On Journals and Donkeys

There has been a stirring within me for a long time to write. My husband, Dr. Ron Horner, has encouraged me for years to put down on paper the thoughts that come to me, the encouraging words I have given, and the truths I have learned. I recently preached a message about that very subject titled “Lessons Learned Along the Way,” which we will save for a future blog. This post is about the struggle to write.

How do I begin? What should I write? What topics will engage readers? Why would anyone want to read something I write? Will anyone bother to take the time? These questions and more have crowded out the Voice inside that whispers, “write.” They have squashed the desire and replaced the unction with meaningless things: time-wasters (we all have that struggle) that have kept me away from the important, eternal things, and entertained me with temporal, earthly things. Is it a wonder why I keep buying journal books? I absolutely love journals! I have a collection of them…mostly empty ones. Why? I keep intending to write, but never seem to actually do it. Perhaps I let my own insecurities convince me that it would be a waste of time, that there is nothing I can say that anyone would want to hear.

But that isn’t the truth, is it? Why? I’m glad you asked. Because if God can use a donkey to speak His words (see Numbers 22), then He can certainly speak through me. Can’t He? Of course He can. And He has. I am sure He has spoken through you as well. We are His children, His instruments, His Voice on the earth. He speaks to us in many ways. He is always teaching us. That is what fathers do—teach their children how to live. As He is teaching us, He is speaking through us, especially if we submit to Him.

So that’s the bottom line, isn’t it? Submission to Him. And this post is the result of Adina Horner submitting to her Heavenly Father.