While waiting at the dermatologist’s office yesterday, I was reading my “waiting” book – Madeleine l’Engle’s Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. It’s a book that I bought for an undergraduate Creative Writing course several years ago and promptly set aside with all of my other writing-related books. So nice to look at on a shelf, but not usually of much use.

A couple of months ago, I pulled it out to see if I could find something to use for a devotional at the beginning of a Nashville ACFW meeting. Once I began reading it, I couldn’t put it down, even though I started in the middle of a chapter. After that month’s meeting, I never got around to taking the book out of the car. So the last few times I’ve had an appointment where I knew I’d have to wait for a while, I took the book in with me to have something to read. Each time, whatever I’ve read has spoken to me on a deep intellectual and spiritual level.

In my reading yesterday, l’Engle wrote about how the people God uses in mighty ways are those who aren’t necessarily “qualified” to do the work: Moses (middle aged murderer who stuttered), Jacob (liar and cheat), Paul (persecutor of Christians), and more. This wasn’t news to me. I have the head knowledge that God calls people to overcome their weaknesses to do great things for Him. But she went on to explain why God does this.

When we are “qualified” to do something, that means we can do it with no outside help. When we complete a task, we feel we have done it under our own power and are proud of the accomplishment. But it doesn’t push us beyond our boundaries, to move outside of our comfort zones, to grow. God calls us to do works we aren’t naturally equipped to do, not to see us fail, but so that we will turn to Him in faith, asking Him to help us with the task.

This is true when it comes to writing, whether you’re a person of faith or not. A writer doesn’t sit down with pen and paper or at the computer and immediately, on the first try, write a perfect, publication ready manuscript – not even the best story-tellers in the world. Even those renown authors like Tom Clancy and John Grisham who sold their “first” manuscripts had to struggle to sell them and then had to go through major editing processes to get the novels ready for others to read. (And I would imagine they rewrote those “first” manuscripts several times before submitting them in the first place.) They needed the help of professionals to make them the best selling authors they are today. Alone, they weren’t “qualified.”

Writing is an ongoing learning process. No one comes to writing “pre-qualified” to do it. Sure, we can always write for our own edification and the amusement of family and friends. But even if writers have no desire to be published, they will find themselves continually practicing the skill of writing and seeking out knowledge from others on the craft of writing.

As a child, I was so far from feeling qualified to write, I tried to hide the fact I did it from everyone. In my first creative writing class my senior year of high school, I received encouragement from my teacher such that I thought it might be something I could parlay into a career – if I learned enough about it. So I majored in creative writing in college. Because I didn’t go in understanding that most college creative writing programs expect Literary-style writing, I dropped out of college after three years, writing prolifically (for my own mental health) but feeling even less qualified to do it.

It wasn’t until 2001 when I attended my first Christian writing conference (Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers’ Conference) when I realized I didn’t have to be qualified, I just had to be obedient to the calling God had put upon my life to be a writer, then seek out the training I needed to do become more proficient.

Now, one semester away from receiving my Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction, do I feel like I am “qualified” to call myself an author? I have a certain skill-set that makes me a good amateur author. But if I rest on those laurels, all I will ever be qualified to call myself is an “amateur.” If I never stretch myself and reach beyond my writing comfort zone, I will never learn how to make myself a better writer. So, I will continually seek God’s guidance and mentoring from other “more qualified” authors.