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Marlene’s Christmas Message

December 20, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

My tree is decorated.
Gifts purchased but
not yet wrapped.
I still need to bake our
favorite cookies
and my mother’s
famous coffee cake.

Our inflatable Christmas nativity, lights, and two deer are shining brightly outside. (It’s too cold to go snap a picture.)

My husband’s health is so much better after a mid-June trip to the hospital by ambulance in the middle of the night. (He said, “I think I’m dying.”) A new primary care / geriatric doctor has discontinued three of Paul’s meds. He still walks slow since he broke his knee cap and tibia over a year ago, but except for occasional “senior moments” he no longer gets so confused he doesn’t know where he is at. Thank You, Father.

I’m still managing to avoid knee replacements and my kidney and blood sugar numbers are improving now that the same doctor has eliminated a pill my previous doctor prescribed that I should not have been taking. I’ve lost a little weight but need to lose at least another 40 pounds. Please help me, Father.

Sharon, our oldest daughter has just had her right hip replaced. The surgeon said it went “great,” but she’s in a lot of pain. Father, please place Your hand of healing on her.

The rest of our family and grandkids are all doing great. We are blessed!

The other night we went to our oldest granddaughter’s concert at the high school. It ended with about 70 alumni joining the chorus and the director’s request that we stand for the “Hallelujah Chorus.” I sang along although I’m no longer able to reach those magnificent high notes.

I can’t help but wonder if this is the last year this “tradition” will be tolerated.

Our nation is gripped in a spiritual darkness that is rapidly intensifying. Will America be saved by a mighty revival that brings us to our knees at the foot of the cross? Or will we lose our freedom to proclaim the name of Jesus and be arrested and imprisoned for our faith in Him?

This may seem like dark thoughts for what should be such a bright and merry time of the year. But I can’t be silent. As long as I am able I will continue to use the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conferences to address the issues facing our nation and equip all who come to “Write His Answer.”

Father, thank You for sending Jesus. Help us, help me, to reflect His light and to share His love this Christmas and every day of the coming year.

A blessed Christmas to you all because He came and is coming again!

There are presently 38 on faculty for the May 13-16 Colorado conference and 18 for the July 22-25 Philly conference with more to be added to both conferences. Visit the websites to see who is coming, and save the date for what I know will be life-changing conferences.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

A picture worth 1,000 words

December 18, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

Confused
and
unhappy!

Today we are dog-sitting our son and daughter-in-law’s two dogs. Bailey, the brown dog, climbed in my lap to get away from our Labradoodle, Emmy, who is clearly confused and unhappy that Bailey has taken the place that she thinks belongs to her. For about 15 minutes Emmy barked and Bailey howled. I laughed so hard I started crying.

Yesterday I felt like Emmy. A missing “i” in “Mennonite” in an ad for The Christian Communicator caused me 2.5 hours of frustration and real tears. For years I’ve used Quark, a desktop publishing program similar to InDesign. Although I’ve never mastered it (someone has said that takes a full year), I have gotten comfortable with it. But my 2015 version crashed, and yesterday I was forced to use the 2018 “upgrade.” I purchased it a year ago, but found the learning curve so daunting I gave up.

Computers are supposed to make life easier. Right? Wrong! Although I’m more computer savvy than most of my friends, I am still challenged every day to understand technology that keeps getting more complicated. And it’s amazing how dumb my “smart” phone can make me feel.

I confess I do not “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4 NIV) or “celebrate God all day, every day” as The Message paraphrases this Scripture. I try. But honestly, I probably do more whining. Father, why does everything have to be so difficult? Why didn’t You make me smarter or more patient?*

(Oops! I definitely do not want to pray for patience!) But seriously, why can’t I be like the elk I enjoy so much at CCWC? I don’t think they whine about grass becoming brown or sparse. Or about the cold and snow. You provide for them the same as for the birds of the air.

Father, thank You for being with us especially when we feel confused and overwhelmed. Thank You that we can know the joy of the Lord as our strength. Help us, help me, to embrace my need to be dependent on You knowing that I can trust Your promise:

I can do everything God asks me to
with the help of Christ
who gives me the strength and power.
Philippians 4:13 TLB

* Sigh. I can’t see anything in the code next to the elk box that increased the font size. Can a HTML or WordPress expert help?

Despite ongoing computer challenges, plans are underway for the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference. Be watching for an email before Christmas with the latest news.

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Peace at Christmas . . . when families don’t get along

December 16, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

It’s been almost 40 years since the traumatic Christmas Eve I wrote about below. Thank You, Father, for bringing Your peace to these strained relationships and for the assurance that my mother and stepfather are now home with You. Please bring Your peace – Your shalom – to families in conflict. Restore estranged relationships and help us to love others as You love us.
~ * ~ * ~

How fast the year has flown, I reflected as I took the photographs off the mantle to decorate it for Christmas. A charred mark on the paneling behind one of the photos instantly reminded me of a Christmas when our home had been anything but peaceful.

My mother and stepfather were visiting. The relationship was strained, but we had been trying to keep the peace. On Christmas Eve the tension erupted into a bitter argument. The smell of burning wood stopped me from saying things I would have later regretted. A candle had tipped over on the mantle causing the paneling right near the thermostat to smolder. Trembling with fear of what might have been, I soaked the wall with water and later hid the damage with a photo. The damage in the relationship with my parents was not so easily hid.

Painful memories have a way of refusing to stay camouflaged. At Christmas we are forced to face the fact that all is not always “calm” and “bright” in our relationships with a brother or sister, a parent or child, an in-law or cousin. This season of joy can turn into one of misery as we have no choice but to spend time with people who go out of their way to avoid us the rest of the year.

When our homes are filled with conflict, what can we do to have “peace on earth, good will to men”?

1. Keep our eyes on the One whose birth we celebrate. The Gospel of John opens with the poignant words: “His life is the light that shines through the darkness–and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John l:5 TLB). The reality of that first Christmas was not just the angels’ song, but Herod’s decree that every baby boy two years old and under be slaughtered (see Matthew 2:16). The shadow of the cross was already hanging over the Holy Family as they fled to Egypt.

Jesus never promised us problem-free relationships, but He has promised to give us the wisdom to know how to love those who may be anything but lovable. Difficult relationships do not have to spoil the joy of Christmas if we follow Jesus’ example and respond with love and forgiveness.

2. Try not to put unrealistic demands on ourselves. Christmas Eve I typically am still racing to complete my “to-do” list. I end up too tired to enjoy Christmas much less to cope with difficult family members. We need to learn when to make a good night’s sleep a priority so that we’re able to handle added emotional pressures.

3. Avoid having unrealistic expectations of others. It is unlikely that people who have been less than pleasant throughout the year will suddenly become nice just because it is Christmas. Yes, I believe God works miracles, but it is just as great a miracle to learn not to set ourselves up to be hurt through our unrealistic expectations.

I cannot remove that charred area of paneling without replacing the entire wall, but it can serve as a reminder that if I want peace in my family, it must begin with me. Truly, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:19 NIV). Because Christ came, we can be reconciled to one another.
___________

The above article was first published in the December 1986 issue of Decision. It has been reprinted by Our Family, Messenger of St. Anthony, Christian Standard, Sunday Digest, Family Forum, The Gem, Live, and ASSISTnews.net.

Posted in Pondering Biblical Truth | Leave a Comment »

Thankful?

November 26, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

It was one of those mornings! Multi-tasking (as always) I cracked two eggs into a pre-heated pan. I don’t waste time watching eggs fry or pots of water boil. Instead, I reached for my tray of pills, removed the lid, and somehow knocked it (the very full tray, not the lid) on the floor.

Knowing that our two-year-old Labradoodle (she has yet to grow up) eats everything but her monthly heartworm pill, my husband and I tried to get her to go outside. She thought it would be more fun to play catch-me-if-you-can. As usual, I had to give her a treat to get her to do what I want. (Yes, I know I’m rewarding her for bad behavior.)

Paul got two garden kneelers from the garage. I grabbed a flashlight and managed to get down on the kitchen floor. (My arthritic knees are bone-on-bone and one has been swollen for a week.)

The pills, of course, had rolled everywhere. I remembered the pick-up stix game I played as a kid, but this wasn’t a game and it wasn’t fun!

Paul is now vacumning the floor and then will give it a much needed scrubbing. (It was scary to see at eye level just how dirty my floor is.)

So . . . “give thanks in everything”?
Yes, “for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
1 Thess. 5:18 KJV

Now, I don’t think it is His will that bad things happen. And I don’t think He expects me to thank Him for my carelessness or the dumb and often sinful things I or others do. But in the midst of frustrating, annoying, and even awful circumstances I can choose to thank Him for being with me and for His promise to work all things together for my good.

Even when we are too weak to have any faith left,
he remains faithful to us and will help us.
2 Tim. 2:13 TLB

Now dumping a bunch of pills on the floor isn’t a biggee when it comes to my faith. But Father did use it to teach me, yet again, to give thanks.

  • Thank You, Father, for the availability of medicine and the wise new primary care doctor You have led us to.

  • Thank You that this new doctor discontinued three medications that were obviously causing my husband to be confused. (After almost a year of health issues since Paul fell and broke three bones September 30, 2019, I am so thankful He is much better.)

  • Thank You for my wonderful husband and our 56th wedding anniversary we celebrated November 9.

  • Thank You for calling and enabling me to direct the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference and for the progress I’m making planning next year’s conferences. (Colorado is May 13-16; I don’t yet have a date for Philly. I’ve asked for July 22-25 or August 5-8.)

  • YES, thank You for every thing!
And yes, I’m grateful for our strong-willed puppy!

Posted in Colorado Christian Writers Conference, God's promises, Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Pondering Biblical Truth | Leave a Comment »

What Would You Sacrifice to Serve Your Audience?

November 1, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

Guest Blogger
Patricia Durgin
Marketers with a Mission

Your greatest gift to your audience is your message. God entrusted you with a vision of what your audience’s life can be like, and He planted that vision within your message. Think of it as a roadmap.

They need you to be their guide. You know the hidden trails not shown on the map. The secret passageways. How to escape the Scary Forest.

You know the way because you once faced the same peril or challenge your audience faces today, and Christ—who is THE Map—guided you to safety. Then He invited you to share His Good News through your message, which is really His message in yours.

You accepted, and you’ve written a book, or you have one in mind. How will it reach your audience? You must take it to them, for they won’t come to you for it. How could they? They don’t yet know that yours is the message they seek.

Would you sacrifice your comfort to reach your target market for Jesus?

I invite you to consider public speaking as the single most effective tool to reach your audience in real life. To gather them round you and assure them that yes, there is hope, and its name is Jesus. That’s Christian communication at its best!

This hope is shaped surprisingly like your audience’s needs. Perhaps they’re in an unhealthy relationship and you’ve been delivered from one. Or their children have special needs and you’re able to maneuver through the insurance maze. Maybe they long to travel and you’ve ridden across the country on a motorcycle.

Whatever their challenge, you know the path that can lead them from where they are to where they want to be, because God first led you down that same trail, and then invited you to turn back and lead others into His light. What a privilege! What a responsibility!

But your message will never reach beyond your local circle of friends and family if you don’t step into the unknown. Your audience is waiting for YOU to find THEM.


Perhaps you’re working to reach your audience online. Great idea! I specialize in online marketing, so I love it.

But online marketing is the long game. Does your audience—and your writing career—have time to wait?

Public speaking is the short game. Create an event. Deliver your life-giving message. Return home and repeat as desired.

This Friday, November 1st, the Speakers QuickStart online course will open for enrollment. It’s designed to help Christian writers and speakers without any / many followers build their audience in real life, via live events.

As your audience grows offline, invite them to join you online, too, thus growing your online platform (which publishers require).   

Instead of waiting to be “discovered” and invited to speak elsewhere, help your audience “discover” you…by hosting your own events. We’ll show you how inside the course.

(Note this is not for those who already have a large following, but rather for those who enjoy intimate get-togethers or small group settings and would like to grow from there.) 

With each presentation, your message will become tighter, more effective. You’ll be acknowledged as an expert. And as your offline followers join you online, your platform will finally gain traction. More of your books will sell in both arenas.

All because you stepped out of your comfort zone to serve your audience as God’s representative.

If you’d like to find out more about how speaking can help you reach your writing goals, I invite you to join the Speakers QuickStart 14-Day Challenge private Facebook group for Christian writers and speakers.

Join the group to learn more about the course. Stay to learn more about marketing (our main focus).

Compassion for hurting people drives us to serve in ways and in places we normally wouldn’t consider. Will you dare to step out of your comfort zone by hosting small gatherings so your audience can hear God’s Good News?

Join us now in the Facebook group: https://marketersonamission.com/challenge/

Posted in Marketing, Promotion | Leave a Comment »

Making & Keeping a Commitment

September 14, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

Every year in the closing session of the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference I encourage conferees (faculty and staff too) to make a commitment to complete in a year what they believe God is calling them to write.

It’s the challenge Lee Roddy gave his class at the St. David’s Christian Writers Conference over 40 years ago. Father had nudged me to join Lee’s continuing session on writing fiction after I heard him keynote Sunday evening. I didn’t understand why since I don’t write fiction, but I’m so glad I listened.

Not only did I learn how essential it was to use fiction skills in the personal experience story I was writing, I needed Lee’s challenge to get it finished. PTL I did. Not early, but not late. A year to the day I completed the book and mailed it to a publisher who had shown interest at the conference.

And then the waiting began! And the rejection slips. But my writing papa, Lee, who is now home with the Lord, encouraged and sometimes scolded me to persevere.

How Our Family Coped with Incest was returned by 42 publishers during the next six years. The book that no one wanted to publish is my testimony to how God enabled us to care for my half-sister who came to live with us when she was not quite fourteen because her father, my step-father, had been sexually abusing her.

Finally, at the end of those six long years I met a publisher at the St. David’s conference. He called me three months after the conference to offer me a contract.

I’m convinced that if I had not responded to Lee’s challenge and kept the commitment I made in his class the book would never have been finished much less published. After being out of print about 37 years, I reprinted it last January through my indie publishing house, Ampelos Press. I also seriously doubt I’d still be writing today much less directing two Christian writers conferences.

Because Father enabled me to not give up (although I certainly came close many times), for 36 years at the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, 23 years at the Colorado conference, and at the 50 plus seminars I’ve taught around the nation I’ve always given the Lee Roddy challenge.

What I’ve not done as faithfully as I intend to do, is provide the resources to help writers keep their commitment. Well, that’s not totally true. I blog, although it’s been, yikes, a month. And “Making It Happen,” a chapter from my book, Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers (Lee wrote the foreword and said “this book can change your life) is on my website along with the Goal Planning Chart below. (Click here to download it as a PDF.)

But Father is convicting me that I need to follow my own advice. Today I have made a commitment to focus on the “practical preparation” of sharpening my writing skills by making time to listen to the workshops and continuing sessions from this year’s GPCWC. I’ve spent the last two days uploading 75 MP3s (with 9 more to come) to the conference website (click here).

I want to challenge you to join me in this exciting learning opportunity. Using the honor system you can purchase sessions at $4.00 each (for 7 or more, only $3.50 each) and download them or listen to them online. You’ll also find links to the handouts, if any.

Friends, let’s commit to grow our writing ability. Let’s listen and learn so we will be better equipped to “write His answer.”

Posted in Goal-setting, Publishing journey | Leave a Comment »

Frustrated? Seek His Peace!

August 15, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

This morning I’m seeing more clouds than sunshine. The majestic Rocky Mountains are only a distant memory. Instead, all I’m seeing is mountains of work!

I’m overwhelmed and frustrated. Checking 11 voice mail messages, more than half of them were scam calls from Social Security.

For over an hour I tried to reach the doctor’s office that was supposed to be open. When I finally got through, I had to listen to 8 menu options – none of which addressed my need to talk to a real live person to get the script for the blood work my husband is scheduled for this morning.

Last night we couldn’t get in the house. Well, that’s not totally true. I got in, left my keys in the door, set my cell phone down, and went to get a flashlight so Paul could see to get in. I pulled the storm door shut when I left so our labradoodle wouldn’t get out.

Several minutes later (Paul is walking so slowly), we couldn’t open the storm door. We banged and pulled and tried prying it open with a knife. I admit I was close to panic. A neighbor across the street frequently comes to our rescue, but his front steps are very steep and there is no railing. Our daughter lives two blocks away. As much as my knees have been hurting (the gel injections aren’t working this time), I honestly didn’t think I could walk that far. Duh! I just realized I could have driven over there. No, double duh. I couldn’t drive the car. My keys were in the door!

Earlier in the day, Paul fell in the driveway. He tripped over the kitchen and office trash basket. He called for me for ten minutes before I heard him. He’s sore today but walking – slowly – so he must not have injured the knee cap he broke September 30.

And then there’s the frustration I’m feeling over my STUPIDITY. When I took Paul to the neurologist on Tuesday, I dropped him curbside. I spied a close by handicap parking space and headed for it, completely forgetting and not seeing the 10-12″ high concrete and dirt island.

I’ve never had an accident or ticket in 59 years of driving, but I really hurt my new leased car that I’ve only had for two weeks. I ripped off the shield under the engine and learned yesterday that I damaged three other things on the underbelly of my car. The Honda serviceman is guessing $1100 – $1500 for repairs, but if body work is involved it could be much more. They are going to take a closer look next Wednesday (so glad I can still drive it) to get a better idea of the cost so I can decide whether or not to file an insurance claim. If I do, the question is how much our insurance will go up.

All the above, and so much more on top of the exhaustion I’m still feeling from the conference, is incredibly frustrating. But I have a choice. I can choose to keep my eyes on Jesus and to trust Him and even praise Him for all these irritations. Yes, He can use them to grow the fruit of His Spirit in my life and to prove to me again that He is faithful.

And He can fill me with His peace that passes understanding. I have a choice, and so do you!

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God Is with Us

August 13, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

This is not a pretty picture! The Rocky Mountains that I love were hidden by dense cloud cover the day after this year’s CCWC ended. And 15″ of snow was forecast – yes, in May!

I had planned to take those who had not yet gone home into Rocky Mountain National Park after church. We gathered in the lobby of Alpen Inn pulling chairs into a circle that kept expanding.

“We’ve come here knowing we are risking our lives to meet together,” I say. “Pastor along with his family were arrested when a portion of the Bible was found as his home was searched because of a tip from a neighbor.

“Many drop to their knees and begin to intercede. Someone else begins to quietly seek God’s strength for their pastor and his family through song. Others share a Scripture and a word of encouragement. They become the body of Christ ministering to one another as the presence of the Lord fills the place where they are hiding.

“Even if their pastor had not been arrested, he wouldn’t have come with a sermon, complete with PowerPoints, that he had worked on for several days. The worship team would not have had their instruments tuned and the songs planned and practiced.”

And so, I set the stage for what has been very special times of experiencing “church” for 24 years at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference as we allow the Spirit to lead.

Amazingly, by the time “church” ends, the clouds have parted and we are able to go up to the park in several cars.

We see herds of magnificent elk but no moose. The folks with Dick Bruso spot one. I am disappointed, but as always the grandeur of His creation fills me to overflowing with His presence.

But getting back to where this blog started . . .

Coming down from the mountain after CCWC, or from the high of the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference last Thursday through Saturday, or any powerful experience is difficult. For one thing, we are probably exhausted and thus more vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. Especially if we’ve been away from home for several days, it’s hard to return to our daily routine. We want to hang on to the sense of His presence we felt, but again we’re ruled by the “tyranny of the urgent” and the expectations of others.

But God . . . as Beatrice Bruno reminded us in her closing keynote at both conferences this year. Even when, like the mountains hidden in clouds, we cannot see Him or feel His presence, He is with us. And even when snowstorms or, ___________________ you fill in the blank, threaten us, we can trust in His faithfulness.

Father, help us never to lose sight of those mountain-top experiences when we hear You speaking to us and to the commitments we make in response. Draw us close to You, keep us in Your Word, and bless us with rich and deep fellowship with others.

And the mountains were still there,
just as “Our God is with Us.”

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Urgent – We must live and write His answer!

August 5, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

It’s been almost 30 years since Against the Night, Living in the New Dark Ages by Chuck Colson was published. He wrote,

“‘Dark Age’ is a strong term. I recognize that. Yet in recent years I’ve had a growing sense of storm clouds gathering on the horizon. . . . The forecast is foreboding. . . . We scan the horizon with unease.

“We sense that things are winding down, that somehow freedom, justice, and order are slipping away. Our great civilization may not yet lie in smoldering ruins, but the enemy is within the gates.

“The times seem to smell of sunset. Encroaching darkness casts long shadows across every institution in our land. . . . We do face a crisis in Western culture, and it presents the greatest threat to civilization since the barbarians invaded Rome.”

If we have eyes to see, the moral fabric of our nation is not just unraveling – it’s being torn apart. How much longer can a righteous God withhold His judgment of a nation that has turned away from His Truth?

For 23 years the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and 36 years the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference has focused on the need for God’s scribes to “Write His Answer.” Michael Gantt, who is again keynoting at both conferences, says:

I urge you to subscribe to Michael’s blog at https://mkgantt.com and to read his post about the conference and why I’ve given him a standing invite to keynote. In part he says,

Writers have always been among the most feared by despots and dictators. Truth tellers have been imprisoned and executed, their writings banned and burned, their character brought into question by allegation and accusation. The written word is among the most powerful weapons of history. . . .

I realized this weekend that my part in standing before these conferences of writers and publishers is to represent the Word of God that it might not be bound; to communicate with a deep sense of urgency that we are not writers who are coincidentally Christians, but we are Christ followers who have been given a gift to write and that we bear a grave and dangerous responsibility to guard the deposit of truth that has been entrusted to us and to ensure above everything that the Word of God is not bound.”

At the May 2019 Colorado Christian Writers Conference we had workshops (available on CD) that addressed:

America at the Crossroads
The Rocks Cry Out
Speaking Life to a Culture of Death
Answering Christianity’s Critics
The Burden of the Watchman
Make Some Noise!

The August 8-10 Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference will address the following topics. If you are unable to come, they also will be available on CD or as MP3s.

Keynote, Thursday, August 8, 7:30 pm, open free of charge to the community.
We’ve grouped these 4 sessions (2.5 hours on Friday and 2.5 hours on Saturday) together along with the two keynotes and workshop so you only need to come part of the days and at a reduced price. See “For Busy Pastors” for registration information.
Keynote, Saturday, August 10, 8:30 am, free of charge.
Hour-long workshop, Saturday, August 10, 9:45 am. Free of charge.

It’s not too late to register, and walk-ins are welcome. (No registration is needed for the keynotes or workshop.) The conference is on the campus of Dock Mennonite Academy in Lansdale, PA (just off the Lansdale exit of the North/South PA Turnpike. In addition to the above, a faculty of 42 editors, agents, and authors will present 42 workshops, 7 continuing sessions, 5 keynotes, panels, and will be available for one-on-one appointments. For more info visit https://philadelphia.writehisanswer.com.

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My testimony & test

July 31, 2019 by Marlene Bagnull

For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises.

Romans 11:29 TLB

Writing for the Lord isn’t easy! No, duh. You’ve probably already discovered this.

When I first started writing, everything I wrote got accepted. True, they were only 200 word devotionals. (That’s not to minimize the value of writing devotionals. God uses them in special ways to minister to readers – and to writers.) Then I wrote some articles for Christian education magazines and personal experience stories for Sunday school take home papers. But then . . .

In a continuing class taught by Lee Roddy at the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference I made a commitment to finish, in a year, the book I had started.

I quickly discovered that making a commitment and making it happen are two different things. A month passed, and then several months as I avoided working on the book and instead focused on writing the short pieces that came easy. But suddenly selling them was no longer easy. Rejection slips started filling my mailbox and eroding my confidence.

A letter from Lee Roddy didn’t bring any reassurance. “Has it occurred to you your work is being rejected because you are not doing what you committed to do?” he asked.

Gulp. But how did God expect me to write a book, much less sell it, when I was dismally failing at what had once come easy?

One word at a time!

Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing his will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:7 TLB

I had His promise. Now I needed to keep my promise.

I did finish the book and brought it to the post office exactly one year later. And then, as some of you know, God allowed my faith to be tested for SIX long years (and through 42 rejection slips) until an editor I met at the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference offered me a contract

What did I learn from this long and difficult journey? Lots of hard but important lessons. Here are just a few:

  • God’s ways and timing are not mine. “This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours!” (Isaiah 55:8 TLB).
  • I need to “go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth” (Colossians 2:7 TLB). He really is more interested in my relationship with Him than anything I can do for Him.
  • I need to study His Word so what I write is biblically sound as well as study the craft of writing and marketing. “Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple” (2 Timothy 2:15 MSG).
  • I need to be encouraged and to encourage others. “Encourage each other to build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 TLB).
  • I need to stay positive and not forget all He has done and is doing. “Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done” (Colossians 2:7 TLB).
  • And I need to keep the commitment I made and not give up. “And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up” (Galatians 6:9 TLB).
Eric Sprinkle interviewing authors at this year’s Colorado conference.

For 23 years the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and 35 years the Greater Philly Christians Writers Conference has sought to encourage and equip Christians to live out God’s call to “write His answer.” Through worship and inspiring keynotes, classes taught by skilled authors and editors, the rich fellowship we share with other writers, and celebrating the hard-earned publication of books during our special Friday author’s night the conferences are a once-a-year booster to not give up.

CDs are available from the Colorado conference that is held every May the Wednesday-Saturday after Mother’s Day. A link to the order form is on the home page of the conference website.

It’s not too late to register for the August 8-10 Greater Philly conference at Dock Mennonite Academy in Lansdale although the price increases August 2 for late registrants and walk-ins. We cannot guarantee meals after today, and this is the last day to reserve a room at the Holiday Inn at the conference price. For more info and to register securely online go to https://philadelphia.writehisanswer.com.

Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.

Ephesians 3:20 TLB

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