Monday, February 19, 2007

I have now entered year SEVEN of my journey to become a published writer. Been a long time since I first felt the whisper of a call to create inspirational fiction. The whisper grew to a passion. Anyone who knows me or has read my earlier blogs will know how much this calling means to me. I did hear Him . . . I know it . . . Didn’t I, Lord? But . . . still . . . this is my SEVENTH year of marching around my own particular set of Jericho Walls, puffing madly on my little trumpet of faith, that soon I will enter the publishing world. Maybe this year, Lord???Those of you who are fellow writers, perhaps my blogs ‘Stepping Stones’, ‘What my Birthday Means’ and “Confessions of a Former Blogger’ will encourage you in your literary journey unless you’re one of those infinitely few who are an overnight success. The reality for most of us writers is to plod steadily at a day job while working on our art on evenings and weekends. That along with all those years of apprenticeship spent in writing classes, writing groups, attending writers Conferences, reading books on writing, and of course, writing, writing, writing.At this point – for those of you who have desires in your heart to be a gardener, a plumber, a teacher, a secretary, a banker -- please just insert your heartfelt calling into the above and carry on.

So what do you do when you feel so sure God called you to a particular profession, art or work? What do you do when you’ve done all the work, prayed through it all . . . and God seems to stop the work in its tracks?

Maybe you’re like me and have pleaded with the Lord to show you if He wants you to put your desire aside, asking him “Do you want me to do something else maybe?” I’ve heard the same lament from others . . . if the Lord is ‘stopping’ this desire of my heart (a baby, a spouse, a career, the list of desires is endless) then why doesn’t He show me what it is He wants me to hope for instead. Or . . . has the heart’s desire become an idol? Have you or I put the longed-for person, career, event before the Lord? Is this why He has delayed . . . or even said no?

I had to ask myself, what do I actually hear from the Lord right now. Did I hear Him say to stop hoping or praying for that desire of mine? In my case the answer has not been a definite no, but a continual message to wait. So there it is – God’s will – WAIT. And while I’m waiting I do whatever else I know clearly to be His will; being sensitive to those around me and their needs, serving others and thereby serving God, rejoice always, pray without ceasing. These things I know for sure are His will.
Besides, it can’t hurt, maybe help pass the time. It also just might – and maybe this is what it’s really been all about – it just might do some good for someone else and make me into a more caring, and less self-centered person. Is that what He had in mind all along . . .?

Jericho Walls

I have now entered year SEVEN of my journey to become a published writer. Been a long time since I first felt the whisper of a call to create inspirational fiction. The whisper grew to a passion. Anyone who knows me or has read my earlier blogs will know how much this calling means to me. I did hear Him . . . I know it . . . Didn’t I, Lord? But . . . still . . . this is my SEVENTH year of marching around my own particular set of Jericho Walls, puffing madly on my little trumpet of faith, that soon I will enter the publishing world. Maybe this year, Lord???Those of you who are fellow writers, perhaps my blogs ‘Stepping Stones’, ‘What my Birthday Means’ and “Confessions of a Former Blogger’ will encourage you in your literary journey unless you’re one of those infinitely few who are an overnight success. The reality for most of us writers is to plod steadily at a day job while working on our art on evenings and weekends. That along with all those years of apprenticeship spent in writing classes, writing groups, attending writers Conferences, reading books on writing, and of course, writing, writing, writing.At this point – for those of you who have desires in your heart to be a gardener, a plumber, a teacher, a secretary, a banker -- please just insert your heartfelt calling into the above and carry on.

So what do you do when you feel so sure God called you to a particular profession, art or work? What do you do when you’ve done all the work, prayed through it all . . . and God seems to stop the work in its tracks?

Maybe you’re like me and have pleaded with the Lord to show you if He wants you to put your desire aside, asking him “Do you want me to do something else maybe?” I’ve heard the same lament from others . . . if the Lord is ‘stopping’ this desire of my heart (a baby, a spouse, a career, the list of desires is endless) then why doesn’t He show me what it is He wants me to hope for instead. Or . . . has the heart’s desire become an idol? Have you or I put the longed-for person, career, event before the Lord? Is this why He has delayed . . . or even said no?

I had to ask myself, what do I actually hear from the Lord right now. Did I hear Him say to stop hoping or praying for that desire of mine? In my case the answer has not been a definite no, but a continual message to wait. So there it is – God’s will – WAIT. And while I’m waiting I do whatever else I know clearly to be His will; being sensitive to those around me and their needs, serving others and thereby serving God, rejoice always, pray without ceasing. These things I know for sure are His will.
Besides, it can’t hurt, maybe help pass the time. It also just might – and maybe this is what it’s really been all about – it just might do some good for someone else and make me into a more caring, and less self-centered person. Is that what He had in mind all along . . .?