Preparing the Sacrifice

Joshua Earle on Unsplash">Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it will certainly come
    and will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:3 NIV

If God has promised something, it will come to pass.

This is hard for the Christian writer to wait patiently for the Lord’s fulfillment of His promise.

For me, the answer took eleven years. Many times, I wondered if I had heard God correctly. Many times, I thought I was doing something wrong. Many times, I wanted to give up.

I was able to publish in the Sunday School take home paper, a few anthologies, and a few articles during those years. I even managed to sign with an agent. But the promise remained a long way off.

Then, eleven years to the date God sent me a sure call, my agent phoned me to say I’d been offered a book contract for my first novel. God affirmed my long wait.

When the reveal is long in coming, we tend to doubt. When our sales fall and no new contract seems forthcoming, or our financial ability to publish independently dwindles, we lose heart. We are quick to wonder if our time has come to an end.

We ask ourselves, “Does God no longer have a purpose for my writing?”

I am currently at this quandary point. No new contracts pending. I am independently publishing a book. But I will not be able to self-publish another book unless God provides. Yet, He continues to give opportunities for short works. So I am assured He’s not done with me yet. Perhaps He is forging a new path I had not considered.

So what should we do when during the wilderness times of our writing career, whether at the beginning or somewhere else along our journey?

PRAY

 Ask the Lord to reveal an interim mission. Ask for reassurance you are hearing and doing what He desires for you?

Be open for God’s curve balls.

REST

The Lord may be sending a dry spell because He knows you need rest. Perhaps try a different creative outlet. Continue writing daily in a blog, a guest post, Facebook, or letters. Stay honed on your craft. This may be the time to take on a Bible study. Attend a conference to recommit your writing to the Lord.

TRUST

He did not call you to abandon you.

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.

Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV