When I write, I feel his pleasure

Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favourite streaming platform!

What are you engaged in that makes you feel God’s pleasure? I’m currently sitting at my desk in our basement office. Our office is a multipurpose space that used to house my old high school desk, a guest bed, and my husband’s exercise equipment. Recently, we swapped out the guest bed for a larger corner desk that could accommodate two screen monitors for my husband’s work in video editing and website building. Thankfully we did keep my old IKEA desk, along with all my treasured books and plants and thrifted table lamp. 

Needless to say this little corner of our shared office is my happy place.

A writer spotted in her natural habitat.

The house is quiet save for the low-key vibes of some music I’ve got playing almost inaudibly. Outside, the world is dark. I light a 3-wick candle with the scent of early grey and ginger. There are no signs of life in my home at 5:32AM. It’s the perfect time to write. God woke me at 5:04AM this morning with the details for this blog post. I smiled when he did. My brain firing as the phrases began to write themselves in my mind. When my body finally caught up with the marathon my mind was running, I rose, recited Psalm 23, stretched my body a little, and by 5:32AM I sat down in my happy place.

Like I said, the perfect time to write.

I know how foreign this might sound to some: getting up before daylight to write a blog post. Maybe writing at the crack of dawn feels more like rushing to complete homework you left to the last minute, or a report you’ve been putting off that your boss is waiting on.

But the truth is when I write, I feel his pleasure. 

Chariots of Fire is an Oscar-winning film from 1981 depicting Eric Liddell, an Olympic athlete during the 1924 Olympic Games. There is a moment in the film when Liddell says, “I believe God made me for a purpose. But he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.”

I see this in all kinds of people. I see it mostly in my husband who skips meals without realizing it because he’s too caught up with the design he’s working on for a client’s website. Or when he stays up till all hours editing footage for another client’s promo video. It’s that pleasure he feels going over the finished product that drives him.

I also see it in the photographer who hustles like no one else to land the inspiring gigs that make him feel alive. Or in the entrepreneur who pours everything into her retail business in order to use the capital to fund passion projects that help those in need around her. 

Pause here and ask yourself: Do I believe God made me for a purpose? What do I think I’ve been made to do? And have I discovered what that is?

To believe you were made for a purpose is one thing. To discover that purpose and actually step into it—that is an entirely different thing altogether. And yet something happens when we do. Something more than just time well-spent, feeling productive, or getting a dopamine fix.

To feel God’s pleasure as you lock in to whatever you were made to be doing makes it possible to endure the adversity, the dry seasons, the obstacles, and the naysayers. It fuels perseverance in ways that no motivational quote or productivity app ever could.

I wrote a blog for exactly two and a half years. I launched it in January of 2020—mere weeks before the world shut down. I couldn’t have known the timing, nor the challenges ahead. But I wrote through it all. Week after week, every other Friday, 1,300 words without fail. No exceptions.

I didn’t do it for applause. I didn’t do it because someone asked me to. There was no paycheque at the end of each post, no performance review from a supervisor. No one was waiting for it. And yet, I couldn’t not do it. It wasn’t discipline that got me up before the crack of dawn all those mornings—it was delight. A sacred compulsion. A sense that God had placed something inside me that I was supposed to give away.

I wrote because I loved it. I wrote because, like Eric Liddell ran in Chariots of Fire, when I write I feel God’s pleasure.

And it’s not discipline that keeps me writing now either, it’s delight. My delight in doing what God placed inside me to do. And his delight in my obedience to it.

Maybe you’ve felt this before, too.

Maybe you’ve experienced what it is to invest in something that has no deadline or dollar sign attached to it. To do something just because it brings joy. Something that can somehow stir your soul and quiet your mind all at once. You may not be paid for it, praised for it, or promoted because of it, but somehow, it still feels deeply and profoundly worth it.

But maybe you haven’t felt that yet.

Maybe this whole idea sounds foreign, even frustrating. Maybe life has become a blur of obligations and expectations. You wake up already tired. The week rolls by and you’re unsure what it amounted to. Purpose feels like a luxury someone else has time to discover.

If that’s you, I hear you. I see you. And I want you to know: your purpose isn’t lost, it may just be buried. Covered over by layers of distraction, pain, or self-protection. But it’s still there.

So if that’s you, let’s get honest. There are real and tangible things that make it hard to find your purpose.

Consider if any of these resonate. 

The Purpose-Sucking Obstacles:

Substance overuse or digital overload. We can drown out the still, small voice of God with just one more glass of wine, Netflix autoplay, or endless Instagram scrolling.

Toxic environments. Regular interaction with toxic people who belittle or drain us makes it difficult to dream freely.

Overpacked lives. When our schedules leave no space to breathe, we forget how to be still and listen, and we’re too busy to even notice.

Comparison. Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt, I don’t have to try to convince you that comparison is the thief of joy. But the truth is that measuring our worth against someone else’s calling can keep us from discovering our own.

Neglecting rest and introspection. Curiosity is where beauty and creativity begin. Without time to rest and reflect, how could we get curious enough about where we find beauty or how we can be creative?

Thankfully, we are not powerless here. And if one or all of these read like your autobiography, there is good news. There are practices that help clear the fog so we can see more clearly.

They are all foundational but some might come more easily to us than others, and that’s ok!

The Life-Flourishing Practices:

Time spent with Jesus in centring prayer. Sitting in silence before God, even for just five minutes, can reorient both mind and spirit off the hustle of your life and onto the holiness of his.

Time spent in the Scriptures. Friend, if you take away only one thing from all this, may it be that God’s Word doesn’t just inform, it transforms. It reminds us of who he is and who we are in light of that.

Healthy relationships. Find people who tell you the truth with love and speak courage into your calling.

Serve others. Especially those who can’t return the favour. Something about that realigns us with the heart of God like nothing else. 

Reflect and pay attention. Think about what you daydream about. What does your mind drifting towards and it wanders? When you lose track of time doing something you love, what is that thing?

You don’t have it all mapped out today. You don’t have to quit your job or uproot your life to chase purpose. Start small. Begin with curiosity. What stirs you? What quiets the noise in your mind and lights a fire in your chest? 

For me, it’s this. Writing what you’re reading. Writing by candlelight while the rest of the house sleeps. For you, it might be baking bread or designing code or organizing spreadsheets or coaching teens or growing flowers from seeds. Whatever it is, when you find it, you’ll know. Because you’ll feel God’s pleasure as you do it.

And when you do, keep going. Lean in. The world needs people who are flourishing! People who are fully alive doing what they were made for. And I can’t wait for you to discover what that is.

What’s in the Ears

This is the part of the blog where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. The Alli Worthington Show is a podcast that has been a huge inspiration to me for the past couple of years. Alli is a business owner and author and she always has very practical ideas for how to do big things with small, simple steps. Let me know if you check her out!

If this post meant something to you, share it with a friend, or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards a flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

Podcast available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favourite streaming platform!