Hilda Ann Stahl Memorial Scholarship

I believe that my faith should be the center of everything, including the art that I create. I know through my studies and my own experience that literature can have an immense impact on a person and I want the impact I leave to be positive. I want to “plant a seed” within people that God can then water through their potential exploration of faith. However, I don't want to write specifically Christian fiction, as I hope my work could be the spark that not only brings believers closer to God but non-believers as well. Thus, I want it to be widely accessible. What this means for my work is that my characters will not be openly labeled as Christian, they may not even mention God directly. What they will do, however, is have the kind of hope and joy that they express can only come from something greater than themselves. In this way, my work will present what a life lived for Christ can look like and how it may lead to hope, joy, and peace beyond all understanding. However, it will do so without being marketed specifically towards Christians. I hope this will make any of my work that I end up publishing reach a wide variety of individuals. This way maybe someone who doesn’t know God will pick it up and it may act as the seed I've described, planted to cause them to further explore faith. That is what I believe my job to be, planting the seed, it is up to God to water it, and then whoever reads my work to choose if they want to let it grow or not. I am currently implementing this belief through a story about grief. The inspiration for this novel comes from my own loss and struggles, and I hope this will give it the relatability required for people to connect to the work. I feel it is important to use the difficulties I have been through to aid others. God has led me through many valleys already in life, and I want to use those experiences to help Him lead others through the valleys of their own. Writing is one way I have found I'm able to do this. God has given me a passion for the art of writing and I feel it would be a disservice to Him if I did not use it to aid His people. Reading has been a very important part of my life. Stories became something I could fall back on when I was suffering, something God could speak to me through. I hope the stories I create can be that for another person.