Stephen Shepherd Creative

Writers Journey

My journey to becoming a writer took 50 years and was never a straight path. It was a path that zig-zagged through the rocky terrain of my life as directed by God. Along the way, I picked up small pieces of life experiences that would eventually supply me with enough material to write books and songs. I have always liked to write, but for years my mind was often a blank page—that is until God and Jesus stepped in one day to make all those puzzle pieces fit together. Suddenly, each life’s experience took on a new spiritual meaning; it was like God had flicked a switch in my head, and it shed sacred light on everything.

I particularly liked writing my first book Chronicle’s of a Spiritual Journey (Higher Ground Publishing) because it finally placed into spiritual context thirty-five meaningful experiences in my life. It is a good book, and it’s an honest book of God piecing together the spiritual significance of one man’s life story. With God, and with His Son Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit helping me to recall each story, I now had both great stories to tell and the spiritual light as to why they happened. Every young writer is told to write honestly to reveal something of the truth about him or herself. That’s what this book does and that is why it is such a great read; it is honest to its core, and that is what the reader will feel and see.

For centuries, literature and music have sought to reveal the truths about human existence. Jesus’ parables in the New Testament are wonderful examples of sacred and spiritual truths revealed through stories about human nature. We, of course, until Christ returns will always be flawed creations in a fallen world, and the Bible—and some of the honest writings inspired by it—will always remind us about how to stay on the straight and narrow.

Nothing better expresses God’s supernatural intervention into the creative act to reveal the truths about human existence than when I write music. For me, writing music has always been a supernatural act; there is no other explanation for it. Out of nowhere, God would send a melody to my brain, then He would send me the song title and the lyrics a few minutes later. Creating music supernaturally this way happened to me over 100 times, and each time the song pieces fit together perfectly. Eventually, I realized that I wasn’t writing the songs; God was. Most of the writers and artists that I know feel the same way about their creative experiences; the act of creating has astonishing supernatural origins.

“As many seasoned writers know, God often hijacks your pen and takes over the controls of what is being written.”

— Stephen shepherd, FOUNDER