by Ane Mulligan  @AneMulligan

I blinked and read the sentence again. The basic gist was if I was walking with God, the words would flow seamlessly.

And once again, I doubted—my calling, my gift, my relationship with God. Because for me, the words don’t always flow seamlessly. Sometimes, it’s like removing cactus thorns, and those little boogers have tiny hooks on the end that snag your flesh when pulled out. I know. I sat in one once.

To be totally honest here, the same thing happens with prayer. But there I learned what works for me is to pray immediately when a request is made. I don’t have to pray long or even beautifully. The Holy Spirit will “edit” my prayer, and Father knows the need already.

Somewhere in my childhood, something made studying a negative experience. I’ve tried unsuccessfully to discover what it was. I can read Scripture, let it speak to me, but studying it and breaking it down evades me. My mind zips off faster than a dog spying a squirrel.

To quote Ouiser Boudreaux in Steel Magnolias, “My faith ith fine. Ith my hair that needth the motht work.” My faith is strong. I have years of 20-20 hindsight, seeing where God has been I AM and carried me through some devastating events.

So WHY do I read these things and doubt?

Anyway, with my spirit so low I could sit on the curb and swing my legs, I went to Father. He gently reminded me that He created me. He knows every molecule within me. The ADD (the H part has finally slowed with age) with which I wrestle. And for me, words don’t always flow seamlessly. They stall, then jump, squirt, and stall again.

It’s something I have to realize. So, I’ll deal with it. Like Karen Ball says, “God whispers to my heart, and my heart whispers back in story.” I take that story idea and run with it.

Well … I don’t run. I skip. I walk. I sprint. I push those words out. Eventually, I’ve got something to edit. And that is where I add the “seamless.”

No matter how you write … whether a gullywusher of words or a slow stream or trickle, God is faithful to our writing call if we ask Him to write with us. That’s the bottom line.

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.