inspire me! {cure creative's block} part one

I'd venture to say, whether you're an artist, a writer, a musician, a seamstress, a designer...a creator, you have experienced Creative's Block at some point in your journey.

We've all been there.  That dry, disinterested path.  No inspiration, no direction.  It's downright awful!

In my own journey as a creative, I have discovered a few things that help to get the creative juices flowing again, and I thought that I'd share them with you!

The first one is so simple...yet so easy to forget.  I find myself forgetting this in my art as a writer all the time.

1. Pray

All right, so it sounds too obvious, and maybe even like a cop-out for the first in this series.  But it is my belief that this element is so important, and so often overlooked!

There are a couple reasons:

• God is the Ultimate Artist.  He wrote the first story (not to mention the story of eternity), He taught the birds how to sing, He painted the first sunset, He sculpted the first human...He even made the first clothes!  When you are looking to learn more about a craft, you go to those that have the most experience to learn and be taught by them.  God promises that He is always listening, and is always ready to bless those with wisdom that ask (James 1:5).

• What if God is trying to get your attention?  What if He has an incredible piece that He has for you to create, and He needs you to be totally focused on Him to do it?  Seek Him, read His Word (I always tend to get great story ideas when I read the Proverbs, just fyi! LOL), ask Him what He would have you to be focusing on right now.  

Isn't that what we are here for?  To bring Him glory and honor with the fruit of our hands?

Ask Him what is next, what would bring Him the most glory.  Implore Him for divine inspiration.

And then, wait.  (That's the hardest part--ask me how I know.)

Sometimes God gives us times of dryness as a part of the journey.  A time to be quiet and listen.  A time to just pray and seek His glory.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..."

~Ecclesiastes 3:1

In the meantime, don't stop practicing.  You may not have a 'great idea' right now, but keep honing your skills for when you do!  It is crucial to stay on your game, to keep learning, to keep practicing.

When inspiration arrives, you want to be ready.

I hope you enjoyed the first part in this series!  Stay tuned for part two coming soon...