You can hardly type fast enough as your fingers fly across the keys. Your thoughts compose sentences rapidly, and you can’t wait to get everything out on the screen. All the while, there is a big grin across your face. And when you finally sit back to read what you’ve written, you gleam with satisfaction.  

Have you ever experienced that joy in writing? Personally, I have had many opportunities to find joy in writing as a Professional Writing and Information Design (PWID) student here at Cedarville, but one experience stands out.

I was drafting an article about a family who had lost everything when their house burnt down. While that doesn’t seem like a joyful subject, the article was sweet to write because I was telling how God had miraculously saved this family’s lives. After interviewing this family, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. So, I began typing furiously, afraid that I wouldn’t remember what I wanted to say. But the story just followed naturally. I barely stopped to think about what I was going to write next. 

I smiled the whole time I was writing. I smiled because the family’s faith was so encouraging, and I smiled because their story was ultimately about God and His goodness to them. What a privilege to be sharing this family’s story and God’s goodness with everyone who would read the article!  

Once I stopped my writing frenzy, I went back over the content to see what I had written. I had been writing so fast that I expected everything to be a jumbled mess. But, to my surprise, it wasn’t. All my sentences made sense and told the story with passion and sincerity. An even bigger smile spread across my face. At that moment, I remembered why I chose Professional Writing as my major. I remembered how fun it is to share stories through words on a page. I remembered the joy of writing. 

My writing doesn’t always come that easily. In fact, it rarely does. I often find myself laboring over the right word choice with just the right connotations. I rewrite the same sentence three or four times before I like it. I proofread laboriously and still miss typos. Most days, writing is hard. 

But even then, I can still find joy in writing. How? Because I know that God has called me to write, and He can use my small words on a page to make a big impact for His kingdom. All the blood, sweat, and tears are worth it when I remember that my writing is for God’s purpose and kingdom. That is the ultimate joy in writing: doing it for my Father’s glory.

That’s one thing PWID has taught me. Writing for God’s purposes is always worth it. It’s worth it when I struggle to write, and it’s worth it when the words flow naturally. 

Today, writing is fun. I am smiling as I write this piece right now. Tomorrow, writing might not be fun. I might have to write some hard content about a subject that doesn’t interest me. But there can be joy through it all because I know that God has given me the ability to write, and I can use that gift for His purposes and his glory. There can always be joy in writing. 

And you too can learn about writing for God’s greater purposes with PWID as your major. If you feel that God has given you the gift of writing, PWID just may be the “write” major for you. Come learn and share the joy of writing with me.