I’m slightly alarmed that it’s December already. It seems like November was gobbled up by our Idaho to Pennsylvania transition, and now I find myself in another home filled with boxes. At least this time I’m taking things out of those boxes. Maybe I could just wrap them up and use them as Christmas decor…
We will be joining our new church family at Come See The Tree (fireworks, a gigantic tree, and cookies? I’m sold), a community Christmas tree lighting later this week, which will further solidify that it is, indeed, December.
Today’s Perspectives on Motherhood and Writing guest is a new(ish) contributor to Kindred Grace and momma of two. I got chills reading about Callie Mitchell‘s heart for the nation where God has called her and her family to reside.
Catch up on past Perspectives on Motherhood and Writing posts here.
Why do you write/blog?
I write because I’m compelled to create. The first thing we learn about God in scripture is that He “created”. Being made in His image, we too are called to create. As I study the Bible and learn the power of words, I feel an even greater responsibility to share the truth of His love through personal testimonies. Its really an outlet of worship for me.
My educational training is in Architecture and Interior Design. Throughout my nine years worth of school, I could never sit down and begin drawing a space if I had not first written it. I find that writing is the foundation of all other creative outlets I enjoy. I really believe I write to sort out my ideas, to understand where I feel the Lord leading.
How long have you been writing/blogging?
I have had a blog for six years now, but I have been writing for as long as I’ve known how to write my alphabet. My grandmother bought a journal for me at age six. I still love to go back and read it. Most stories are about what we ate for lunch that day, riding my bike, or walking my dog.
How has your current season of life impacted your writing/blogging?
Currently I am a mother in Israel. Being a mom, I love to write stories about my son to help bottle up memories of these precious days. Being in Israel, I feel a certain amount of responsibility to share the truth of our lived experience in this nation. After the first war that I experienced on Israeli soil, I went before the Lord with passion, asking Him to anoint my words with a spirit of revelation, so that all who read will know Him better.
It hit me hard that we are drawing near to His return, and the desire to wake a slumbering church has burned in my bones since. I hope these testimonies will also produce a lasting legacy in the lives of my children. I want them to know their mother was a fighter on her knees, for truth and holiness, first to be lived in our home, and then overflow into the nations. Whatever radical lives they might be called to in the future, I want them to look back and blame it on my prayers.
How has this season of life changed your writing habits?
On most days, I wait until my son has gone to sleep for the night. In Israel, we keep Shabbat (Saturday) as a work free day, so I will often partition time to do some creative writing for my own expression of worship before the Lord.
What is your writing/blogging battle cry?
I want to communicate the gospel and the nearness of Jesus’ return to the earth.
Often times when I’m writing a piece, I’ll close my eyes and write as if I’m actually speaking to the Lord. Depending on what its intended purpose might be, it will either stay in that format or I’ll go in and adjust pronouns so that it is approachable for an audience. The Lord once whispered, “Speak to me inside of people”.
This practice started after meditating on what He might have meant by that. As I believe the Holy Spirit dwells in each believer, sometimes we need to be reminded of who we are. We’re called to conform to His image, so I often will write, even in emails, calling out that image in others.
How does faith, writing, and motherhood intersect in your daily life?
I learned more about God’s unconditional love after I birthed my son than I was ever prepared for – both in giving love unconditionally to this tiny perfect person, but also through the grace he shows me when I fail to live up to my own expectations of motherhood. Even the smallest interactions with him can propel me deeper into the Father’s heart.
Sometimes it’s the larger moments as well, learning I was pregnant with a long awaited second baby on my son’s birthday, for example. The Lord used the timing to work out something special in my son’s life. Being a mom reminds me that my purpose and presence are greater than just me. He made me because He wants to do a work through me to bless others. Being a writer, I think, is what causes me to pause and take note of those moments, really thinking them through, processing them through His word.
Callie Mitchell is the wife of Devin and the mother of Aviel and a girl baby on the way (arrived 11/12/14!). She is an architect by training, though her current practice mostly includes lego towers and wooden train track configurations, with a few actual free lance projects on the side. The Mitchells live in Jerusalem as a Messianic Jewish family, and are committed to seeing Salvation come to the people of this region.
Emily C Gardner 