Writers Unleashed! by Jane Clamp

It’s been an unexpected joy during this season of lockdown and isolation to find such amazing Christian content being uploaded to the internet. I was slow to appreciate that Spring Harvest had put their event on YouTube, allowing those who would have attended and those who wouldn’t to have equal access to all the sessions. Afraid it
might be taken down and I’d miss it, I binge-watched over a series of a few days. The intimacy of one speaker in their room talking to me in my room meant that I felt I was receiving one personal message after another.


Day One had as its theme “Unleashed Power” and Bishop Jill Duff spoke enthusiastically, basing her talk on the early chapters of Acts. But it was her prayer at the end that got me She talked about unleashing words and
something clicked inside me. You see, I write all sorts of devotional pieces and soak all of them in prayer, quite naturally; but my heart’s desire is to become a novelist. Hearing Bishop Jill, I decided to adjust my approach. The next morning, having written out the prayer on a post-it note, I prayed. Lifting my hands and heart to heaven, I prayed that God would unleash my words. I didn’t know what it would look like, but it turns out that for me it’s a steady output of between 2000 and 2500 words a day, and it’s been eleven days at the time of writing this. Glory to Him.

All of us live with constraints and “leashes.” When we keep a dog on a leash, the message is “to here and no further.” Is that what we have believed about our writing? That we’ll never get “up there” or “over there”? Have we limited what we believe about our potential? Perhaps other people have imposed their own values on us, which keep us tethered. The teacher who was scathing at our efforts. The parent who thought we were wasting our time being day-dreamers or creatives. The friends who, maybe out of jealousy, poured scorn on our ambition.

It’s time we looked only at the One who set it all in motion. Why do we tie ourselves up in knots and keep ourselves tethered when the message of the entire Gospel is FREEDOM!

I pray that all of us experience healing and a deluge of released words as we begin to pray, ‘Unleash your words in me, O God.’
Do let me know how you get on!

Jane Clamp is the author of Too Soon, a mother's journey through miscarriage and appears regularly on Premier Radio and UCB. She writes for BRF, Stewardship and Network Norfolk and runs two ACW affiliated groups in Norfolk.
www.janeclamp.com