Step Six – We’re entirely ready to have God remove all the defects of character that affect our writing and our writing career
Let’s find a place where we can talk to God, and most of all, listen to Him. For months we have been working toward becoming the spiritual writer that God created us to be. Now, with Step Six, it is time for action. In the first five steps we opened our minds and hearts to the truth. Sometimes the truth can be very difficult to admit. When we look at Step Four and truthfully review our faults and failings it can be depressing to know how imperfect we truly are. So many times we have promised to do better, confessed our sins and went forth with a determination to succeed. It didn’t take long for us to fail. Why? Because we thought we could use sheer determination and the power of our own will to become the person and writer we wanted to be. We can’t.
Only God can change us. As long as we think we are in control, we will fail. He is in control. So let’s find a quiet place to be alone with Him for at least an hour. For the first part of that hour let’s review the first five steps.
1) Step One – We admitted that we are powerless over our human desire for fame, wealth and power – that our writing life had become unmanageable.
2) Step Two – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore our writing to sanity.
3) Step Three – Made a decision to turn our writing and our writing career over to the care of God.
4) Step Four – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves as writers and of our writing.
5) Step Fivet- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
After a short review, let’s turn it all over to God. The place we go to pray is important. I think there is nothing better than an empty church or a Eucharistic Adoration chapel. You might prefer a deserted beach or park. Maybe you have a special place where you find peace each day. Wherever you go, please be sure that you will not be disturbed for at least an hour or more.
Close your eyes and thank Him for the closeness you have found while practicing these first five steps. Thank Him for your gift of writing and the grace of knowing Him and His Will better.
Now, knowing your faults and failures as a writer and living in complete truth, ask Him if there is anything that you have missed. STOP, Pause and Listen! Let His Love cover you. Let Him flood you with His Grace.
Turn it all over to Him, all the dreams and all the failures. Hand Him all the pain and the failures. Give Him the inspiration and imagination. Let go of the ambition and control. It was all His to begin with. It just took you some time to really know that.
Don’t you feel better? Aren’t you lighter without that weight on your shoulders?
Now let it all go. Just sit. Let Him do the talking.
Bask in His Love. Absorb His Grace. Let Him increase your understanding and your gift.
Stay. Stay as long as He wants you to. At least an hour… You may be surprised how fast the time flies by.
Now is the time for the sixth step. Now is the time to ask.
Ask Him to remove your defects of character both personally and professionally. Ask Him to remove any defects that you are aware of and those you are not aware of. Only He can. Let them go and trust that He has.
You will be surprised that the next time you are about to fall into one of those flaws you will become aware before you do. Or if you fall, you will be aware that you did and can make restitution immediately. It is a gentle process. Give it to Him and it will begin and you will be free to use your writing gift according to His Will.
And you have just completed the Step Six.
Karen Kelly Boyce is a mother of two and grandmother of two who lives on a farm in N.J. with her retired husband. She and her husband love to camp and take ‘road trips’ around the country. She has published four novels and three children’s books. Her website is www.karenkellyboyce.com
Karen Boyce
Karen Kelly Boyce lives on a farm in N.J. with her retired husband. She is a mother and grandmother. She is the author of “The Sisters of the Last Straw” series published by Tan Books. You can see her work and learn more about her on her website: www,kkboyce.com