I just had the most lovely thought this morning.

You see, I’ve been laid up in bed for almost 3 weeks with a horrible stomach flu. With autoimmune disorder, viruses hit me twice as hard and last three times as long. I’m sick 80% of the time, really.

In these long stints in bed over the past six years, as I’ve battled back from sepsis and more, my depression can become quite dreadful: “My life doesn’t really matter…” “Life is passing me by…” “My work will be forgotten…” “I’ll be forgotten…” “I’ll never get well…”

You know the drill.

Well, right in the midst of some of my lowest moments, someone will reach out to me and share how my writing or testimony has helped them keep going or has ministered to them, etc.

They have no idea that their sharing is a ministry to me!

So here’s the lovely thought: If you are a writer or a creative, you must absolutely keep creating and keep sharing your art with a world in need. When you do, your offering takes on a life of its own—it becomes immortal in a way. It multiplies. It goes places you can’t and does things beyond anything you could have dreamed.

Here I was, suffering in my bed—again—too sick to lift my head, let alone create anything. Yet, the art I dared to make—the words I dared to pen and share—still went about the work of the Kingdom on my behalf. And it came back to lift my weary soul when I needed it most!

So, dear writer and creative, take heart! Your work truly matters—more than you will ever know.