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My husband read over another scene I’d written for my class. “Honey, if this was a book, I’d keep reading, it’s really good.”
I was excited about how supportive he was.
I’d graduated Bible College and promptly broke my foot a month after. With my foot up, not doing much, I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do. I felt His answer was to take writing classes.
It took me five months to walk again. But during those five months, in the midst of physical therapy and doctor appointments, I was taking classes online with the Christian Writers Guild, and continued long after I could walk again.
I worked my way through Writing Essentials, Apprentice and Journeyman Fiction. During Writing Essentials and Apprentice, I practiced my own writing in addition to the classes. At the end of Apprentice, the teacher told me what a great job I had done and how much she had seen my writing improve.
Enter the Journeyman course. I did all the coursework; wrote all the scenes. I learned how to put a novel together. But, instead of writing my own stories, I just did the assignments. Things were busy and the class load was heavy.
At the end of the course I knew I wasn’t ready to move to the next level. My teacher did not recommend me for the next course, putting in the comment, “Carolyn would do well to put the things she’s learned into practice.”
I knew what she said was true. To this day, I haven’t had the confidence to put together a long story, because even though I know the stuff, I haven’t put it into practice.
Isn’t it the same in our Christian walk? We can know the stuff, but do we put it into practice? Do we walk out what we’ve learned in our daily life, or do we just learn about it and go on our own way?
When we put into practice what God shows us through His word, we can make a bigger impact for His Kingdom in this world.
