Image: Kelly Hanwright

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Ephesians 2:10

“Yeah, you could post that if your blog is going to be about religion,” he said, “but if not, I wouldn’t.” It was advice from a well-meaning friend, thinking he was giving me a helpful tip. But you know, I have come to realize…

Faith is not this “other” that is separate from our lives.

I am who I am today because I have developed and strengthened my faith. It’s important that I acknowledge that as part of who I am at my essence.See, I value authenticity. And in a world where everything is becoming increasingly fake, I know I’m not the only one.

If it wasn’t for Jesus, I’d be dead.

This theme shows up quite a bit in my poetry. And nope – I am not exaggerating one little bit.

I came close to suicide many times as a child.

Even as an adult. It was my conversations with Him that kept me going, and knowing deep inside that He had a purpose for me and was going to do something with all this mess. And you know what – He has. So no, my blog isn’t “about religion.”

But as a result of what has been done for me, faith is definitely going to show up in my writing!

Let’s imagine a scenario:

Suppose you are being sucked down into quicksand. There is no possible way you can get out. You’ve tried everything; resigned yourself to going down. Then suppose someone came along and pulled you out – saved your life. You get up, say a cursory “thanks” and go on your way.

…and then…

Then, as we are taking this imaginary journey, let’s just suppose you come upon another pit of quicksand as you’re walking and there’s someone in it, struggling just like you were a little while ago. And you know you have a way of helping them, but instead you just smile and wave, toss them a “hope you feel better!” and move along your merry way.

Well, I don’t know about you but I can’t do that.

I know I have this wonderful tool that eases my anxiety and is a source of strength every single day.

Something that enables me to help others who are in the situations of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and recovery from trauma that I have been in. What kind of help would I be to them if I never mention how much talking with Jesus (…yeah, with. Think about it…) and reading scripture have not only helped but healed me in many aspects of my life; that give me the strength and wisdom each day to tell my story. It gives me the creativity and stamina to do the hard tasks of teaching, leading, ministering to others who are hurting. Because as an intuitive empath, without Jesus, I would burn out!

Another friend recently pointed out an extremely relevant truth: it is not easy to let people see you.

So let’s say you’re feeling burned out. Or hopeless. Or you’ve been lying on the floor sobbing and suddenly it occurs to you (as it has me, quite often) to conjure your old friend Google and this blog post is what just happens to pop up. “Well okay, I’ll try just about anything” you say, “Kelly what do you recommend? I don’t really go to church. Couldn’t right now even if I wanted to.”

Talk to Him.

My answer is, talk to Him. It’s okay. Just start. He will fill in the rest.

“That’s your advice?!”

Yep. It sure is. It’s always worked for me. I know it will work for anyone who tries it.

And try asking Him what to write.

If you’re reading this and you find faith hard to write about in a way that feels authentic – true to yourself and what you believe – I recommend that you ask Him what to write.

Do I really believe He’s going to answer? To show you what you need to say, and your readers need to hear?

You better believe I do.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for this life that after so long turned out so beautiful. Thank you that I didn’t end it. Thank you for giving me back my purpose. I am so grateful, with all my heart. Be in this post and guide people to it who need something from it. In your name I ask these things.

                                                                                                                                  Love, Kelly