Thoughts from my devotional reading this week, which, as a writer who wrote for twenty years before God opened a certain door, I found encouraging…
~ from Streams in the Desert
As one who has waited long, I say Amen. I can recall at a certain point in my long writing journey wondering if God’s answer for me, as it pertained to publication through a traditional publisher, was No. At about that same time I posed the question to myself, “If you knew for a fact you would never be published, would you keep writing anyway?”
When I was able to answer Yes to that, I also decided that while I was writing it couldn’t hurt to keep knocking on those publishing doors, through queries and through prayer. If I didn’t knock, I figured chances were those doors wouldn’t open. If God didn’t open one, despite my knocking, it would be all right. I trusted He knew what was best for me in this situation.
Turned out my Yes was a Delayed Blessing.
Wonderful post, Lori! One I needed to read today.
I need to keep reminding myself too. I'm sure I'm not done with life's Delayed Blessings. Loved this devotional from July 4th. I'd never read through Streams in the Desert, though people have been talking about it to me for years. I decided this was the year.
Lori this is pretty much exactly what I needed to hear today as well. Granted, not what I WANTED to hear, but still what I needed to. Well done for your perseverance. I clicked through the rest f your site and read Wendy Lawton's blog about you too. Well done!
Thank you, Megan! Coming to the place where I was good with the waiting took about 15 years! 🙂 But man, did it ever take the pressure off and free me up to focus on the joy and challenge of writing, and the high I get from weaving a tapestry of characters and setting and story. In a lot of ways the past few years at least haven't felt like waiting, because I've been busy doing what I want to do all the while. I started a daily, verbal recognition of the blessing of time. "Thank you, Lord, for this day I'm left alone to write, with no other (writing related) pressures pulling at me." After a while that taught me to cherish each such day, because they are quickly passing into another sort of writing life now.
I think how much grief we would save ourselves if we just trusted God's timing for everything and really believed that when He withholds something it's by far the best for us. His timing sure was evident for me though I spent years tormented by my writing and wondering what I was supposed to be doing with it:) Thanks for such a thoughtful post, Lori.
So true, Laura. How freeing the realization that I didn't necessarily have to do anything with my writing. I just had to write. God could be in charge of the "do with" part if relaxed and let Him be. All I had to do was knock on the occasional door while I did my part. This agent, Lord? No? Okay, how about this one? This publisher? No? Okay, then you obviously have someplace better in mind. Or no place. Either way, leaving it to Him and not pushing, shoving, pleading, demanding, and fretting (all of which I'm naturally prone to, at least in prayer) guarantees it will be His best. Which doesn't always mean the easiest, most comfortable, or most lucrative. 🙂