Christian Writers and The Little Way

In the secular writing world, one often hears that a writer must believe in himself and his work, believe it's good, worthy, going to be published and receive good reviews. That's how a writer goes about being encouraged enough to finish writing the first draft.

From a Christian perspective, there might be a concern that all this believing in yourself might cause you to become puffed up, egotistical, and filled with the sin of pride. Perhaps Christian writers need to follow another way. A little way.

Saint Thérèse of Liseaux was a young French woman who entered a convent at a young age. She knew that the life in the convent would not allow her to do great things. So she found for herself The Little Way.

The Little Way means becoming as a little child, and relying on Jesus to make you holy. It means making little sacrifices rather than seeking to do heroic great things for the Kingdom.

What does The Little Way mean for a writer? It means that instead of believing in yourself as a great writer, you believe in Jesus as a great Savior. You continue your writing not because it is great, but because our great Savior will be pleased by even our humble writing efforts so long as we do it for Him.

After all, God is sovereign over all. If you have a burning desire to be a writer in your heart, God not only knows about it, He knew about it before He created you. He has a divine purpose for it, if you will only dedicate it to Him.

This doesn't mean, I think, that all Christian writers have to write only Christian works for Christian publishers. We can write for secular publication, provided we write in a way pleasing to God.

Saint  Thérèse, in her humble life in the convent, was asked by her Mother Superior, her older sister Pauline, to write down some of her early memories of the blessed life that their devout family had shared. Because Thérèse was sickly, it was one of the few things she could do.

She knew she was not a writer. But, following The Little Way, she wrote a book, The Story of a Soul, which moved people around the world. Based on this simple book, Thérèse, who died at a young age, became known to the world and became canonized as a saint.

Question: do you think that Saint Thérèse can be an example for the Christian writer?