About
Welcome to the Creative Force Podcast! In this episode, I sat down with Ashley Thompson McClelland, founder of the blog Nourishment Through Words, bestselling fiction author, teacher, and life coach. Ashley shares her powerful testimony of coming to faith at sixteen after a childhood marked by abuse, financial hardship, and deep insecurity, and how an encounter with God's love completely transformed her identity. She opens up about discovering her gift of writing through intimate time with the Lord, and unpacks what it really looks like to step into the gifting God has placed inside of you. If you've ever doubted your calling or talked yourself out of your dreams, this conversation will encourage you to go for it.
My Takeaways
• You cannot fully walk into your calling without a healthy, godly self-image. Insecurity and doubt will always leave room for fear to paralyze you.
• God loves you and thinks more highly of you than you think of yourself. Surrender becomes easy when you know the one catching you is good.
• Being a new creation means the old things, abuse, shame, self-loathing, do not define you. Jesus defines you.
• Your imagination, when rooted in the Word of God, is a powerful spiritual tool. God made us as image bearers, and creating with him is part of that design.
• Gifts are discovered and developed through consistent, intimate time with the Lord not overnight.
• What you're passionate about often aligns directly with God's calling on your life. Don't discount what brings you joy. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy.
• Doubt is often just the stem of fear. Most people know what lights them up, they just talk themselves out of it before they even start.
• Don't let the enemy's lie that you're running out of time stop you. God exists outside of time and can work with whatever time you give him.
• God's idea of failure is different from ours. A righteous person falls and gets back up, that act of perseverance pleases God and shows faith.
• You are so uniquely and wonderfully crafted that when you are fully yourself the way God made you He shines through you. Your natural gifting can bring heaven to earth!
Scriptures
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away; all things have become new.
• Romans 12:1 - True spiritual worship is to offer your body as a living sacrifice.
• 1 Corinthians 12 - Spiritual gifts, including the gift of seeing things spiritually.
• Isaiah 26:3 - He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him. (The word "mind" can also be translated as imagination.)
• Colossians 1:27 - Christ in you, the hope of glory.
• Hebrews 6:12 - By faith and patience we inherit the promise.
• Jeremiah 1:5 - Before you were born, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
• Matthew 18:3 - Unless you become like a child, you cannot experience the kingdom of heaven.
• Romans 14:17 - The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy.
• 2 Corinthians 5:7 - Walk by faith, not by sight.
• Matthew 11:30 - My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
• Isaiah 54:5 - The Lord your maker is your husband.
Quotes
"If you talk to anger long enough, you'll find out her real name is pain." - Unknown
Resources
📖 Visions of Celestial Love by Ashley Thompson
A collection of journals, poetry, prayers, personal testimonies, and quotes from Ashley's intimate times with the Lord. Described as like reading the Psalms with life devotions for the reader.
📖 Romantic Rendezvous for the Soul by Ashley Thompson
A collection of short stories exploring the relationship between Christ as Bridegroom and the church as bride. Especially encouraging for single women.
🌐 Ashley's Website: nourishmentthroughwords.com
🏫 Creative Force Community on Skool
Includes the Ignite Your Spark course, accountability & co-working calls, and a network of Christian creatives and entrepreneurs.