Is God Calling You to Write?

“You’re good with words. You should write a book.” Or a devotional. Or a Bible study. Or a blog.

Has someone said that to you? 

It’s one thing for your mother to think you should write, or your best friend, or your pastor. What about God? Is He calling you to write? 

I’m confident God has called me to write. Early on, I had my doubts. I wasn’t sure I had the talent, time and worthy topics to maintain a writing ministry. And writing is a vague goal. If God’s calling me to write, I thought, what and to whom? 

You opted to read this blog post, so there’s a good chance you have the same doubts. I don’t have a perfect answer, but I’ll share some stepping stones that helped me walk into my calling.

• Do you feel God’s nudge to write? 

I kept a journal where I recorded notes from my Bible study and my prayers. Oftentimes the words came easily, thoughts flowing as fast as I could write. Might be only a sentence or two, but I couldn’t ignore the urge to get them on paper. 

I wanted to keep those insights between me and God. Sharing my words with others … frankly, it scared me. But thoughts from my journal made their way into my conversation. I would mention an idea to a friend or discuss an insight with my Bible study group. Clearly, those private thoughts weren’t for me alone. At least some of them were meant to be shared. Maybe, I thought, God was indeed calling me to write.

• Do others affirm the call?

You can ask people you trust, people who have a track record of godly wisdom. And God may send affirmation seemingly out of nowhere, from an unexpected source.

In my case, confirmation came both ways. My day job included meeting minutes and newsletters, and I got consistent compliments on my writing style. My pastor’s wife, a writer herself, encouraged me to use those skills in Christian ministry.

• Do it! Write.

If God’s calling you to write, the ideas will come. You’ll probably start small, because that’s the way God usually works. “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much” (Luke 16:10, ESV). Most of the time, we have to put in the hard work of preparation.

God’s call will come with a learning curve as you hone the craft of writing. COMPEL can help, offering options for training and connecting you with like-minded Christians. 

For me, it took more than a decade to find my niche. I had to learn the how-tos of writing and publishing. I narrowed down the message and defined the audience God had in mind for me. 

I’ve learned an important lesson about God’s plan: God doesn’t call us to succeed; He calls us to obey. Don’t use worldly success (such as followers, likes and shares) as the measure of your calling. Use obedience. 

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (1 Peter 4:10-11a, ESV).

Obey God. Be a good steward of your writing skills.

Bless your words; bless your calling!

Shirlee Abbott 

Is God calling you to write? What steps are you taking to obey His call?