One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is why we do what we do. Not only for healthy self-reflection, but to focus our efforts and cut out the things in our lives that don’t have a good enough “why”.

Whether you write prolifically, and wonder what to do with it, or write less than you wish you did, and need a reason to write more, understanding your why is essential. You seek to understand what drives you, and what you hope to achieve through your effort. If you don’t, what’s the point?

Words Are A Powerful Tool

Rudyard Kipling once said “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” We can easily see this truth when we consider influential historical works (the Bible, the Koran, the Origin of Species, the Communist Manifesto, etc) as well as popular works of fiction (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Twilight, and yes, even 50 Shades of Gray). Words matter, and stories have the power to change lives and even history itself, for good or ill.

I understand my why (imperfectly, of course, I’m always discovering new things about it), and I want my readers to understand it too. God has blessed me with life, health, prosperity, and a talent for writing. I want to use those blessings to turn around and bless others through stories that educate, entertain, and bring about positive change in our world.

A Cause to Fight For

The cause I feel most drawn to as a writer and the inspiration of my first novel series is the plight of orphans and foster children around the world. There are many worthy causes I feel drawn to, each of which deserve blood, sweat, and tears. But vulnerable children stir up my heart like few other things do. I’m not even a mother myself, but the idea of anyone taking advantage of or hurting a child of any age, makes me what to punch someone in the face. Yet every day, millions of vulnerable children around the world are left without proper care and love, primarily because they lack parents or because their parents can’t/won’t take care of them properly. This is a tragedy beyond belief, that society would neglect it’s most vulnerable and weak members to languish in fear and neglect, lacking the love every child deserves.

I understand bad things happen. The existence of orphans and foster children is a consequence of our sinful, fallen world that will only be permanently fixed when Christ comes again and heals the world once and for all. But until then, it’s every person’s duty, as they’re able, to help care for the least of these. I hope to further that cause through my writing, not only to bring awareness, but also to highlight the importance of families, friendships, and the bonds of love that keep each of us sane in a crazy world.

I’d like to share a song that has stirred up my heart and first got me thinking about this issue. You can listen to it here, and read the lyrics below.

Little hands, shoeless feet, lonely eyes looking back at me.
Will we leave behind the innocent to grieve?
On their own, on the run, when their lives have only begun.
These could be our daughters and our sons.
And just like a drum I can hear their hearts beating,
I know my God won’t let them be defeated,
every child has a dream to belong and be loved.

Boys become Kings, Girls will be Queens, wrapped in your majesty,
when we love the least of these.
Then they will be brave and free, shout Your name in victory,
when we love the least of these.

Break our hearts once again, help us to remember when
we were only children hoping for a friend.
Won’t you look around, these are the lives that the world has forgotten
waiting for the doors of our hearts and our homes to open.

If not us, tell me who will be like Jesus to the least of these?

Truly, if not us, who will help? There are many ways to make a difference. I’m working on becoming a volunteer at a local foster care outreach center, and as soon as my husband and I are able, we plan to adopt children and become foster parents. In a few weeks I’ll be posting an article about adoption and foster care with additional resources, so if you’d like to learn more stay tuned.

A Greater Vision

Volunteering and adopting children is vital, but through it I can only touch a limited number of lives. My heart has a greater vision. I want to change society, to put a seed of compassion in every heart to reach out to the least of these and support them as one giant community. So right now I’m working on a YA urban fantasy novel series where the protagonist is an orphan who grew up in foster care. Though this series, I hope to highlight some of the hardships, struggles, and issues orphans/foster children face and generate awareness and attention for the real-life plight of these children. I’m focusing more on YA in my novel (both as an audience and as subject matter), because I feel a strong connection to young adults, to minister to and mentor them, passing on what I’ve learned having just come from the struggles of the YA age (I’m now 25).

You may wonder why I, one of four children with a set of wonderful and loving parents, feel qualified to write about orphans? I’ve wondered that myself, and I think the answer threefold: I feel drawn to the story, I have a healthy imagination and ability to research, and I know what the other side looks like. A person who grew up in foster care, and a person who grew up in a loving family would both have challenges writing the story I’m writing, because each only knows one side of the story. Through imagination, research, and experience, though, I can learn enough about the other side to write about it. I’m certain there are others who could tell the orphan side of the story better than I. But I have the inspiration and ability to do it, however imperfectly, and an imperfectly published book is always better than a theoretical, unpublished book by a more “qualified” person.

You may also wonder why I’m writing fantasy fiction instead of non-fiction, or even literary fiction (‘real life’) book, as that could give more accurate and detailed information, instead of just weaving simple themes into a make-believe story. My answer is that the imagination is one of the most powerful and influential parts of our minds. Make-believe stories that draw strong parallels and teach lessons about real life often stick with the reader more than a similar, real-life story, especially when your reader is young. There were many fantasy story characters that I looked up to when I was young (and still look up to), encouraging me to be strong and do things right because they would have.

I want young adults all over the world to fall in love with a character who is an orphan. For people who’ve never experienced foster care, they’ll remember that there are many children in real life that need their help, using the story as an inspiration. For orphans and foster children, I want to provide a hero they can look up to and feel inspired by, a hero they can relate to and feel encouraged by her triumphs. I don’t just want to raise awareness, I want to provide a ministry for the lost and lonely. It’s a simple fact that fantastical stories ignite the imaginations and passions in a way that non-fiction and literary fiction books are hard-put to duplicate. Someday I may write a literary fiction or non-fiction book targeting adults, but for now I’ll start with YA.

Something to Consider

The terrible truth is that many children are growing up in broken homes with no community or family to support them, give them unconditional love, or show them what “wholeness” looks like. These young people are growing into members of society trying to adapt to being a “normal” adult, when their childhood was anything but normal. I’m sure it’s difficult knowing how to be a loving parent and an open and caring member of your community, when you knew only abuse, lies, and distrust when you were young.

These children are our future, and even though we can’t fix every one of their lives, we can be understanding and provide a community of support for them TODAY to help them overcome and heal from what happened yesterday. I know what a strong family looks like, I know what a loving, supporting community looks like. I’ve been blessed to have them all my life, and I want to bring that overflowing love to those who need it desperately.

One of my favorite songs has a chorus line that says: God put a million, million doors in the world for his love to walk through. One of those doors is you.

I’m imperfect, and still young, with much to learn and improve on. But I want to be a door that God’s love walks through to bless the world, and my medium is the written word. I only pray that God will help me to write my stories well, and then take them out into the world to do great things for others.