The Dona Watson Show

Stop Writing the Wrong Story—What Every Struggling Writer Should Know About God's Plot for Your Life

• Dona Watson • Season 3 • Episode 5

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Today I’m going to talk about why you might be writing the wrong story entirely—and how to recognize when God is trying to edit your life. This episode lists three things to consider regarding the stories we are writing with our lives.

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Speaker 00:

Hello, hello. Welcome to the Dona Watson Show. I'm your host, Dona Watson.

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Today I'm going to talk about why you might be writing the wrong story entirely and how to recognize that God is trying to edit your life.

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I can speak about this from experience because more than once I've caught myself writing the wrong story, whether it was literally writing or a season of life when I was pursuing goals that were not the best ones for me.

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When I think about this topic, it puts me back in college, my first couple years of college, when I was writing the wrong story. Wanting to be practical, I signed up for a business major. But I quickly found out that I could not stand the coursework. It just wasn't me. I would watch the upper level classmen walking around carrying their literature textbooks and wish that were me.

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And I finally got to the point where I knew I had to make a change. I was writing the wrong story for my life. I was not being true to my passions and my needs. So I changed my major to English and I joyfully jumped into those literature classes. They were so refreshing after sitting through business courses.

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But, you know, I also found out that God has a way of turning our mistakes around to benefit us. And I discovered that I had enough business credits, I just needed to take a couple more classes and I could register to get a minor in business and still get my major in English. And all those business classes have served me well through the years as I've gone on to exercise my entrepreneurial tendencies in one form or another.

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And now all these years later, I've learned that God does indeed use all things, even our mistakes. That is so cool, right?

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Well, today I want to talk about three things in regard to the stories that we are writing with our lives.

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The first thing is that life is about the journey, and we need to learn to enjoy the process. Psalm 16:11 says, "You will show me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

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Often we get so caught up in reaching our destination that we forget to stop and smell the roses, don't we? But the truth to that secret— a peaceful life— is learning to enjoy the journey and when we walk hand in hand with God he is faithful to guide us and what a sweet journey that becomes.

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Think of it like writing a book. While nothing compares to seeing an actual copy of your published book for the first time, the magic is not only in holding the finished product. The magic of the writing process comes through the daily discipline of putting those words on paper. Those breakthrough moments when the scene finally clicks, when you have the quiet satisfaction of a well-crafted paragraph. To finish a book, every writing session matters. Without those, publication day would never arrive. But when we can enjoy those moments, it makes our life richer and we can enjoy the process, enjoy the journey.

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Similarly, God wants us to savor the days of our lives, even those rough draft seasons, knowing that every chapter that we're living is being woven into something beautiful. And he gives us these, what I call God kisses, these little bright moments throughout our day when we look for them, whether it's flowers blooming by the roadside or a dog that you get to pet. There are always little fun things along the road, along the journey, that enrich life. And we need to stop and remember to smell those roses when we see them.

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The second thing is that I've discovered that my goals are simply milestones along the way. My main goal, my destination, is to be with God forevermore. That's a goal. Everything else to me is a milestone.

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Philippians 3: 13 to 14 says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." As we "press on," it is helpful to identify these milestones that we can reach for that will keep ourselves moving forward step by step. You might call them "goals," and that's fine, but to me, words matter, and when I say the word goal, my mind wants to put a period at the end of that sentence and say, "Oh, you've arrived. You've reached your goal." But that's a really dangerous place to be.

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There's danger in thinking that we have arrived. That's when we get bored. Then we get in trouble. My hope for you is that you will never run out of milestones in your life. I hope that you can keep reaching and growing and learning and creating new works until the Lord decides to take you home.

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See, we have milestones in writing too, right? We get to celebrate finishing every chapter, hitting those word count goals, or completing a difficult scene. But these aren't the end goal. They're markers of progress toward the larger story.

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Similarly, our earthly achievements, whether it's graduation, a career milestone, buying that first house, or whatever your goal is, whatever your milestone is, they're like chapter completions in God's bigger narrative for our lives. And they're definitely worth celebrating. but they're not the final page.

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It's so healthy to remember to celebrate our progress without losing sight of the bigger picture. Achieve and celebrate those milestones and keep pushing forward.

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The third thing is surrender. We need to remember to surrender control to God's perfect guidance and direction. Psalm 32: 8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye." How great is this scripture? God can see our entire story so much better than we can, and he is faithful to guide us on the right path.

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And that reminds me of another scripture that we find in Isaiah chapter 30 verse 21. "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" I love this verse. It is so powerful. And it came, it was written after God's people had been trying to make their own plans and to seek help from other sources. Here, Isaiah is telling them that God is promising that when the people turn back to him, He will be their personal guide, and he will never leave them to figure out the path alone.

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This idea intrigued me so much that I wanted to dig on it just a little bit deeper. So when we look at the Hebrew text and translation, the meaning here is actually God's voice instructing us which way to turn. rather than simply guiding us no matter which direction we choose. You see, there is a right path.

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The key Hebrew phrase literally means "when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." And the context suggests that this is about God's corrective guidance. He speaks up when we start to veer off course. How cool is that?

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Now the structure, the way this is written in the original language, it indicates that when we begin to turn right or left, potentially away from the right path, then we'll hear his voice saying, "This is the way, walk in it," essentially calling us back to the correct path. And this tells me rather than God passively blessing whatever direction we choose to go as his children, actually, he's actively speaking. He will speak and redirect us when we're about to go astray. This verse is describing corrective guidance.

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Now let's look at our book analogy again. It's kind of like having an editor who doesn't just let you write whatever comes to mind, but who gently interrupts you when you're going down a rabbit trail that doesn't serve the story and says, "Actually, let's go back to the main plot here." And it strengthens our story.

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This is talking about God's active personal involvement in keeping us on his path. Not just his presence with us wherever we wander, but his loving intervention when we start to drift. He is so faithful. God comes as a gentle voice behind us, not shouting from far ahead where we can't see him, but close enough that we can hear his whisper guiding us step by step. That is so sweet.

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You know, every good writer knows the frustration of staring at a blank page or being stuck in a plot hole. But sometimes, if you pray, you trust the process, and then listen carefully, that next sentence, it just comes.

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God is like the perfect writing partner. He whispers the next line when we're stuck. He suggests a better direction when our plot isn't working. And he gently edits out the parts of our lives that don't serve the larger story. We don't always need to see the whole outline; we just need to trust him with the next paragraph.

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It's like Paul tells us in Philippians 1: 6, "Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." You see, God is both the author and the finisher of your story. And as followers of Christ, we're just holding the pen. When we walk with him and we follow his voice, we can know that we're writing the right story.

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One more thing, I want to challenge you with this thought: How would you walk through this day if you knew 100% beyond the shadow of a doubt that God had all of your outcomes planned for and accounted for? Would that change how you do your day? Just think on that. Maybe write it down in a journal. It's worth considering.

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If you are looking for additional spiritual encouragement, check out my book, "Be the Warrior Queen, Practical Christian Strategies for Women to Achieve Victory in a Chaotic World." And I'm making this available to you: I will ship you a paperback. I'm just asking that you cover shipping and handling for $9.95. Otherwise, look for that link in the comments, and I'd love to send you your copy.

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Until next time, remember to enjoy the journey as you lean into God and let Him write your story. Until next time, take care.

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If you loved this, please give it a like or thumbs up or leave a comment with your thoughts. I love to hear from you, and your comments help me to know what topics you'd like to see me cover. For more information on my books and other projects, visit my website at DonaWatson.com or my Substack at DonaWatson.Substack.com.