Why I Wrote "Living the Heart of God"

Why I Wrote "Living the Heart of God"
Wednesday, August 17, 2022 by Cindy Barrineau Curtis

In the long days of the quarantine, I found myself called to the files and folders that contained my drafts of unfinished writing. I opened the draft of Living the Heart of God, the final book in The Heart of God trilogy that I self-published, sure I was now ready to finish the book. During the past ten years, I’d dabbled at it, revised a bit here and there, but was unable to bring it to the completion point.

My reality hit as soon as I started reading the draft. I felt myself flinch and recoil. This draft contained my jaded version of the story by making excuses, playing the victim, blaming everyone else for my mistakes, and writing from my self-righteous pedestal, looking down at the world.

The Lord directed me to begin again. This new draft reminded me how far I had come from the wounded soul of ten years ago. I wept for that version of me as God guided me to write from the voice of recovery. I revised the perspective by offering hope and strength to the reader instead of telling a tale of how I suffered. While I did indeed suffer, I did not want to feature the full-length film anymore! Instead, I focused on the next steps of recovery, how to persevere amid deep pain, and how to forgive and allow God’s strength to sustain and his love to heal. God had much better plans than I did!

So God and I rewrote the draft. I hovered over the delete button for a long time, praying for guidance. Releasing all to God, I selected all of the 10,215 words and watched them disappear. God had much better plans than I did! He poured the Holy Spirit into me. Together we wrote the best version of the book. For seekers who need to return to God, refresh their faith, or live with a heart for the Lord, my story offers hope.

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He taught them The Lord’s Prayer. By examining each phrase of this beautiful prayer, I write about how to live your life to the fullest in God’s care. I include a daily devotional at the end of each section with journal questions, scripture readings, connections, and ways to establish a weekly pattern for building faith that includes a Sabbath rest. The book can be an individual or small group study. I hope it meets people where they are.

I spent a good part of my life searching for something I could not name. Finally, within the hard work of recovery, I found healing through my faith and the courage to trust in the Lord with all my heart when he directed me to delete a completed draft of a book and start over.

I wrote Living the Heart of God so that others could find hope in all circumstances. In this life, we will have trials and hardship, but our Lord never leaves us. He has overcome the world!

Cindy Barrineau Curtis is a Master teacher, published author, and motivational speaker. Her career spans over 30 years in education, ministry, writing, and speaking. Her nonfiction writing offers hope and empowers readers with methods to manage life's ups and downs with confidence and grace. She runs IwriteYouwrite LLC offering writing practice and support to teachers, authors and aspiring writers as well as workshops and talks. She is available to speak to your group. Cindy is a member of Word Weavers Charleston. Contact her at iwriteyouwrite.com and [email protected].