Write His Answer

Have you ever been ready to give up? Have you tried everything you know but feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall?  What do you do when the accuser tells you that your best isn’t good enough – that it never has been and never will be?

Perhaps it’s a manuscript you’ve been working on for years. You’ve rewritten it not just once or twice but many times. Still you’ve been unsuccessful in finding anyone interested in publishing it. And it makes no sense because you know it’s something God has called you to write. You’ve studied the craft. You’ve  gone to critique groups and conferences  trying to find that missing something.  And now . . . now you’re not sure you can keep on keeping on.

That was my experience with my first book that some of you know was rejected by 42 publishers over a six year period . If I had given up (and believe me, there were many times I wanted to), it and the six books that followed would never have been published. I would not have founded the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference in 1983 or said yes in 1997 to directing the Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

Yes, there have been many times when I’ve doubted and when, as my writing mentor Lee Roddy said years ago, I’ve “listened to the wrong voices.” For the past five months it’s been the voice of the accuser telling me that my best isn’t good enough as I’ve struggled with the websites for the Colorado & Philly Christian Writers Conference and the transition from FrontPage 2002 to Expression Web. The tapes from my childhood have started to play again. “You’re not smart enough. No matter how hard you try, you’re going to fail.”

Many days I’ve sat in my office and wept. Frustrated and discouraged I’ve told the Lord, “I can’t.” And I know that’s true. Without His help I can’t learn Expression Web or pull together the countless details that go with directing two conferences.  

But what can I do, can you do, when He doesn’t seem to be listening? Has He abandoned us? Or is He using the problem(s) we’re facing to strengthen our faith muscles so that when the stakes are even bigger we won’t get discouraged and give up?

I’m learning that there are lots of lessons I thought I’d learned (that I’ve even written about in my book, Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers) that I need to relearn!

Keep your eyes on the Lord, on how far you’ve come, and on the prize.  It’s easy to allow problems and challenges to consume us and to blind us to the Lord’s presence, to how far we’ve come, and to the prize.  “I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us” (Philippians 3:14 TLB) Paul wrote from prison in Rome. He had reason to be greatly frustrated and discouraged by the loss of his freedom. He could have questioned the Lord and concluded that his ministry was over. Instead he focused on the needs of the churches and wrote letters that continue to encourage Christ-followers almost 2,000 years later.

Cut the tapes from your past. Although Paul never forgot the person he was before he encountered the Lord on the Damascus Road, he did not wallow in the past or dwell on what others thought or said about him. Instead he embraced the truth of Zephaniah 3:17: “He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you” (TLB). Paul was able to preach and write about the message of salvation because he had experienced firsthand God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Don’t grieve the Lord by your lack of faith. Although sometimes it does seem that He’s not listening, we need to trust that He will equip us with all we need for doing his will (see Hebrews 13:20). It’s not easy to wait on the Lord and to have Hebrews 11:1 faith in what we can’t yet see, but “God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises” (Romans 11:29 TLB).

Do your best and trust God for the rest. The fear of failure can paralyze us if we let it, and that’s exactly what our adversary wants. I grieve for the books that have not been published and the ministries that have been abandoned because of the evil one’s accusations that our best will never be good enough.

Sitting beside me are the “pictures” my almost four-year-old granddaughter drew in Sunday school this morning. I have absolutely no idea what she drew, and she can’t tell me because she has apraxia and is unable to speak more than a few words. But, of course, I told her that her pictures are beautiful. She did her best and that’s all that matters. And that’s all the Lord expects. When we give our best to Him, He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20 NIV).

Father, help us to believe You and not the accuser. Thank You for loving us and for being bigger than our perceived failures. Thank You for encouraging us not to give up. We will keep on expecting you to help us. We will praise you more and more. We will walk in the strength of the Lord our God (Psalm 71:14, 16 TLB).

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I’m so grateful for what Father has taught me spiritually through my struggles with Expression Web and for His patience with my learning curve. Although the formatting of the website for the August 1-4 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference is not perfect, I’m not going to give up or to believe the accuser’s lies that I’ve failed. I know that Father knows it is the best I can do. And He is faithful! He has heard my prayers and led me to SKWD Ministries. I’m very excited about the work they are doing on my main website, www.writehisanswer.com, which right now appears to be only one very unprofessional looking page. In the transition to Web Expression I lost the page banner and footer and all the navigation buttons. They are rebuilding it using their EZ-CMS (Content Management System) that will allow me to add, move, and delete web pages from one central screen and to edit them as I would do in a word processor. I won’t have to use HTML and CSS and style sheets! I’ll let you know when it’s uploaded and send you info on a special they are offering GPCWC conferees and those on my mailing list.