Spiritual Practices for Writers: The Practice of Planning

by Audrey Frank @AudreyCFrank

Join me on the first Sunday of each month this year as we examine twelve spiritual practices for writers.

A person plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

If practice truly makes perfect, I should be a perfect planner by now. But after a lifetime of making careful plans, executing them perfectly escapes me.

I planned to have children in year five of marriage, but Child One did not come until year seven. I planned to do all things well so all would go well in my career and family, and many things have not gone so well. I planned an extensive book tour the first year I published and was sidelined by a family tragedy. I planned to submit a two-book series by last May, and I am still writing Book One. 

And then there’s exercise.

I digress.

How good it is for writers to know that we can plan our course, but there is One wiser who directs it all! This should be very good news as we ogle a brand new year of possibilities. What plans are in your heart, dear writer? Plan away! Have a planning party, invite all your writer friends, and hand out crisp new agendas with well-inked pens (fine point, black, please.) Raise your glasses in a toast to permission to plan and have at it. Then take a selah and gather those agendas, make an Ebenezer pile, and surrender them to the One who directs our steps.

Throughout the Psalms, selah appears as a sacred pause. Ebenezer references the Hebrew word meaning “stone of help.” The word appears first in 1 Samuel 7:12 after the Lord dramatically delivered the Israelites from the Philistines. Samuel set up a stone and named it Ebenezer, declaring, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

When we pause and remember who our Helper is, the new year becomes a journey signposted with peace and joy. Plans planned well include surrender to His sure direction.

The practice of planning is most joyful when we practice surrender.

Lord, I plan my writing course and trust You to direct my steps this year. Amen.

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Spiritual Practices for Writers: The Practice of Planning from @AudreyCFrank on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Audrey Frank is an author, speaker, and storyteller. The stories she shares are brave and true. They give voice to those whose words are silenced by shame, the hard things in life that don’t make sense, and the losses that leave us wondering if we will survive. Audrey and her family have spent over twenty years living and working among different cultures and world views, and she has found that God’s story of redemption spans every geography and culture. He is the God of Instead, giving honor instead of shame, gladness instead of mourning, hope instead of despair. Although she has three different degrees in communication and intercultural studies, Audrey’s greatest credential is that she is known and loved by the One who made her.

Audrey is the author of Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World (Harvest House Publishers), an outpouring of Audrey’s heart to introduce others to the God of Instead. Shame is not unique to the developing world, the plight of the women behind veils, young girls trafficked across borders; shame is lurking in hearts everywhere. Through powerful stories from women around the world, Covered Glory illuminates the power of the Gospel to remove shame, giving honor instead. Available at favorite booksellers: BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS A MILLION, AMAZON.