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Hi, Karissa (@karissa-chmil),

That is a great question:

The need arises within me to express in a story what I cannot just contemplate abstractly.  I need to see and feel concepts working out through peopled experiences with living and learning rather than just hearing what they say.  Writing stories is a meaningful way for me to make some sense out of our world through the vehicle of fiction.  It is very much an exploration for me, not only into how life works, but how my own outlook is fleshed out, and how it works against a backdrop of struggle and challenges.

I know the concepts, know many of the right words, and the “ought to’s” having been raised in a family of faith and as the son of a pastor, and by having a personal relationship with Jesus, however, I think there is something that connects us to God’s design and intentions for mankind through illustration in such a deeper way than just by issuing edicts.  Scripture uses so many images, types, and shadows to communicate God’s messages, leading up to His full-embodiment of His Living Truth through the incarnation of Christ Jesus.  I think that is why the Scriptures are so full of human stories, eclipsed by the Divine.  God intends our relationship to be personal and authentic with Him, and for that real relationship to become illustrative to the world at large and especially to our faith family.  Stories get behind the veneer of protective pretenses many of us use to make ourselves appear righteous in our own eyes.  Righteousness is not our doing, but God’s and by His definition.  We are like caterpillars waking up from our cocooned sleep, wrestling to get out of the brittle shell of the former representation of ourselves.
I write because I have a wandering mind and I need stories to focus it.  (I read for the same reason.) I write because it is a form of reaching up to my Heavenly Father and saying, “Lord, what would you have me learn from this mess so that I can live an empowered life that is a testimony of what difference you make in my own experience.”
Writing, for me, is a form of seeking the intentions of the Creator’s mind, who implanted this creative desire in me.
What about you?  How do you see yourself in your own writing? Is there some burning personal question you are seeking the answer to and exploring through your writing?  Do you find your characters challenging your personal views?  Has your writing taught you something you didn’t know about yourself when you first started writing?