International Enthusiasm Week

This was a new one for me. I noticed the other day that the first week of September is International Enthusiasm Week.

Enthusiasm is defined as strong warmth of feeling: keen interest: fervor or something that inspires or is pursued or regarded with ardent zeal or fervor.

In light of this definition, I asked myself what causes me to have enthusiasm. The answer came rather quickly.

When God reveals to me truths and then allows me to express them through telling a story, I get excited. I can understand when the runner in Chariots of Fire said he could feel God's pleasure as he ran. I totally get that same feeling when I'm in the writing zone.

The only way to explain this zone is to give you an example.

My newest book releases tomorrow. In the developing stages of this story God nudged my memory back to a story my dad had told me. Then I began to imagine characters put into this situation and what their backgrounds might be like. As my heroine took shape, she had experienced much loss and would naturally be angry with God. The spirit brought a scripture to mind, Romans 8:28. I wanted to bring my heroine full circle in realizing the truth of that verse.

As I began to write this story, I had that feeling of God's pleasure. In some small way, I like to think it might feel like what the writers of the Bible felt as they penned His words. Now, I am in no way equating my writing with that of Scripture. But, those writers must have felt God's pleasure as they wrote with His guidance. That's what being in the writing zone is for me. That is what brings a definite enthusiasm.

What causes you to have enthusiasm?