I love being creative. I have written articles for a newspaper and magazines. I have created content for an online radio show and my own podcast, published books, put together video content for my church and small businesses, written poems, and blogged. Life as a creative is never dull.
Creativity is endless. It’s as vast as your imagination and beyond, if you are a Christian.
I think there is an element of mystery in creativity. What I mean is, it’s God’s territory. After all, He is the Creator of all things. That means creativity is sacred, holy, and divine.
When I write, I cannot explain how God forms the words through me; I just know He does. I can’t say that every time I’ve sat down to write I feel God’s presence, but I’ve had some beautiful times with the Lord over the years, when His presence has been very real to me as I’ve been writing.
Creativity in the form of writing became a lifeline for me in my younger years. It was where I felt safe to pour out my thoughts and feelings. I was incredibly insecure growing up, and I felt like I didn’t know how to be emotionally honest – or if I could be.
The Book of Psalms was the first place I learned I had permission to be emotionally authentic with God and myself. I believe now that God both gave and used my love for reading and writing as one way of healing me emotionally.
There is real emotion in creativity, and, as human beings, we all have that innate desire to express ourselves. There is a certain level of vulnerability that comes along with it. You can’t separate what you express from who you are. You expose your heart for others to see, and that can be quite scary.
The Oxford Dictionary defines courage as ‘the ability to do something dangerous, or to face pain or opposition, without showing fear.’
I like those last three words, ‘without showing fear’. It doesn’t mean you don’t feel fear.
Courageous moments don’t have to be grand ones. My own act of courage was publishing my first book in 2020, which is a book of poems. I have been writing poems since I was child, but only recently had the courage to publish. To be honest, God left me without excuse, so I was either going to be disobedient or get on with it.
Most of the time the negativity I have to overcome is the battle going on in my own mind. I have to choose to press past all my insecurities and fears and step into faith. I can honestly say on this occasion I’m so glad I did.
I feel like God used publishing my book to jump-start my creativity. For many years I thought I had lost the ability to write or be creative. I went through what I can only describe as a creative wilderness. My main writing outlet dried up, and my time and energy were redirected towards other commitments. Occasionally I would switch on my laptop and try to write something just to see if I still could, only to find nothing would come to mind. Frustrated and defeated, I metaphorically put creativity in a box and shoved it in the back closet. I convinced myself that this ‘writing thing’ was for a season and that part of my life was over.
But God had other ideas. It took courage to dust off that creative box and reopen it, but I’m glad I did. I am enjoying the journey more than I ever have before.
Author, Freelance Writer and Virtual Assistant
Jeanette McCarthy is a writer and virtual assistance. Her work has been published in The Voice Newspaper, Ordained Magazine and Woman Alive Magazine. She runs a business called The Helpful VA and she is the author of God, Me, and Poetry available on Amazon.
You can contact Jeanette via her website http://jeanettemccarthy.com and http://thehelpfulva.co.uk
Jeanette lives in London, in the United Kingdom.
Jeanette will be releasing her next book Treasures of my Heart in the summer 2021 (and it may already be available by the time you are reading this!).