From Edie: Kennita Williams reminds us that when God calls you beyond your writing comfort zone, we must learn how to move past fear and insecurity, trust His purpose, and write with faithful obedience.
When God Stretches Your Pen: Trusting His Call Beyond Your Writing Comfort Zone
by Kennita (Kay) Williams
“Enlarge the place of your tent… do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” — Isaiah 54:2 (NIV)
Stretching is not comfortable.
If we are honest, most of us spend our lives trying to avoid it.
We like routines that feel familiar. We enjoy assignments we know we can accomplish. We gravitate toward the places where we feel competent and confident. But God has a way of interrupting our comfort with one simple invitation:
Stretch.
As writers, stretching can feel especially vulnerable. It is one thing to write words that stay tucked away in a journal. It is another to submit an article, pitch a book proposal, or tell the story you have spent years trying to hide.
I know that feeling well.
For years, I never considered myself a writer. I was comfortable speaking. I loved encouraging people face-to-face. Give me a stage, a workshop, or a room full of leaders, and I felt alive.
But writing?
Writing felt exposed.
Every sentence felt like someone was peeking into places I was not sure I wanted them to see.
Then God began asking me to write.
Not because I felt qualified.
Not because I had confidence.
Simply because He had an assignment.
At first, I resisted.
I kept thinking someone else could do it better. Surely there were writers who knew grammar better than I did. Writers with bigger platforms. Writers with more eloquent words.
I assumed God had the wrong person.
But I have discovered something about God.
He rarely calls us where we are already comfortable.
He calls us where we will have to depend on Him.
The stretch was not really about writing.
The stretch was about trust.
Would I trust His voice more than my insecurity?
Would I believe His calling more than my own criticism?
Would I allow Him to expand me beyond the limits I had placed on myself?
Isaiah 54 paints a beautiful picture of expansion. God tells His people to enlarge the tent before they see the increase. Lengthen the cords before the blessing arrives. Strengthen the stakes before the growth comes.
In other words…
Prepare for what you cannot yet see.
Isn’t that what writing often feels like?
You spend hours pouring your heart onto a page with no guarantee anyone will read it. You submit articles that may be rejected. You write books before you know if they will ever be published.
It is a stretch.
Yet every act of obedience strengthens something inside you.
I have noticed something fascinating about stretching physically. Whether you are exercising or simply reaching for something on a high shelf, stretching increases your range of motion. It allows you to reach places you could not reach before.
I believe spiritual stretching does the same thing.
Every time we say yes to God even when we are afraid our capacity grows.
We become a little braver.
A little stronger.
A little more available for His purposes.
Looking back, I am grateful God did not leave me where I was comfortable.
If He had, I would have missed the joy of seeing readers encouraged by something I almost never wrote.
I would have missed conversations that began because of an article.
I would have missed opportunities to minister through words instead of microphones.
Most of all, I would have missed discovering that God could do far more with my obedience than I could ever do with my ability.
Perhaps God is stretching you today.
Maybe He is asking you to write about something deeply personal.
Maybe He is nudging you to submit your work instead of letting it collect dust on your computer.
Maybe He is calling you to begin the book you have been postponing for years.
Or maybe the stretch has nothing to do with writing itself and everything to do with trusting Him.
Whatever your stretch looks like, remember this:
God never stretches us to embarrass us.
He stretches us to enlarge our capacity for what He is preparing us to carry.
Do not mistake discomfort for disqualification.
Sometimes discomfort is simply evidence that you are growing.
So say yes.
Write the article.
Submit the proposal.
Tell the story.
Share the testimony.
Stretch your pen.
Because on the other side of your obedience may be the very reader who has been praying for the words God has entrusted to you.
Prayer
Father, thank You for loving me enough not to leave me where I am comfortable. Give me the courage to embrace the stretches You place before me. Help me trust Your calling more than my fears and Your purpose more than my insecurities. As I write, remind me that You are expanding my capacity to serve You and others. May every word I write bring glory to You. Amen.
Sometimes God does not stretch your circumstances first He stretches your faith. And often, the pen becomes the place where both begin to grow.
TWEETABLE
Dr. Kennita “Dr. Kay” Williams is a leadership coach, speaker, and author who teaches leaders and communicators the power of pausing before proceeding. Through her Clear Vision framework, she helps others see well, be well, and lead well with clarity and faith. She is the author of 30 Days to Clear Vision and founder of Clear Vision Consulting®.
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