Pushing Through Discouragement

Why do writers write? Are you a writer? What drives you? What motivates you? I write because I can’t “not” write. Ideas, story plots, characters, and conflicts flow through my mind like butter melting on toast. My characters in Like A Cedar in Lebanon became as real to me as people that I know. I want to write edgy Christian fiction that deals with real problems: abortion, abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, murder, rape, unfaithfulness, divorce, adoption—you get my idea. I’ve worked with people in ministry most of my life. These things happen, and they happen in the church world. In the midst of all of that, I want to hopefully show God’s heart for people. And although people fail, God never does. In Like A Cedar In Lebanon, both Jack and Lebby learn what true forgiveness is, that God is a faithful God, that He can restore and truly bring good out of bad. My writing journey has been full of disappointments and discouragement, but I wouldn’t give up. I prayed continually over my writing journey. If God wasn’t involved in it, I didn’t want to be a writer. My challenge to you is to persevere, push through disappointment and discouragement. If you have the passion and drive to write, believe that God put it there.