Write His Answer

Guest blog
Angela Ruth Strong

I attended the Colorado Christian Writers Conference for the first time ten years ago. I’d just sold my debut novel, and not only did I think I was going to become the next Susan May Warren, but Susan even told me at the conference, “I can see you being where I’m at in five years.”

Obviously, that didn’t happen, but God had other reasons for wanting me at the conference. He wanted to meet with me personally and prepare me for my own character arc.

It started with interest from Waterbrook. An editor requested my manuscript, and I went back to my room after meeting with her, planning to simply lie on my bunk and smile at the ceiling. But my Bible was on the bunk. And I hadn’t read my Bible yet that day.

I opened it up to the passage where David says, “God, you are my all.” In my prayer journal I wrote, “God, you are my all.” Then I wondered if that was really true. I thought about how David also said, “Test me.” I cried and wrote, “Test me.”

When I told my husband about that experience over the phone, he later said he knew what my test was going to be. See, he’d started an affair while I was gone. I came home to complete insanity, and he eventually left.

I don’t believe God was like, “You want a test, Angela? I’ll give you a test.” He was saying, “You know I’m your all. You know it.” When I lost everything, God was still there. And He was enough.

Though I quit writing romance at that time, God romanced me. He provided in miraculous ways. He loved me through strangers. He restored my soul.

Last year, I received a scholarship to attend again on the basis of using my personal story in my writing. I pitched Prayers of an Abandoned Wife to an editor, and she responded with, “There are five women I want to give your book to right now.” I didn’t go lie on my bed this time. I found a seat in the sunshine, overlooking the mountains, and I reveled in the beauty of God’s love.

My joy wasn’t about wanting to be Susan May Warren anymore. It was about an opportunity to share God’s love with a very hurting world.

I’m excited to return and see what else God has for me, and I’m also excited to be there for you. Ten years after I first attended Write His Answer, I’m going to be teaching. We’ll be talking about “The Power of Story” and what we can learn from having God as the author of our own lives.

Whether this year will be your first time attending the conference or your tenth, there’s a mountaintop experience waiting. I hope to see you there.

Angela Ruth Strong sold her first Christian romance novel in 2009 then quit writing romance when her husband left her. Ten years later, God has shown her the true meaning of love, and there’s nothing else she’d rather write about. Her books have since earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been optioned for film, won the Cascade Award, and been Amazon best-sellers. She also writes nonfiction for SpiritLed Woman. To help aspiring authors, she started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho, and she teaches as an expert online at WRITE THAT BOOK.