The Real ID for Us as Writers

by Martin Wiles @LinesFromGod

Getting the real ID proved difficult. 

My wife and I decided to get our CWP (Concealed Weapons Permit) for peace of mind. After completing the class, we had to send our fingerprints and other documents to SLED to receive our permit. The only trouble was, my wife and I had moved several months before and needed to change our address with the Department of Motor Vehicles. 

Down to the DMV, we went. But first, we had to make an appointment (courtesy of COVID). So, we checked their website to see what documents we needed. Since the government would require everyone to have a real ID by a particular month and year, we decided to get ours while there. 

We thought we had everything in order. But two trips later, we discovered we didn’t. The documents we brought, they wouldn’t take. After much aggravation, we decided to put off the real ID and update our address in the state’s system. We merely wanted our CWP to come to the correct address. Although the DMV employee took my word that I lived at a particular address, my word wasn’t sufficient for the real ID. 

Knowing our identity is one of the early crises we must work through. I watch around one hundred middle schoolers try to determine theirs each year. Not working this out early in life can lead us to wander in various directions while never being satisfied with anything we do or have. We change jobs, careers, spouses, cars, houses, or play toys.

We writers can face the same dilemma. At one of the first writer’s conferences I attended, the organizer made us all say, “I am a writer.” Sure, we were other things too—teachers, editors, retirees, wanderers, engineers—but we were writers at the core of our beings. 

Some wrote part-time while others made a full-time career from it, but we all wrote the genre God had called us to write. When we don’t write, the words burn in our souls as a fire in our bones. We must let them out. It’s what we do; it’s who we are. 

Our publication credits shouldn’t matter. That varied, too. Some had a long list of accomplishments, while others had none. Some were far along in the journey, while others had just begun. The variations didn’t matter. We were . . . are writers. 

But we have an identity that far surpasses the writer one: “For God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20 NLT).

At the core of our being, we belong to God. He created us and wants us to enter a relationship with Him so that we become His child personally, not just by default through creation. He bought us with a price: the blood of His Son. 

Once we enter this relationship, everything else makes sense and falls into place. We find peace in what we do, our relationships, and what we possess. Everything beyond the relationship serves as an extra to bring added happiness. 

We will live at peace—with ourselves and others. The need to compete, get ahead, and do whatever it takes to be number one falls by the wayside. Instead, we do our best at whatever God gives us to do. We have unearthed our real ID. And we don’t need a document in our wallet to remind us.

If you haven’t discovered your real ID, let God show you whom he created you to be. 

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The Real ID for Us as Writers, insight from author Martin Wiles, @LinesFromGod on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Martin Wiles is the founder of Love Lines from God (www.lovelinesfromgod.com) and serves as Managing Editor for Christian Devotions, Senior Editor for Inspire a Fire, and Proof Editor for Courier Publishing. He has authored six books and has been published in numerous publications. His most recent book, DON'T JUST LIVE...REALLY LIVE, debuted in October of 2021. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, author, and pastor.