Coincidence? Or Is There More?

Writing Reactively

Almost all of our blogs are reactive. Something happens to us and we write a blog about it. Sometimes to share our own experiences with our followers, sometimes to get something off our chest, but often also because in personal conversations we discuss questions about life that many more people are probably struggling with as well. We therefore also put the insights and lessons from those conversations online, so that hopefully they can be helpful to people who are searching for answers on the internet.

But sometimes we have to write something

But sometimes it works differently. Suddenly, we get the feeling that we have to write about a certain subject, let’s call it subject X. Not because anyone has asked us about it or because it came up in a conversation, but because the subject somehow keeps pressing itself upon us. So we deliberately dive into it, do the research, and put the results online.

Why? The feeling that we have to do this keeps getting stronger, until we can actually no longer ignore it. So we get to work. Very consciously listening to a “voice” that keeps saying: “Research X. Write about it. Put it online.”

Sometimes we spend days, weeks, or even months on it. Research takes time, writing takes time, and checking everything takes time. And yet we keep going. Not because anyone asked us to, not because it will bring in a lot of readers, but because that “voice” keeps urging us to do it.

Another variation

Many of the little blogs you read were actually written sometime in the past. Because of the privacy of the people we work with, we mess around quite a bit with dates and locations, so that nothing can be traced back to anyone personally. Sometimes a blog literally sits in the waiting room for months… scheduled for date Y.

And then a “voice” suddenly says: Put it online now. Don’t wait until date Y.

So we do. We put it online immediately, without having the slightest idea at that moment why it has to go online right now.

Sometimes that “voice” says the opposite: “No, it was scheduled for tomorrow, but move it back a few weeks or months.” And then we do that. One blog gets pushed back and another one suddenly gets moved to tomorrow.

Why? That “voice”…

And then we started to notice something.

When something like that happens and the blog goes online, we regularly notice something remarkable. The very next day, we suddenly have a conversation about… subject X.

A subject we had not discussed with anyone before that. A subject no one had asked us about. A subject we had sometimes spent days, weeks, or even months researching, simply because that “voice” kept urging us to do so.

Coincidence? Or Is There More?

At that moment, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Then we understand why we had to research and write about it. Not only to gain knowledge ourselves, but also to make that knowledge transferable.

During the conversation, we have the information ready and can immediately help someone further. And afterwards, we can simply send them a link to the blog, so they can read everything again quietly at home. That is certainly not unnecessary, because many of these subjects are quite complex. There is only so much you can explain during one conversation, and the other person can only take in so much information during that same conversation.

Very special.

Looking back, we increasingly understand that what sometimes begins for us as an inexplicable urge to research something may not be so inexplicable after all. As Christians, we believe that God can work in us, lead us, and put things on our hearts that we ourselves do not yet understand at the time.

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God.” (Romans 8:14)

And that is exactly what happens when that “voice” keeps saying: Research X. Write about it. Put it online.

“for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:13)

Trusting Without Knowing Why

There is a lesson in this for us: when we hear that “voice” again, we no longer ask why we have to research and write about something. We research it and put it online, trusting completely that we are supposed to do it. Maybe we will understand why later. Or maybe we won’t. And that is okay. We simply have to listen and do what we are being asked to do.

And what about you as the reader? Maybe you sometimes read one of our little blogs and think: Why did they actually write this? Or: Why is it worded this particular way? Now you know why. Maybe it is because someone needs it, even though at the moment we write it, we still don’t know who that person is.

What do you do with “that voice” in your head? Do you listen to it and take action, even when you do not yet understand why? Or do you shut it out because you cannot explain it?

(and this blog too… had to go online today… because “that voice”)