a talent to go with it.
• I found a career I could do from home while raising my children. This was huge for me.

Do you know that God has a greater purpose for you? And that He has given you the talent to do whatever it is He has called you to do?

One Writer at a TIme

Several of our Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference attendees were happy to testify about how God changed them when they attended the conference. Let’s hear some of their stories:

• Karen Baloy learned that she is a Bible Study writer.
• Molly Jo Realy: I have a much better focus on how to get to where I want to go. I had to let go a few things, but the cleansing breath that came when I did, had me question why I held on so long.
• Josie Siler: BRMCWC helped me find my writer’s voice. Who knew it was the same little voice in my head that I talk to all day long. (Hey, I live alone, I’ve got to talk to somebody!) It may sound silly, but I have learned that if I write as if I’m talking to myself my voice comes out loud and clear on the page. It’s when I try to get all fancy or write like I think I’m supposed to write that things go downhill. I have learned to be confident in who God has made me to be and that’s the greatest gift of all!
• Ryan Huckaby: Tim Shoemaker taught me more than just writing. In his class on reaching boys I learned about myself and my relationship with my sons. I am grateful and blown away and fired up about reaching the next generation of men.
• Cherrilynn Bisbano: I’ve been praying for God’s direction, and he answered me at Blue Ridge.
• Melony Brown: BRMCWC reminds me of my calling. That calling is from God and His voice and belief in me must drown out all of Satan’s attempts at doubt, discouragement, and fear.
• Ginger Solomon Murphy: Fiction characters start their respective books believing some sort of lie. At times, real people have these same lies in their lives.
  I found one of mine (I don’t know how many more I have yet to uncover) thanks to Eva Marie Everson’s practicum. I’m 48 yrs old, and I have believed this lie since I was 14. Even now, after two days to “recover” I get teary-eyed at how God worked through that class to reveal Himself to me, either through Eva Marie or through my fellow classmates.
• Norma Poore: God showed me I was to write for an audience of One. He has called me to write for His glory, not my own. If no one reads my stories, that’s okay. I will continue to write for my Father.
• Deb Hackett: I’m massively encouraged after an agent listened to what I’ve written (I wasn’t pitching it) and then asked if I had an agent, gave me a card and began expanding the marketplace for it. I get teary thinking about that encounter.
• Jennifer Kopald: At this BRMCWC I found a family. I didn’t know a community like this existed until I stepped on the grounds. Hundreds of brothers and sisters in Christ with a like-minded pursuit of honoring God with the written word? What? Writing in isolation (not to be confused with solitude) makes us vulnerable to lies and distractions from the forces of evil. But writing as part of the BRMCWC18 family has me excited, inspired, encouraged, and motivated!
• Jean Holland: I bonded with women in a CC because we all felt safe enough to be vulnerable with each other. I love all y’all.

Changing the World

How do we use our words to change the world?

As Christians, we’re familiar with the truth that it’s the things God heals inside us that allow us to be vulnerable with and minister to others. We overcome by the power of the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimonies. In case you’re struggling with how you can possibly change the world through your words, I wrap up this post with the following questions:

• What is it that God has set you free from? That’s the true witness to His love that lies inside of you. That’s the one thing to focus on writing or speaking about.
• How can you minister to others who have been through or are going through that same thing? For example, should you write a memoir? Share in a small group or speak to a large audience? Would it be best to fictionalize that testimony?
• Who should you minister to? Pick one person you know who could benefit from your testimony and make them your audience. Yes, they’re only one person, but we all know that we are not the only ones going through something. This person will help you focus your delivery. And then the Lord will bring your words to the crowd that needs to hear them.

Sometimes changing the world starts with ministering to one person. Who gets healed. Who goes on to minister to another person. Who get healed. And the domino effect continues. Thus, changing the world. Let His love and truth prevail!

If you’d like to leave a comment, we’d love to know how God has changed you as a writer or how He’s used you to change the world around you. Remember, your world could be as small as your family or place of work – or as big as an arena full of people or the NY Times Best-sellers list. We’d love to hear your testimonies!

Alycia W. Morales is an award-winning freelance editor and author. Her clients have won the Selah Award, BRMCWC Director’s Choice Award, and many others. Her writing has been published in Thriving Family magazine, Splickety Love, and several compilation books. She is a member of ACFW, the president of Cross n’ Pens critique group, and a BRMCWC Conference Assistant.

Alycia blogs at The Write Editing and Life. Inspired.

When she isn’t busy writing, editing, and reading, Alycia enjoys spending time with her husband and four children taking hikes in Upstate SC and NC, creating various crafts, coloring in adult coloring books, and watching TV.