By Alycia Morales @AlyciaMorales

As we head into the spring season and the crocuses and daffodils shoot out of the ground and buds begin to blossom on flowering trees, I can’t help but think of Isaiah 43:18-19:

“Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert” (NKJV).

Have you ever faced a wintery season in your writing, where you find yourself unsure of what to write, whether or not you should be writing, or it’s as if the river of your creativity is frozen solid and you just can’t get the words to flow?

I think we’ve all faced this at one time or another along our writing journey.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself in order to seek out those answers:

Are you focusing too much on the former things and not focusing enough on the now things?

Sometimes we get stuck in our past, listening to voices that have been on repeat like a broken record from former times. We heed the doubts and the lies we’ve been told about ourselves, rather than heeding God’s call to a new belief in ourselves and the purpose He’s equipped us to fulfill. The fear that we’re not enough engulfs us, and we freeze, stuck in a moment of time.

Focus today on the truth that God has created you for such a time as this. He created you with purpose, on purpose. His word never comes back void, and He always finishes what He starts. Allow Him to lead and guide you today. And let His love thaw your frozen-in-fear creative flow.

Are you seeking the new thing God has for you?

Sometimes we think we know what we are called to write or, at least, desire to write. We have ideas floating around in our heads, waiting to see which one will pour out first. Or we try to force them onto the pages, and they wrestle against our urgency to just write something.

But do we ever stop to consider that maybe God wants to spring forth something new? Something fresh? Something perfect for this season?

Consider the season you’re currently in. What fresh thing is God doing? What revelation has He recently blessed you with? Maybe these are the things you need to be sharing with your readers.

Are you paying attention to God?

Shall you not know it? Sometimes we are blind to what is right in front of us. Sometimes we look into the refrigerator of life, and we can’t see the refreshment sitting right in front of our face, because we’re looking at the things behind it. We aren’t focused or paying close enough attention, and we miss it.

What is it God is calling you to focus on today? What will refresh you, your creativity, your writing?

Do you trust God?

God is able to do what He says He is going to do. The question becomes do we believe Him? Do we trust Him to do it? And are we patient enough to allow Him to do it in His timing?

God is able to create roads through the wilderness of our thoughts. He’s able to create streams in the dry places of our creativity.

Will we trust Him to do so? Or are we going to keep allowing the fear to freeze our flow? Are we going to continue to wrestle with the old while the new springs forth? Are we going to miss the spring because we keep looking at seasons past, assuring ourselves that the thing we need most rests there, rather than in the now?

Don’t miss out on what God has in store for you in this new season. Trust Him. Ask Him to bring you out of your past and into His present for you, your family, and your creative career. Allow Him to bring forth the new thing He has for you today.