Write His Answer

Twenty-five years ago I sat in a workshop with Lee Roddy at the St. David’s Christian Writers Conference. I remember how my heart pounded the last morning of his workshop when he challenged us to put a commitment in writing to complete our book in a year. And then he prayed that heaven would be different because of the words we would write and publish.

I knew God had called me to write this book. I never questioned that, but I did question my ability to write it during the next year as I struggled to finish it. One friend reminded me that a year in the Lord’s sight was like a thousand years, but I knew the Lord knew that I had promised to complete it in 365 days. And I did. I wasn’t a day late or a day early! I took “my baby” to the post office and mailed it to a publisher that had requested the entire manuscript. And then the waiting began. That editor kept it one year before finally returning it. Over the next five years I queried 40 other publishers. Some asked to see the entire manuscript. All of them returned it too. Frustrated, discouraged, and consumed by self-doubts I came so close so many times to giving up.

Only the promises in God’s Word kept me keeping on. Do not “get tired of doing what is right, for after a while [you] will reap a harvest of blessing if [you] don’t get discouraged and give up” (Gal. 6:9 tlb) He told me.

Friends babysat my kids so that I could go to the conference each year on a working scholarship. I commuted to save money, and after five years even ended up on faculty teaching a continuing session on writing for Christian periodicals.  Even more amazing, several months after that fifth conference an editor I’d met with called and offered me a contract.

Of course I can’t promise that you’ll land a contract if you come to the August 11-14 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, but I can promise that you’ll learn much and be encouraged by the fellowship you’ll share with other writers.

There is still time to register.

There is still time to request your free 15-minute one-on-one appointments with faculty.

There is still time to “write His answer” to men and women, boys and girls,
who desperately need to know that God loves them.

The urgent question is, “How much longer will we have the freedom to print and distribute Christian literature in a nation that is becoming increasingly antagonistic to the Gospel?”

I urge you not to allow discouragement to keep you from this once-a-year opportunity to be equipped to write about a God who is real, who is reachable, and who changes lives. Trust Him to work out the logistics and provide the finances. (Scholarship help is still available and time payments can be arranged.) And know that He will enable you to “write His answer” so that heaven will be different.

Serving Christ – Marlene