Feeding Hungry Souls with Our Words

by Crystal Bowman
When Jesus stepped out of a boat, a large crowd gathered around Him, He had compassion on them and healed many who were sick. As evening approached, the people were hungry. His disciples wanted to send them away, but Jesus told them to feed the people. The disciples were puzzled since they had no food. “We don’t have enough money to buy food to feed this many people,” they said. Then Andrew brought a young boy to Jesus who had two small fish and five small loaves of bread. Perhaps it was his lunch. Perhaps his parents sent him out to sell the food. The story doesn’t include those details. But one thing we do know is that the young boy freely offered what he had and gave it to Jesus.
You know the rest of the story. Jesus blessed the food and broke it. As the disciples distributed the food, it multiplied until more than 5000 people had enough to eat. An amazing miracle in the hands of Jesus!
So what does this have to do with writers? 
A lot.
We are like that young, nameless boy walking among spiritually hungry people. We may not have much to offer, but if we give our best to Jesus, He can bless it, multiply it, and use our offering to feed hungry souls. Maybe He will use our words to feed hundreds. Maybe thousands. Maybe millions. Perhaps what you write will be used locally in a church or support group. Perhaps your book will have national distribution and reach thousands across our country. And it’s possible that your book may be translated into foreign languages and be distributed around the world. 
Writing is a business as well as a ministry, and we need our books to sell in order to survive in this industry. If you feel you’ve been called to write, then write. But just like anything else, writing is hard work. It takes years of learning and growing and preparing for the world of writing. It takes writers’ conferences, writing coaches, critique groups, and a million revisions. 
And then—when you are ready to share what you have written—put your words in the Master’s hands. He will bless them and multiply them to feed hungry souls. 
TWEETABLEFeeding Hungry Souls with Our Words, encouragement from Crystal Bowman on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)
Crystal Bowman is an award-winning, bestselling author of more than 100 books for children and four nonfiction books for women. She also writes lyrics for children’s piano music and is a monthly contributor to Clubhouse Jr. Magazine. She loves going to schools to teach kids about poetry. She also speaks at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) groups and teaches workshops at writers’ conferences. When she is not writing or speaking, she enjoys going for walks, working out at the gym, and eating ice cream. She and her husband live in Michigan and have seven huggable grandkids. 
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