God Told Me to Share My Heart & Pray for the People (I Listened)

I spent hours writing my newsletter, but the still, small voice of the Lord told me to save it for another day.

The author made this picture using Canva—the perfect quote.

If I’ve learned anything since I renewed my relationship with Christ 23 years ago, it is that you don’t ignore His promptings. The times I trudged on with my plans, it didn’t work out well.

I had my newsletter ready this morning and only needed to make a graphic to accompany it in Canva before sending it out to my subscribers. I’ve been diligent about sending one out weekly. I listened to a Pastor Allen Jackson video when my cat, Paddy, woke me up at 4:20 this morning. He was being a twerp, having woken me up the first time at 3:15. Recliner worship ensued.

In Pastor Jackson’s service, he prayed for everyone on his campuses and those watching on the internet. I felt strongly that I was also supposed to pray for people today. I felt the Lord telling me to get up and take my walk so I could watch the sunrise. He also told me to leave my earbuds at home and spend my time talking to Him.

I was expecting one of the fantastic sunrises we’ve been blessed with here, but it was barely peeking out between the clouds. I feel strongly that it was God’s message to me to wait on His timing and stop trying to rush things. He told me my website and Substack newsletter would flourish in His timing, not mine.

This was not the sunrise I was expecting.

Patience has never been my strong suit. My husband will tell you that I want everything right now. Despite my improvement in that area, if I ask Tommy about doing something for me, he never fails to say that he can’t do it right now. He reminds me that he has his chores that need his attention. When I say I wasn’t suggesting that he get to it right now but that he put it on his list, he rolls his eyes as if to say, “Yeah, right.” In his defense, I was the right-now-girl for decades.

I’ve been struggling to focus on what God wants me to write and do and pray about it constantly. I’ve been double-minded about my writing career and how to move forward. My mind is continually swirling with ideas about my next post, what my website pages should look like, and where to put my energy first. I enrolled in a course to learn to work on my website so that I won’t need to pay someone whenever I need changes.

I prayed about investing in the course before hitting the purchase button. I ask God for His guidance, but am I listening for His voice? I’ve been struggling in my course because I’m not techy, and I wondered if I’d succumbed to FOMO, fear of missing out, again. Was I supposed to be in this course? It wasn’t cheap. There is no refund because I am frustrated. The coaches are fantastic and have been patient with me, even extending my online coaching time when the allotted 16 weeks expired.

Since we have a break from our volunteer assignments, I have much more time to work on my website and write. My mind is constantly swirling with ideas about both. Do I rebuild my old site, build a new one, and then update my old one? Do I write a post for that Medium prompt or concentrate on my Substack newsletter, notes, and chats? Do I read that post about which of those I should spend more time on? The confusion and information overload leave me stagnated.

Today’s sunrise and my chat with God helped to drown out some of the noise in my head, but I needed more. God knew this, and He provided.

We had a fantastic, Spirit-filled day at church, and one of the pastors prayed for me. I told her I’d been battling a spirit of confusion and that I felt it was holding me back. As she was praying for me, she put both hands on my head and demanded that the confusing spirit leave me. I felt like I might fall over because the Holy Spirit strongly overcame me.

When Sister Hooker took her hands from my head, I felt like a hundred-pound weight had been lifted off it.

I am ready to move forward at God’s pace and write what He wants me to write. I won’t concern myself whether people want to hear what I say. I will speak from my heart. I know many people like me are trying to find their place in the world of writing and blogging.

You feel like you’ve been plugging away, pouring your heart into your craft, and no one knows who you are or cares about what you have to say. If you believe with your heart that you are doing what God has gifted you to do, you need to tell Satan to shut his piehole.

After Christians, writers are the most supportive group I’ve ever known. We cheer each other on and genuinely celebrate each other’s victories. There is no jealousy or backbiting. There is real happiness in others’ successes. Most of us yearn to have as many eyes on the posts and books we pour our hearts into, but envy isn’t the right word to describe what we feel. Envy is a dirty word. It’s up there with covetousness or begrudging. Writers want those in our community to succeed.

My subscribers who tune in to hear my travel tales and volunteer adventures have probably clicked away by now. If you are a fellow writer struggling with double-mindedness and confusion about what and who you should write for, please hang in there with me.

Is your email inbox loaded daily with excellent posts from wonderful writers who are succeeding and want to help you by sharing their knowledge? Have you subscribed to so many newsletters in a show of support that it takes hours to empty your email and get on with your writing? Will one more course take you to a level in your writing career or get you enough subscribers so that you can feel like a success?

Knock it off! Seriously, folks, we are hurting and not helping ourselves when we carry on this way. We need to approach this with prayer and be selective. We can’t be everything to everybody. We, people pleasers, struggle the most with this misconception. We won’t be successful by writing what we think people want to hear from us. We need to write what our heart tells us we should. If you are a Christ follower, the Holy Spirit will guide you.

Let me pray for you if what I’ve written speaks to you. I’m sharing my heart, and if this prayer resonates with you, make it yours, too. If you want extra prayer, I’m here for you.

Dear Lord, I ask for your Holy Spirit’s guidance in every word I write, course I take, and email I open. Block the spirit of confusion that keeps me from staying on the track you have planned for me. Don’t let me compare my writing, subscriber, follower numbers, or amount of reads and comments with anyone else’s. I am writing for You with Your guidance. Every success I have belongs to You. I will stay on the path You have designed especially for me. I am honored to be called a writer after Your heart. My time is in Your hands. In Jesus’s precious name, I pray, Amen.

Didn’t that feel great? Do you feel lighter? I hope so. I know I do. If you enjoyed this post and it resonated with you, I’d love to hear from you—not because you feel you should, but because it’s in your heart to do so. God bless you and keep those creative juices flowing.

Charisse Tyson is a retired biker bar owner, author, blogger, and full-time RVer. You can follow her on Medium, Facebook, Linkedin, X(Twitter)