I was challenged with a writing prompt on something I won. That prompt took me off guard and it took me about 24 hours to come up with something. I am not an athlete, my junior high volleyball career being undistinguished, and have never won a door prize. But in 3^rd grade my short story was picked as our class winner for a young author’s conference. My name is Robyn, and I wrote a story about how the first robin got its song. I loved making up little stories but had never really done anything with my love of stories other than my mom taking me to the library regularly. When I turned in my story to Mrs. Broglin, a very kind and comfortable woman, on that terrible yellowish wide-ruled paper on which nothing ever really erased, that we had to practice cursive on, she got really excited! She asked if I could add pictures, but I am even more terrible at art than I am at athletics. She couldn’t draw either, so she bought some beautiful bird stickers out of her teacher salary and used these to illustrate it. She added construction paper as a border to my writing pages and laminated it. She made sure the visiting author read it. I loved this experience, and was sad the next year when illustrations were required for this contest. I spent so much time stressing over my lack of drawing skills that I didn’t enjoy it or work much on my story. I shelved these experiences, assuming that I wasn’t an author since I couldn’t illustrate stories, and moved on. Fast-forwarding, I have loved my married life and being a stay-at-home mom, and before I turned around my girls were in middle school and I realized I actually had some pieces of free time. After dinner one night, my husband asked me what I wanted to do. I had not thought about what I wanted to do in over a decade. At the same time I was asked to help with our women’s newsletter at church. This helped me rediscover my joy of writing, and also gave me a way to process all of the adventures life had taken me on. It challenged me to look for God in my stories as well as in what I was currently learning. Writing has been my outlet, my ministry in being transparent with other women, and my way to stay sane, or at least sane-ish!

What is your outlet? How do you process and share your life with others?

1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that in in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”