Casandra Martin

It was a funny conversation. I was walking into a convention with a woman who was telling me about her dreams. She wants to write a book, and she was describing her efforts to put her thoughts down on paper. I was trying to be encouraging, answering her questions and sharing a little bit of the process I have learned along the way.

I told her that I thought she could do a great job and to keep on writing. She looked at me in horror and explained how messy her manuscripts are. Covered in cross-outs, sectioned by scribbles, and red-lined with bad grammar, she told me that her pages would never be like the clean, flowing writing she reads in my books. I almost started laughing right there.

It takes a whole team of people to put a book together. There are people who check the grammar, who look at the wording, who examine the punctuation, and who make everything look pretty. On my own, I am a mess. One of the most profound lessons I have learned as a writer is that everybody needs an editor.

What is true in the writing world is also true for my soul. On my own, I am a mess. Mistakes cover the pages of my life’s story. Errors, raw places, mismatched choices, and messed up motives misshape my heart. Sin, shame, guilt, and remorse dictate a restless rhythm for my steps.

Everybody needs an Editor. Someone to take out the bad and reshape the good. Someone to filter the focus and clean up the mess. Someone to take our stories and give them a happy ending.

My Jesus Resolution today is to listen to my Editor. Too often, I try to handle it on my own. The plot fails and the storyline comes to a twisted dead end. Thank God for Jesus. He uses His blood to scrub away the messes and mistakes. He applies His love to make the words of my story flow with His light and truth. He works in grace, asks for surrender, and covers the pages with Himself. When I listen to my Editor, others can see something in my story that would never be there if left up to me.