My Opus

by Robin Layne

Your opus is a written statement that helps you clarify the following:

Who you are:

I am a child of God and bride of Jesus Christ. As the robin bird is a herald of spring, so am I a herald of Christ’s eternal spring—new life now and forever and a new heaven and earth to come, springing from the blood he shed on the cross and the living water, the Holy Spirit he sent, springing up from within me. I am still learning what this means, and will probably continue to learn this more forever.

What you should do in life to best fulfill God’s purposes for you:

Foremost, I shall draw close to God and share in his love, letting it change me with the infilling presence of Christ; and secondly I shall share his love with all I meet—friends, enemies, family, strangers. I shall learn to be obedient to the voice of God within me to do the specific things he tells me, and, as I obey him, I will hear his direction more and more.

Your big dream for your work:

My big dream is to draw people into the deep passionate loving relationship that Christ has for them; and to be the mother of God’s children in whatever ways he calls me.

The purpose of your work:

The purpose of my work is to draw closer to God myself, because I know that I am a unique facet of the image of God, and that it gives him pleasure to share his love with me; and to show others who God really is, as opposed to the false impressions people have of him. If they really knew him, it is hard to imagine that anyone would not fall madly in love with him and want to serve him all the days of their lives and on into eternity in Heaven.

The strategies necessary for you to achieve your goals:

I am not aware of all the strategies God has for my future. I do know that he has called me to write, and planted in me a desire to write novels above any other type of writing; however, if he wants to change my direction, my sails are up and his wind may blow me as he wills. I expect to continue to write plays with Beautiful Minds, the NAMI group I’m part of, for as long as I can, unless God tells me not to. My future may include the help and companionship of a husband who would free me in many ways to minister more effectively—to go where we want and need to go, and to learn to love more together. If I do not meet a man to marry, I will be content, however, because my spirit and emotions are fulfilled by having Christ as my husband, and I also have already experienced the joys and sorrows of having and raising a child and do not want to give birth to another. I will continue to help teach Sunday school as long as I can. I will continue to show God’s love and wisdom to the friends I have now and will meet in the future.

The ways you intend to measure your progress to determine whether or not you’re hitting your target:

This is the part I always hate: figuring out how to measure my goals (probably because it resembles math, and I hate math and am no good at it). But for me, what I need to do is ask God to “search me” and show me how I am doing in his eyes. I will not be hard on myself, because part of the second commandment is loving myself, and how can I be full of God’s love if I shut it off from my feelings and actions toward myself? Of course, this is always harder to act on than to talk about, because I overextend myself and it always seems like more is expected of me than I can do, so I pick and choose. What I choose isn’t always what is the best self-care. I have to say, though, that my life, and its target, are God’s, not my own, so I don’t intend to get too stressed out on it. I will find a balance. I will recognize when I am in favor with man—I am always in favor with God, because Christ earned that for me, but there must be more to that idea, as Christ is my example and he grew in such favor. But sometimes the times when we are pleasing God, we are least in the favor of man and don’t seem to be bringing glory to God. The ultimate picture of this phenomena is, of course, the cross.

Your worldview (what you believe):

My worldview is that God made everyone, loves everyone passionately, and is working hard not to let any perish, but that he has put much of this work into our hands, and if we neglect it, we and others suffer. The best way to help God do his work is to be the glove his hand fills and work in partnership with him. That is part of what it means to be his bride. This is not usually a lone venture; we are much stronger and have more influence when we work together. That is where my church and other groups, such as Beautiful Minds, come in. I believe in being a part of something bigger than myself, although I sometimes feel like I don’t fit in well. But when I can’t seem to make conversation in a group or we don’t see eye-to-eye, I will remind myself that I am valid as God has made me and am there for balance. And we are all continually learning—hopefully, learning truth and not being deceived.

Your principles (what you value):

I value the divine romance and the divine nature God has placed within us. I value honesty. I don’t believe in saying everything to everyone, but in choosing my words carefully and wisely and that everything I say should be the truth as far as I know it. Honesty also involves keeping my word! And I intend with my words to embrace the will of God, on earth as it is in Heaven. I believe that life and death are in the power of the tongue—and of the pen. This requires that I control my thoughts, because they are the well of what I express. I value forgiveness. I will let God’s forgiveness for me act out self-forgiveness and forgive others.

Your passion (what you love):

My passion is, first Jesus, and then, writing. Third, trying to help others write better, which often takes the form of noting mistakes that the world often considers petty or even non-existent. This has been leading me into being an editor, and as an editor, I have made more money by far than as a writer. I need to make a living (unless, someday, a husband supports me, which is rare these days), but I have to admit writing, not editing, is my first love when it comes to any kind of work. I love fiction most, and also poetry, songs, and non-fiction. I have a passion to share God’s love through my writing, especially the fantastical, but I have been writing more autobiographical material lately and have become more bold about sharing it with the world.

Your purpose (why you live and work):

Evangelism and representation of the church through the bride relationship with Christ, often through intercession—which I feel I do FAR less than I should, but believe that in the past I have experienced and prayed for things that have come about in the church and the world at the same time or later—seeds germinated by God. I guess that makes me more a mother of God’s children than I thought! I definitely need to make intercession more of a priority. I also do evangelism through friendships and writing as well.

Your process (how you will do so):

Intercession:

I will keep a list of people and other things to pray for, picture the faces in my mind, and start a prayer journal. Yes! I will use the book that Jean gave me for Christmas. I will keep it with my miracle book and my church notes spiral notebook. I will write more miracles in the miracle book as they occur or as I learn of them, and try to share them with others to increase their faith and encourage my own.

Writing:

Specific works so far: Blood of the Willing, and the rest of the AVS series, Lord willing—for teens and others interested in vampires, spiritual guidance, and spiritual warfare.

Related works, if the Lord wants, such as “Against Heaven and Earth” as novella or novel: find a publisher or self-publish when I have the money someday. But I don’t know if that one should be a priority.

The Beautiful Minds plays

Articles for AuthorsbyDesign.com

Perhaps write, and possibly act in, church dramas in Portland (to find out more next Sunday, but consider my time—and my priorities. Put God’s kingdom first, but which aspects of it?

Blog on Goodreads

Write more book reviews—Goodreads and Portland Book Review

More Hubs?

More writing work, as inspired to do it

Hopefully, make connections with people who can help market my writings (a husband, friends, agent)

Editing:

Finish classes and earn editing certificate; continue freelance editing; look for editing job; make more money to support myself and pay for my writing. Get my website to work somehow. Help others to express themselves in worthwhile writing projects of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and script writing. More as God expands my horizons.

Ultimate goal for career:
Live off my writing and reach many people with the gospel who couldn’t be reached by conventional means. Continue working outside the box.