A Square Peg In A Round Hole

A Square Peg in a Round Hole

Whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. . . . It was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 1 Corinthians 15:10

I’ll never forget the summer night I sat in an auditorium on a Minnesota college campus surrounded by 250 people I’d never met, and yet I felt entirely at home. Joseph Bayly—author, poet, and founder of David C. Cook Publishing Company (now Cook Communication Ministries)—was speaking to the gathering of the Decision School of Christian Writing participants and explaining some of the characteristics common to many writers: They are sensitive, curious, and determined. They are lovers of words. They see things differently and sometimes don’t fit the flow of what others are doing. They are expressive and verbal (even opinionated) in wanting to share their ideas.

As this man went on, a quiet assurance settled into my heart. That’s what I am, a writer. By God’s grace, I am what I am. Sure, I was a wife, a mother, and a sister. But God had given me the heart of a writer. During my childhood, my parents and siblings had often said, “You’re just too sensitive!” In the high school teaching career I’d pursued, I always felt a bit like a square peg in a round hole. Some on the faculty had even said, “You’re kind of a misfit among us. You’re always thinking outside the box or trying something different.” And though I’d been trained for classroom teaching, at times I felt as if I were in a wilderness, in spite of the fact that I loved the students and the literature I taught.

But this writing conference was different. Although I had just met these people from different backgrounds and states, they felt like family. Writers are still some of my favorite people. Although there have been many obstacles, writing has been my life’s work for the twenty-five years since that evening in Minnesota, and by God’s grace, fruit has been borne. How grateful I am that God made me the way I am, quirks and all, and sent me across the country to find out why. —CHERI

Lord, I trust your heart toward me even though I cannot always see your plan. And I trust your divine plan to bring forth fruit from my life.

You are the only person on earth who can use your abilities. No one else can play your role, because they don’t have the unique shape that God has given you.

—RICK WARREN, PASTOR AND AUTHOR