Who can you touch?

Last week, one of my critique partners brought a rough piece to share. She told us she didn't know what she was going to do with it, but she needed to write it because it was heavy on her heart and she needed to get it out. First off, let me say that it was a great piece. In terms of the writing, I thought it needed very little in terms of mechanics. Yes, it needed direction, but mostly in that she needed to figure out who her audience was and the purpose of the piece. Otherwise, it was excellent. But that's not my point.

Frankly, if all she did with the piece was let it languish on her hard drive, it did its job. Why? Because when I read it, I knew it had been written for me. Did she say as she was writing, "I think Danica needs to read this?" Nope. But it was a struggle heavy on her heart that the Lord needed to deal with in her life. Which happened to be similar to a struggle in mine. As I've pondered her words and the Lord's words, I can only sit in complete amazement in how perfectly our God works with our imperfections to meet our needs.

My prayer for this piece is that my friend figures out a home for it and lots of people read it and are ministered to by reading it. But even if it garners thousands of rejections and no home, God still used her writing. First, it helped her vocalize emotions to a situation she struggled with. But second, it helped me sort through something I've been struggling with. All because she had the courage to write something hard and share it with someone else.

Are you writing and wondering what the payoff will be? Maybe you'll be like Debbie Macomber and touch millions of people across the globe. But maybe it's only meant to draw you and God closer. Or maybe it will help the one person you give it to. And maybe it'll help someone in between. But maybe, you'll write something and never know it's touched a person's life. You just have to have the guts to put it out there trusting that God will let it land where it needs to land.

Personally, there are so many people who've written things that meant the world to me, and I wish I'd thanked them all. I'm so glad that they decided to put it out there anyway.