Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again

by Rachel Held Evans

Words that once teemed with life nettled her mind, and stories that once captured her imagination triggered her doubts and darkest fears. It was as if the roots of beloved and familiar trees had risen up to trip her on the path. There was no map for a world suddenly rearranged, no incantation to light the road ahead.

The Bible’s ancient refrains have given voice to the laments of millions of oppressed people and, too often, provided justification to their oppressors.

The artists failed to include Jael, whose precious moment involved assassinating a general by driving a tent peg through his skull.)

Inspiration is better than magic, for as any artist will tell you, true inspiration comes not to the lucky or the charmed but to the faithful—to the writer who shows up at her keyboard each morning, even when she’s far too tired, to the guitarist whose fingers bleed after hours of practice, to the dancer who must first learn the traditional steps before she can freestyle with integrity. Inspiration is not about some disembodied ethereal voice dictating words or notes to a catatonic host. It’s a collaborative process, a holy give-and-take, a partnership between Creator and creator.

Inspiration, on both the giving and receiving end, takes practice and patience. It means showing up even when you don’t feel like it, even when it seems as if no one else is there.

If you’re curious, you will never leave the text without learning something new. If you’re persistent, you just might leave inspired.