018 | Submitted & Planned: Writerly Wisdom from Proverbs

In the latest episode of Christian Author 2.0, the conversation starts with Proverbs 3:5–6 and expands into a practical encouragement for Christian writers. Trusting God with your writing doesn’t mean skipping preparation. It means preparing your creative field, then committing your plans to him.

🗝️ 5 keys you’ll learn

1. Submit every creative project to the Lord — Whether you’re writing a novel, devotional, Bible study, or short story, bring the project to God from the beginning. The episode challenges writers to acknowledge him throughout the entire process, not only after the work is finished.
2. Don’t lean entirely on your own insight — Proverbs 3 offers two important reminders: trust in the Lord and “lean not on your own understanding.” Christian creatives can seek the wisdom and insight needed to tell stories that connect with people and serve the gospel.
3. Planning creates creative freedom — A roadmap can make the writing process feel more manageable. As Jeremy shares, the best writing often comes with “at least some sort of a plan,” including characters, major plot points, and a clear understanding of the reader.
4. Submission is not an alternative to preparation — One of the episode’s sharpest lines is: “Submission is never an alternative to preparation, to planning.” Planning clears the field. Submission commits the work to God.
5. Commit your plans instead of abandoning them — Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” The encouragement here isn’t to avoid making plans. It’s to create them, offer them to God, and trust him with the outcome.

🎉 A fun fact from the episode

The storytelling formula discussed in the episode is:

• 80% thrill, entertainment, mystery, and suspense
• 10% insight
• 10% inspiration

That balance reflects a primary goal of storytelling: entertaining people while creating room for insight and spiritual encouragement.

Listen to the episode

If you’re preparing for a new writing project, this episode will help you think about both sides of the process: trusting God with your work and building a thoughtful plan before you begin.

⚡ Keep writing with purpose

Your creative project deserves both prayerful submission and practical preparation. Clear the field, sketch the roadmap, and commit the work to the Lord.

Hey, creative Christian, Jeremy Bauma here, and welcome to Christian Author 2.0, the podcast for modern stewards of the written word with insights for your GospelWise author journey. For 2 decades, I've watched authors struggle with their creative calling. That's why I built the GospelWise author ecosystem, to provide the practical training and high-tech tools you need to thrive. From deep dive insights to specialized apps and personalized coaching, I'm here to help you turn your manuscript into a movement. So stop guessing and start growing your reach with excellence. Let's dive into today's episode and master the path together. Hey, Creative Christian, Jeremy here with another episode of the Christian Author 2.0 Insights Podcast. Glad you're here.

And I'm recording this at the front end of September. The summer has sort of wound down, even though it's sticking around here in Michigan. 90s the past couple days with 100% humidity, heat advisories with temperatures feeling like it's 105. But I suppose I should not be complaining because soon enough here in these parts, it's gonna be snowy and 0 degrees. So I'll take the sunshine, even the heat while I can. So summer has wound down, the kids are back to school, and I am gearing up to get back into the writing mode. particularly a series of stories that I've been working on for the past year in my End Times Chronicles world, an extension of that series into a new one called End Times Resistance. And it basically follows a collection of characters during the end times, the events of the Book of Revelation, and especially under the superheated, concentrated persecution of a totalitarian one-world government.

I'm looking forward to getting back into that series as well as maybe another book in my Supernatural Mystery series next month in FABORIMO, my Faith-Based Book Writing Month challenge that I launched a year ago in October, striking that back up here, 2026, next month. And the way I'm getting ready for that and trying to help you get ready for that as well is through my GospelWise Author Academy. Creator Session, walking a group of people through my Storywise Framework template to create a plan in order to write well with freedom, full confidence, to either start, continue, but especially finish a passion project during that month in October. And in this episode, I wanted to share something that was brought to my attention in my morning devotionals.

It was a verse I had read before and have memorized before. You've probably heard it, and it was something that just struck me in a new way, thinking about what it means for me to be a Christian creative, a Christian writer wielding the pen for the sake of the cross. It's a verse 2 verses actually that comes from the book of Proverbs chapter 3. I got the NRSV version here and I thought I'd read it quick and then also read the NIV, which is what I usually read for my devotionals. But this version usually is the way that most people have heard it. So I'm gonna read this, then read the other NIV version, and then we'll chitchat about it. Okay? So Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight. That's a good way of putting it.

In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. A verse you probably have heard before, and I'm gonna read the NIV version a minute here because it offers just a different twist on some of those words that I think are super important for considering our calling and vocation as Christian creatives. Chapter 3, verse 5 and 6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. So instead of insight, it's understanding here. In all your ways submit To him, and he will make your paths straight. I like that way of both— I like the way that both of these translations put a couple of the words here. All right. Lean not on your own insight or understanding, but instead submit, or in all of your ways acknowledge the Lord Yahweh, and then submit.

All of your ways to Yahweh, and he will make your paths straight.

I thought of this today.

This was in my morning devotional. I'm reading through the Gospels at 3 different times this year, as well as a proverb, a chapter from the book of Proverbs. And coming across this passage made me think about replacing the word ways with the word writings. or books or stories or whatever it is that— whatever project I'm working on, creative project. So I thought about that and thinking through how I acknowledge or submit my writings, my creative projects to the Lord. And I gotta say I was a bit convicted because there's part of me that Does approach God before my projects and in the midst of my projects seeking insight from the Holy Spirit and offering them up to the Lord to use for his glory and to use to impact people in some way. Mostly, I want to entertain people. I think that's the primary goal of storytelling.

But along the way, my formula is, as a storyteller, is to offer Entertainment, insight, and inspiration. Kind of an 80% thrill, entertainment, mystery, suspense, but then 10% insight, 10% inspiration. And along the way, I do ask that the Lord would use it for his glory and offer these projects up, but I don't think that I consciously every day, every moment, before writing a short story, a novel, submit the project to him. And that was super convicting because I think that needs to be like ground zero when we begin a project. Not to get all spiritual about the process, but I think that if we are called in everything we do Whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, give all to the glory of God, as Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians. If that's our motivation as Christians in life generally, then that should also be our motivation and our mindset as Christian creatives, right? So whether we're hosting people, friends, as neighbors, we should do all to the glory of God. Whether we are a construction worker or a manager at a department store or a manager, a vice president of a group of people at a corporation, we should do everything to the glory of God, right? And the same is true for our creative projects, our writing projects, The stories we tell, the kinds of stories we tell, the way we tell those stories, we should do all to the glory of God. We should also submit them to him.

And we should trust in the Lord with our heart, our storytelling heart, to tell the stories that will most impact people for the sake of the cross, for The gospel. And so anyway, I, approaching this, reading this passage, and considering how I should approach my storytelling, was just convicted that in all my ways, in all my storytelling ways, in all of my writing, I should submit them, I should acknowledge the Lord in the middle of that storytelling process. I should not just lean on my own insight, my own understanding for how these stories should be told, for how these books that I might write, whether stories or devotionals or studies or other resources, I shouldn't just trust in my own understanding and my own insight, but instead should trust the Lord and lean on him. With every aspect of my storytelling or creative writing heart. And I would offer this to you as maybe a point of reflection and exhortation and encouragement for your own creative journey. Maybe this could be a bit of a mindset shift for you as well, that when we tell stories, when we write whatever passion project is out on our heart, we should submit them to the Lord. We should acknowledge him in the process. We should lean not on our own understanding, but we should give these over to him and give our mind over and our heart over to him so that we can be fully present with him in this process, so that we can fully receive from the Holy Spirit.

The very good, insightful gifts that he longs to give us, the wisdom we need to tell the kinds of stories this world needs in order to ignite faith, in order to wield the pen for the sake of the cross.

But you know, there's another side of it that I think that we often forget, a side that is I could call it a little less spiritual, if you will, than what Proverbs 3 speaks of here. Here we've been talking about how we are submitting our plans to the Lord and waiting on him to work and deliver and being okay with the results, doing our part, but also ultimately casting our work before the Lord and trusting him with the rest. So yes, all well and good and super important, and was reminded of this a few years ago when I did those devotions walking through the book of Proverbs, and especially when I came to Proverbs 3. But you know, a few weeks later I came to Proverbs 21 and 24, which reminds us that there is another half to this wisdom about our plans and the necessity to plan in the first place. Proverbs 21:5, the plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. And then the follow-up in 24:27, put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready. After that, build your house. Think about that, especially the, that second proverb there.

And as writers, envision that your house is the book. And the field is your plan. I think that there is a wise order here that Solomon is casting before us, this vision of these non-negotiables when it comes to the order of planning and then working and execution, where we need to get our book house in order. With the plan, tilling the field, getting that ground ready, clearing away the brush, maybe marking out the foundation before we actually get to laying that foundation and building the book house. But alongside that, we are offered the wisdom here that plans are what actually lead to profit in the first place. And there is this sense in which the hastiness that can come from just launching into a project— or think about next month, the challenge of our faith-based book writing month— entering into that without a plan leads to poverty. So sketching out a roadmap, figuring out our characters, the major plot points, or who the reader is and what their problem is that you have to help them overcome, Sketching that out helps you as an author write in a way that is profitable. But launching into something without that roadmap is the fastest way to creative poverty.

I have seen this for myself for the last 18 years that I have been writing and also coming alongside other people as a writing coach. Staring at that blank page at the very beginning, having no clue where the story is going to go. I do that sometimes on purpose as a discovery writer, but I found that I write the best when I have at least some sort of a plan, some sort of a sketch of what is supposed to unfold in the story, a roadmap for the writing road ahead. That is when I have found the most freedom, the most confidence, and the most profitable writing Period. When I take the time to plan, when I get that sort of outdoor creative field ready before going and building that book.

And that, I think, is what's important about the creative process that we submit to the Lord.

Submission is never an alternative to preparation, to planning. It's actually what preparation, that laying the groundwork, the clearing the fields, the making the plan is all about. We plan so we can submit. One more proverb for you before we end this episode. Proverbs 16, with this reminder that drives home our need to commit What we've planned, and the necessity to plan before we even commit in the first place. Proverbs 16:3, commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. I love the way that Solomon frames this nugget of wisdom. Not abandon your plans, not don't make any.

No, commit, commit the work, and the plans get established. You see, Solomon here is assuming that you have some sort of plan to begin with. He assumes you did the fieldwork. And so what he has in mind here is who those plans belong to. The plans that you've created are offered up to the Lord, and he is the one who establishes them. So a submitted plan is not a smaller plan, It's really the only kind that God promises to establish in the first place, which is why our submission and commitment of our plans are really one side to the same coin, where the other side is about making and preparing them so that we can submit and commit them in the first place. That's the vision that I want to cast before you this day, and I hope that you will join me In doing the hard work in September and beyond to ready your creative field so that you can build the book that matters.

So my encouragement from the book of Proverbs is to trust in the Lord with all of your storytelling, your— all of your creative writing heart, to lean not on your own storytelling, creative writing understanding. But instead, in all your writing ways, acknowledge him, submit to him that project, that story, that devotional, that study, that resource. And the promise from Proverbs is that he will make your path straight. He will give you the insight you need to tell the best story possible, to connect emotionally, with the people that you are trying to tell these stories to. He will connect the studies, the devotionals in a way that will be most impactful for his kingdom. Making your storytelling path straight, your writing path straight, when we lean into the exhortation of this proverb. That's what I'm gonna try and do this year, and I hope that you would as well. I invite you into this proverb Uh, this insight, this encouragement, this storytelling, this creative writing year.

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