How to Work from Home, Eternally Impact Your Kids, and Get Paid to Inspire a Generation
You have a dream . . . and more than anything you wish it could happen.
You’ve never wanted to see yourself on the silver screen or to become a millionaire by age thirty. Instead, all you wanted was to make a difference.
For many of us moms, the biggest difference we want to make is in the lives of our kids. I mean, if we fail at that nothing else matters . . . right? If we can raise kids who love Jesus—and dedicate their lives to Him—then a thousand of our prayers will be answered. It’s what we want most for them—to spend eternity with God.
But there’s another part of us, too, one we’re often afraid to talk about: the part that wants to make a difference in this world. We want to impact others, beyond the four walls of our home. We want to reach out beyond our town and maybe even our state. Hey, if we can make the difference in the life of someone from Kenya, all the better!
Wouldn’t that be amazing? To sit at home, love on our kids, and have our WORDS inspire someone else? Someone we will never meet on this earth, but can get to know in heaven?
Then . . . if we dared to dream even more . . . we’d wish that we could get PAID to do just that. These days money is tight, and it would help to contribute to the family.
When I first started wanting to reach the world, I did it by writing magazine articles. (This was in 1995, before there was such a thing as blogging!)
Magazines are great because they NEED content. They have to produce monthly inspiration, and they are always looking for great writers, writers who understand them. You can read my article for writing for magazines here.
Writing articles is a great way to start making money from home. If you do it regularly, you can pull in a nice income. And after writing articles for a while, I moved to writing books. Since 2003 I’ve had forty books published. Yes, that’s a lot. But, yes, I love it! I love sharing parenting and marriage advice. I love sharing insights into God’s Word. And I love to know I’m crafting fictional stories that inspire a generation.
Recently I added it up, and just my NOVELS have sold more than 300,000 copies! That’s not including my devotional books, my books for teens, my books for families, and my children’s books. Publishers are paying me to share inspiration to people in this generation of all ages. How amazing is that?!
The money has helped. We’ve paid for three kids to go to college, and we’ve gone on numerous research trips (i.e. vacations). We’ve paid for an adoption, helped to fund mission trips, and given to causes we love. I am so thankful!
But I have to admit my favorite part is how my children have benefitted, even though at first I didn’t realize how they would. After all, I was taking time AWAY from them to write.
Yet what my three adult kids witnessed most during their growing-up years was a mom who was passionate about God’s work. They’d see me working at my computer, yes, but they also heard the amazing stories about how God showed up! They listened as I read letters from those around the world who were inspired by my writing, and they understood that while this was my dream, God had dreams for THEM too!
My writing benefited my children by helping them understand that God is the giver of good dreams. They watched me—and their amazing dad—and understood what following Him was all about. Their faith grew as they witnessed God at work in my life.
Yes, I’ve been able to work at home while raising kids. Yes, I’ve even made money doing it. But more than that, my kids have been eternally impacted, and now they are sharing Jesus’ love in their lives!
God knew that the dreams He placed in my heart would make an impact . . . starting with HOME.
Blessings,
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What a beautiful story. Do you know where I can get started doing this? I’m a new stay at home mommy and will pray about this.. but I would love to write more than in a journal. To share my heart with others. Any info would be appreciative 🙂
Melia,
Start by going to your local library and checking out books about writing. There are some wonderful resources!!
This article was written for me!!!! This is my dream it always has been. I’ve even written and illustrated a children’s book and tested it on children locally. The problem is getting it published its all do confusing I feel lost.
Amanda, publishing is a hard business to understand! Check out your local library for books on writing, especially writing children’s books. I also googled “writing children’s books” and it came up with many useful links!
Ok thank you I will. I bought a book publishing for dummies but I can’t say I’ve understood it or that its been useful.
Also check out writer’s conferences! That’s where I got my start!
I would love the opportunity to grow in my writing! Any advice on where to start writing for magazines like you mentioned would be a blessing. I have so many thoughts waiting for a place to land!!! And to think I could do that and help with family finances and still be available for my children…I am in tears thinking about it.
Jennifer, Each magazine has “writer’s guidelines.” You cane find them by googling your favorite magazine and writer’s guidelines.
This encourages me so very much. I’m a journalist with a content marketing agency that I run from home. I also homeschool my 10 year old daughter. Sometimes I have to take time away in the evenings to complete assignments or to catch up on work when I’ve taken time off when all the kids are home during the day (i.e. Spring Break). I often talk about God and how He has blessed our family in so many ways. He always shows up when we need Him the most and I have so many stories about miracles He’s worked in relation to my family and my business. Thank you for this post!
You’re welcome, Samantha! I know you’re a wonderful example to your children … just what they need!
Awww….thank you, Tricia. You lift me up!
This is great, Tricia – thank you! 🙂 Much like some of the other commenters, I would love to know more about where to start writing (outside of my own blog!).
This article really resonated with me! Thanks! I will check out the link to your article about writing for magazines as well.
I highly recommend attending a writer’s conference. Mt. Hermon Christian conference in California is great!
Thank you for an inspiring post! I have wanted to be an author since I was 4 years old. I have let busyness get in the way of my dream coupled with fear of what if my writing flops. I love how you keep the impact of your kids in the forefront. Your life will impact thousands more through them because of you. I know I need to carve out time to write; I want my words and my life to impact my grown kids and little grandies.