by Ane Mulligan  @AneMulligan

In preparation for Christmas, I’ve been reading Luke. Have y’all noticed the Lord invited Mary on a Kingdom Adventure for God?

Kingdom Adventures find us

When the Lord invites His children to take a Kingdom adventure, and He invites all of us, some invitations are whispered softly. You hear a need and you heart quivers. “That’s me!” Other invitations are loud accompanied by the blare of a horn. “Wow. Me?”

Mary’s invitation was delivered by the angel Gabriel. That’s pretty loud. God met her, a poor young girl, right where she was, in a nondescript small village. And her response is interesting. It wasn’t “No way!” but “How can this be?”

Mary didn’t question God’s call, she only asked how.

Kingdom Adventures Require a Response

When God called you to write for Him, what was your response? For me, it was such a surprise. I hadn’t thought about writing novels. I’d been writing scripts for use in the church to illustrate pastors’ sermons and pageants. But when He called, I said, “Yes!” I didn’t know what it would entail, but I said yes to the right now.

I hadn’t realized it at the time, but my answer was similar to Mary’s. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be according to your word.”  or in other words, she said yes to the right now. Two Thousand years ago, Mary’s world was vastly different to ours. She lived in a honor/shame culture. Shame could be a death sentence. Because it was also a communal culture, shame to Mary brought shame to Joseph, shame to her family, and shame to her community—her village and all who lived there. Nobody would believe her. But Mary didn’t look down that road. I’m sure she was scared, but she believed God.

So should you, dear writer. When God calls you to write for Him, He’s inviting you to partake in a Kingdom Adventure for Him. Your adventure is that of a literary missionary.

Embrace it! I didn’t know much about writing. After all, as a playwright, I only knew how to write realistic dialogue. I didn’t even know—or if I ever did, I didn’t remember—what POV stood for. But I didn’t look down that road of How Long Will It Take? I said YES!

The Kingdom Adventure you’ve been invited on—writing for God—doesn’t necessarily mean publication. Or it may take 12 years to get published, like it did me. It may not include awards or best-sellers.

Your Kingdome Adventure writing might not receive worldly acclimation. It might be a small, soft whisper to someone who will embrace your words and believe. And that, my friend, is the best award of all for it has eternal value. Like Mary’s kingdom adventure changed the world, so can yours. All you have to do is say, “Yes!” to God.

Ane Mulligan lives life from a director’s chair, both in theatre and at her desk, creating novels. Entranced with story by age three, at five, she saw PETER PAN onstage and was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. One day, her passions collided, and an award-winning, bestselling novelist emerged. She believes chocolate and coffee are two of the four major food groups and lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.