I like Jon Acuff’s writing a lot. His little (huge) blog Stuff Christians Like has been one of my favorites of the past few months.

Also, he’s a machine of a blogger, often cranking out multiple quality posts a day. He makes the rest of us bloggers look terribly lazy.

One of his most recent posts talks about the fear a lot of people have of using their gifts that-like much of what he writes-I could really relate to:

I used to use my words to interact with girls online. I used to post funny things, or insightful things in hopes that my approval addiction would get fed in some way. I even started sending out long, bibley emails to friends from church in hopes that they would tell me how holy I was. I misappropriated my greatest gift in a selfish desire to feed my massive ego and numb my wounds.

After a while, I realized what I was doing and decided to never do that again. The easiest way was to simply stop writing. The way I could control it without turning to God was to quit writing. I might have scribbled in a journal, but the swirling and twisting storm of words that seethed inside remained silent. My gift was stolen. There were too many thorn bushes planted by my one talent. I didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

I eventually couldn’t contain it any longer. The words inside me felt like soldiers dying inside a submarine that was running out of air. I asked God if I could write again. I asked him if he was cool with me writing, given my less than proud past. The answer was pretty simple. I felt like he said, “Do you know what I do when you write? I sing.”

Read the whole post, it’s worth your time.

Have any of you had similar struggles? Other thoughts?