Christian author – Page 2 – Laurel Luehmann

The Problem with Christian Fiction

December 7, 2020by Laurel Luehmann10 Comments

Shocked you again, didn’t I?

But seriously, though… today I want to share with you about the problem I have with many works of Christian fiction.

They force a message/moral on the reader.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been turned off of a Christian fiction book because of preachiness. A stiff sermon in the form of fiction really frustrates me. If you really want to write an essay on Christianity, please just go do it. ‘Cause that’s what your exposition should be. Please don’t mask it with fiction.

I firmly believe that fiction should not be a platform for preaching. Tell your story and let it do its thing.

Disclaimer: please understand that I’m not knocking sermons or essays… I love them. I’m just saying that they have their own distinct place… they don’t need to masquerade in fictitious literature.🙂

Believe it or not, it’s possible to glorify God through fiction without preaching at your readers.

The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould [sic] us. – Oswald Chambers

I believe this applies to fiction, as well. I can’t tell you how many works of fiction have made me stop in my tracks and evaluate my relationship with God and how I live it out… without being preachy. The writer just let the story play out… and let me, the reader, learn from the natural flow of the story.

In my opinion, writing a story to teach your readers a lesson is stepping into dangerous territory.

A couple of years ago, God was teaching me something amazing. My natural reaction was to share my new-found knowledge with others. And so I thought…

Why not write my (beloved) Civil War story so the main character learns the lesson I just learned?

So I started doing it. I planned to put my main character through a series of disastrous and depressing events (which is something my writer’s heart morbidly enjoys doing), and have her come through this scarring experience with the realization that Jesus was enough for her, no matter what.

Thankfully I set that project aside for a time. When I came back to it, having learned more about the writing craft and just life in general, I realized I had messed up.

I was trying to force my story into a preconceived mold. A preachy mold.

I know people laugh when writers complain about their characters getting out of control and doing things the writer never meant for them to do… but it’s a real struggle. A well-developed character should surprise its creator and do things that it was never “supposed” to do. Annoying as this is, letting the characters live their lives authentically is one of the best things a writer can do.

Trust that your readers can learn from your characters’ experiences without preachy interference.

I’m certainly not implying that stories shouldn’t have themes and morals… they should. True stories have these! In short, I’m saying that the stories you write can (and should!) be meaningful and convicting without being awkward and preachy.

Let your story be just that – a story. Trust the incredible power of fiction… let your story play out and let your readers glean from it what they will… just like they observe real life and glean from it without exposition.

This is my opinion… what’s yours? Do you agree with me? Disagree? A little bit of both? Please share… I always love feedback and discussion.:)

life, Poetry

Generations – A Poem

October 19, 2020by Laurel Luehmann9 Comments

My latest poem… tell me what you think of it!

A torrent of green

They burst on the scene-

Ready to take on the world.

Confident – oh, so

Confident

They

Could change the world with

Their song.

So they did.

What once was a forest of

Bleak

Monochrome

Soon became an explosion of

Verdure.

They gladdened the hearts of

The weak and the strong

The fearful and brave

The old and the young.

As the days turned to

Weeks

And the weeks turned to

Months

Their glory was ripening to

Rust

And they knew that their

Sweet days were

Short.

Yet they glowed

And they sang

In the grasp of the wind

That was stealing them

Far, far away on its

Breath

And they fell to their

Death

At the foot of the trees

That were helpless

To bring them to life.

A waste of a season?

They knew that they’d

Lived

The fullness of days

Appointed

To them.

So they sank into time –

Having burst upon

For a moment –

And broke into

Sod

For successors.

Photo by John Silliman on Unsplash

Personal

The Unexpected Journey of a Letter

October 8, 2020by Laurel Luehmann10 Comments

Over a year ago I wrote my brother a letter. For awhile we were on a letter-writing spree, and this letter was simply a response to one of his. Nothing too out of the ordinary…

Yet something felt different about this one. I don’t usually save copies of the letters I write, but for some reason I wanted to save a copy of that one. I really felt like I had expressed my heart well in that letter, and I wanted to share it with others. But I felt like God was telling me that wasn’t a good idea. This letter was for my brother, not the world. Right?

So I took a picture of the letter, slipped the letter into an envelope, stuck the envelope in my brother’s Bible, and didn’t think too much more about it. Life went on.

Then, a couple of months ago, this same brother got up to speak at my graduation ceremony. As he was talking, I saw him pull a familiar red envelope out of his pocket, and instantly I knew what he was about to do. Oh, my gracious.

I think I bawled through the whole thing.

It was incredible to see how God had taken a simple letter, said no to my first impulse to share it, and then a year later brought it before many dear people. It was a huge blessing to me and a reminder of God’s beautiful, beautiful timing. I was thrilled.

But God wasn’t done yet.

One of my aunts asked for a copy of the letter, and my uncle shared it in a sermon. Then the sermon got circulated by family members. My letter was reaching people I had never seen.

Do not underestimate God.

He will take the simplest thing and use it in the most unimaginable way.

I wanted to share this letter with you today, because I keep coming back to it and being convicted. As the author, I feel a responsibility to be living out and exemplifying the principles I’ve laid out here… and I constantly need to be reminded of them.

This letter is reminding me to bring my focus back to the right place – and I hope it does the same for you.

The excellency of the power is certainly of God, not us. The more I live, the more I realize how desperately sinful I am. Any good that comes of anything touching my life is certainly of God. He is so, SO worthy of our praise! He has loved me with a love that I simply cannot fathom. He truly must increase as I myself decrease.

More and more God shows me that He wants my priority to be my relationship with Him – not even evangelism, relationships with others, or any other sort of good works. Those will flow from my relationship with Him. He looks at the heart, and if all my feeble attempts to serve Him don’t come from an earnest desire for Him, they are filthy rags to Him.

It is so, SO important to guard our relationship with Him from all that threatens to destroy – even if it means we are called radicals. This love is more than deserving of radical defense. It demands our souls, our lives, our ALL. It calls for action.

Are we acting?

Personal, writing

Less Than Two Months In… Three Things I’ve Learned While Pursuing My Writing Seriously

September 28, 2020by Laurel Luehmann2 Comments

Way-way-wait what??? Less than two months in???

Wow.

Let’s just say that these have been two of the fullest months of my life. So far. 🙂 I look back and wonder how so much could be crammed into a mere sixty days. But it happened, folks. It happened. And it’s still happening.

About two months ago I graduated from high school and jumped into pursuing my future as an author seriously. Here are three things I’ve learned about the writing life in this time.

#1. I will not always feel inspired when it’s time to write… and that’s okay.

I was working on the second chapter of my current project the other day. I was at rock bottom. It was bad, guys. All I could force myself to type was he said this, she said that, he did this, she did that…

I wanted to bawl, Where is my creativity? My brilliant descriptions? My adjectives? Everything? Here go my writing dreams – right down the drain.

The fact is, I’m going to have these days… and that’s perfectly normal and fine. Because some days I feel like I’m churning out great ideas and brilliant descriptions and witty dialogue like crazy. These two extremes balance each other out.

It’s super important for me to just plug away at writing, even if I feel like what I’m writing is trash. If I write only when I feel like it, I’m not a writer at all – I’m just someone who writes for fun. I wouldn’t be a farmer if I only worked on the farm when I felt like it, either. Part of doing something professionally is doing your best even when your best seems awful.

In short, I’m learning that writing isn’t all fun and games… like any other occupation, it comes with its hard days. But I’m fine with that! There’s still enough awesome about it to keep me wanting to be a professional writer someday.

#2. Lists make life better.

I used to laugh at my mom and her lists… but I guess she converted me.

Nearly every day when I sit down to write, I make a list of what I want to accomplish that day. I try to get as specific as possible so I have more to cross off. It makes me feel more productive. 🙂 Also, just having a tangible list of what I want to accomplish is so much easier and productive than having a dozen plans ricocheting around in my brain.

#3. It’s a challenge for me to keep “writing stuff” in writing hours.

I’ve been setting a certain amount of hours each week day to work on my writing projects and other writing-related things. I’m not going to lie; it’s been a struggle to keep my writing restricted to those hours. It’s all too easy to let it seep into all the other areas of my life and suck my focus away from relationships and home responsibilities… and most importantly, my responsibilities as a daughter of God and ambassador for Christ.

God and people need to have first dibs on my attention. Writing can’t.

This has probably been my biggest struggle – even bigger than staying motivated and sticking with my writing projects. Hopefully the next two months will find me a little more on top of these priorities than I am at present. 🙂

But God’s grace is enormous. I daily encounter my faults, my failings, my weaknesses… and He daily reminds me that He is sufficient, and that He’ll use each one of my problems to bring Him glory.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

How great He is!

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

life

First Things First… And Writing Isn’t One of Them

September 14, 2020by Laurel Luehmann2 Comments

And you thought you knew me. 🙂

Don’t get me wrong; I love writing. As a kid, I liked nothing better than curling up with a notebook and pen, crafting stories and poetry. My addiction to scribbling words and trying to encapsulate my crazy thoughts in semi-understandable sentences has only grown over time. My obsession with words was always just one of my weird little quirks. End of story.

But recently it came to a horrifying climax. It seemed like so much of my mental energy was going into writing and my future as an author… trying to figure out what it would look like, and how I would get to where I wanted to be in the writing world. I was so enjoying what writing involved that I was letting it become my life.

I was pouring into my stories instead of my siblings. I was investing in my writing courses instead of my friends. I was focusing on myself and my dreams instead of on my Savior and His dreams for me.

What started as a harmless little hobby began to devour every aspect my life.

The thing is, I’m not just a writer. I’m also a daughter, a sister, and a friend. Most importantly, I’m a child of God, a member of the body of Christ, and a representative of Him.

These other roles and responsibilities are even more important than writing. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to pursue a career in something I so enjoy, but I need to remember that there are so many other aspects to my life than writing.

I need to remember my identity in Christ, and let my priorities flow from that.

My relationship with God comes first. Next, my family relationships. Next, all other relationships.

Last, writing.

I’m not saying that it’s evil to work diligently at your job and seek to be good at it. Not at all. Actually, I’m really focusing in on that this week. But note the key word, job.

My job should not become a synonym for my life.

Balance, folks. Balance is key.

Let’s set our priorities in the right place and live them out.

life

On Seasons

September 7, 2020September 7, 2020by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

Don’t you just love this time of year? The weather is cooling down, the flies’ days are numbered (hooray!!!) and I’m loving my sweatshirts, hot coffee, and afghans.

The seasons are changing, and I’m so looking forward to fall.

Spend enough time around me and you’ll learn that it’s my tendency to look forward to things – always planning and dreaming and scheming, picturing where I’ll be next year, in two years, in five years, in ten years…

But that means I can get so caught up in my dreams that I’m tripping over the important things I dreamed about yesterday. That’s a problem.

However, in my mid-teens I was encouraged by several sources – books, a blog, friends – to embrace the season of life I was in at that moment, rather than always dreaming, always planning, always waiting for what was around the corner.

And so I did. While still making my lists and dreaming my dreams, I wholeheartedly embraced a season that brimmed with family, schoolwork, cooking, music, writing, and spunky calves. I threw myself into the thick of it and loved it.

And then I looked up. I was turning eighteen and graduating. The season in which I had learned to delight was deteriorating before my eyes.

My first response? “NOOOOO!!!!!!!”

Seriously. I went into mourning for about a week.

My beautiful life was about to be changed… forever. I would never get back those days of being a crazy little farm kid, of doing school around the dining room table with my mom and siblings, of having the relatively simple and easy life of a child. Never.

(Whaaaaaaahhhhhh…)

What was happening to my life? I liked it just the way it was… why did I have to grow up and graduate, ruining and complicating everything? Couldn’t life just stay the same? Nice and normal and… safe?

I knew that if I was kicking and screaming (figuratively!) on my way to high school graduation, something was seriously wrong with me.

My mindset had become flawed.

Gradually, unwittingly, I had allowed my season of life to occupy a place in my heart that was never meant for anyone or anything but God. I had let it become my delight, my satisfaction and my identity, when only God can truly be those things for me.

This summer God’s been teaching me to embrace, not my seasons, but Him, the never-changing Creator of my seasons.

He’s been instructing me to work heartily at the projects the day lays before me, but to shift gears quickly if need be.

He’s been reminding me to appreciate the abundance of blessings He daily showers on me, but to allow them to turn my eyes to Him, not away from Him.

He’s been revealing to me the glorious truth that with Him, each and every day is brimming with opportunities for growth, productivity, and joy… lots of incredible joy.

He’s been encouraging me to to make Him the very center of my life – in the midst of every crazy, beautiful season and all it contains.

I want to encourage you to center your life around this incredible God.

You will not regret it.

Uncategorized

When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

September 3, 2020by Laurel Luehmann8 Comments

If you’re a human, you go through seasons in which you simply can’t understand why your life looks the way it does… why so-and-so said such-and-such… why such-and-such had to happen/not happen… why your life is so obviously falling apart, and will absolutely never be whole again. *sighs and sniffs dramatically*

These seasons may be a nearly everyday occurrence for some. They’re few and far between for the rest, but they’re still there. And hard. Really hard.

I think God wisely planted inside of us something that tells us that life is supposed to make sense… and so we get frustrated when life doesn’t make sense. We cry when life takes an unexpected – and completely undesired – turn. We weep as our most beautiful dreams rot and crumble before our eyes.

Because we can’t see what the Author sees.

I’ve not yet read the book, but I do enjoy the movie based on Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. It’s rather gloomy and sad, but the writer’s heart in me rejoices at the incredible intricacies of the plot.

At the beginning, it seems like there are just a lot of loose ends – several stories that don’t relate to each other very well. There are times when what’s happening is so confusing and incoherent. But as the story progresses, you see how every single person, place, and event is linked together in one massive, fascinating plot. In the end, you are left in awe of the creator of such an incredible story.

See, the thing about stories is that they don’t make complete sense – they aren’t supposed to make complete sense – to anyone but the author until the end.

We’re in the middle of our stories right now, and so naturally there are a few aspects of them that leave us scratching our heads in confusion… or, if I may be frank and a bit more honest, bawling on the floor in complete emotional disarray.

But God’s perfect plot is still there. When it seems like everything is falling apart, it’s really falling into place. Truly.

I haven’t lived that long, but already I’ve seen God weaving my story together, and believe me, He beats Charles Dickens hands down.

I have seen Him take circumstances that I despised and use them to draw me to Himself.

I have rejoiced at the way He laid the groundwork for my prayers to be answered before I even thought to pray them.

I have cried as He allowed my dreams to be smashed, and tearfully trusted Him to build and fulfil better ones.

I have seen that, through it all, He has been faithful, and that He will be faithful for the rest of my days. Oh, it will be a glorious day when He reveals to me the entire script of my life, with all the “loose” ends tied together.

If you are His child, He will do the same for you.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. – Romans 8:28 (emphases mine)

Be comforted… it will be worth it all when we see the end. ❤

Poetry

Once Again – A Poem

September 1, 2020by Laurel Luehmann6 Comments

Two natures fight within me

Clawing for complete control

And the evil one is winning –

Its dark reign I can’t o’erthrow.

For its grasp about my mind

Has left an imprint stiff as stone

And its chains about my heart

Into my flesh o’er time have grown.

And I can’t break from these shackles

That hold all my habits tight

For the rust of time has locked them

And I cry into the night

As I see the one You crafted

To be swift and strong for You

Melted to the mess I am –

How could my heart be so untrue?

Yet the dawn is breaking now

And in the early morning rays

I see the promise of the future

And new mercies with new days

And I see the power of Calvary

Making chains and shackles null

As Your faithfulness transforms me

And my shell falls, dead and dull

As new life is pulsing through me –

Though I’ve stumbled and I’ve failed,

Still You tell me that renewal

Is one humble step away.

Photo by Federico Respini on Unsplash

Journaling

The Journals That Changed My Life

August 20, 2020by Laurel Luehmann5 Comments

Every person in our lives influences us – whether it is an influence we recognize or not. Some people have a small influence, some people have a strong influence, and some people shake our lives forever.

For me, that was Jim Elliot.

I met him the year I turned sixteen. I spent a lot of time with him that year. He made me laugh, he challenged the way that I spent my time, and he lived his life in a way that made me want to live differently. He was strong in his faith, bold in his declaration of it, and passionately in love with Christ. He inspired me.

Wait, I forgot to tell you – he died over 40 years before I was born.

Shortly after Jim Elliot’s death at the hands of the men he was trying to reach with the gospel, his wife Elisabeth wrote Shadow of the Almighty. In this beautifully written biography, Elisabeth included excerpts of many of her husband’s letters and journals. Shadow of the Almighty had a profound impact on me.

What hit me most about the legacy Jim Elliot left in his writings was not so much the writing itself, but the heart, life, and dreams behind it. Don’t get me wrong – he had a rich vocabulary and a gift for powerful expression and humorous description – but that wasn’t all.

When you read his journals, you see a heart laid wide open before the Lord. He wasn’t afraid to proclaim the gospel and its implications. He didn’t shrink from confronting his peers about the condition of their souls.

Yet neither did he shrink from admitting his own faults and weaknesses. Some excerpts from the journals – “Oh, that I were not so empty-handed… I don’t love, I don’t feel, I don’t understand, I can only believe.” “Difficulty in getting anything at all from the Word. No fervency in prayer.” “Deep sense of uselessness this morning.”

Wait, what??? I’m not the only one who feels like this at times? Even the strongest and most passionate of Christians struggle?

Yes.

When I journal, I sometimes shrink from recording my struggles. I don’t always want to be honest with myself on paper. I start sweating when I think about the possibility of people cracking open my journal some day and getting a taste of 100% pure, raw, unfiltered Laurel. It’s scary.

But in reality, it’s not about me.

It’s about making myself available to God so He can display His power and goodness in me. If honesty in my journal entries may one day accomplish this by strengthening and encouraging others, I’ll swallow my pride and make myself available to God.

‘Cause that’s my purpose.

Have you made it yours?

Journaling

Why I Journal

August 17, 2020August 17, 2020by Laurel Luehmann2 Comments

I received my first journal at the tender age of eight… and I’ve been journaling more or less consistently ever since.

It’s become a habit I never want to break.

Let me tell you why.

First of all, spilling my thoughts onto a page helps me to think more clearly. Something about seeing the crazy mess inside my brain laid out in scrawling, tangible words helps me to see things a bit more clearly. It enables me to describe my circumstances, ponderings, and emotions in a way that makes me see the beauty in the pain, the humor in the frustration, and the purpose in the chaos.

Think of it as spring cleaning for the brain.

Second, it’s amazing to look back on over a decade of my journals and remember the hilarious stories, the frustrations and difficulties, and all the precious memories I might have forgotten. Especially as a writer, all of those bizarre family stories will come in handy someday as story inspiration!

Most of all, however, I love to be reminded through those journals of how God has worked in my life. What He has taught me. How He has grown me. How He has proved Himself powerful, wise, and faithful. And good. Always good. It’s my prayer that one day I’ll be able to pass my journals on to my children and grandchildren as a tribute to His goodness in loving and daily transforming someone as flawed and imperfect as me.

Do you keep a journal? What do you love about journaling?