I Believe in You

This is the title of the new series at church.  I had to fight tears the whole time.

Our pastor may not be the most eloquent but he has one thing going for him:  he is authentic, God-centered, and heart-felt.  He often cries when he speaks about God and one can’t help but feel his passion for the Lord.

At some point or points, one person or persons believed in you. They told you, “Yes, you can” when others (including yourself) believed otherwise.  Our pastor related his personal story and gave credit to his wife who admittedly he said he wouldn’t be here without her.  She believed in him when he didn’t.  He founded our church 28 years ago with 7 people and now it’s in the thousands.

We need to believe in others.  We need to believe in our spouse. We need to invest in those nearest us–someone. We need an older mentor. We need an encourager.  We need to give of ourselves in order to live.

God wants us to quit settling.  God wants us to have all He has given to us; to seize it.  Satan will try to talk us out of everything God wants us to do.  He will lie to us.

Jesus commissioned his 11 disciples to spread his work.  Jesus believed in them.  He believed in Peter, who denied him 3 times.

God believes in us.  He wants us to follow His call on our life.  God believes in us when we don’t know if we want to go on.

Romans 8:31  If God is for us, who can be against us?

Several songs popped in my mind:  Our God by Chris Tomlin, The Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets, and You Never Let Go by Matt Redman

We need to believe we can do whatever our calling/purpose is in this world.  This gets me through when I’m stuck.  I tell myself, “This is God’s work.  It’s for Him.  It will be all worth it when it’s done.”

When was the last time someone told you they believed in you? When was the last time you told someone you believed in them?

You might not remember.  But I bet you remember the last time you needed to hear it.

Lessons From Editing

I have learned two things from finishing my umpteenth edit of my novel:  1) I could do it.  I didn’t believe in my heart that I even wanted to go there again–experience once more what my character experiences and re-live some of those events through her eyes.  But I did do it!

2) A peace has overcome me as I finished the last stroke.  It’s as if, finally, the story has been told and my work is complete.  I feel God has spoken all He can through this novel and it’s ready to be unleashed on the world.

Now, getting someone else to believe the same thing is the task at hand.

“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.”  Benjamin Franklin

“Let everything you do be something beautiful for God.”  Mother Teresa

The Anatomy of Rejection

I touched on this briefly last post.  It’s not that I get my feelings hurt when I receive a reject on my labor of love (my novel).

It’s this:  I want something so bad and I hold so many expectations and hopes that when I do get rejected, it’s not personal or a reflection of me.  It doesn’t hurt my ego or anything.  It’s a deflation of my dreams and expectations and the knowledge that there is still plenty of work to do.  It also is a lesson in patience (not my strong point by any means).  I have to wait longer to see my book in print, to see my dreams materialize, to hold my work in my hands and watch others enjoy what I’ve created.

I want it now is what it comes down to and a rejection signals, “Nope, not now but later.”

I know that my novel is good.  I know in my heart it is God’s work and it is meant to be shared to help others cope in this world.  I know that.  It’s just frustrating when I can’t seem to get that across to others.

No one said this was easy or life was easy.  What fun would that be?

I pray I get an agent soon.  I pray I get a publisher soon.  I pray my husband gets a job soon.  I pray we move to where I want to live and not to some hole-in-the-earth place where a job happens to be.  I pray my kids get accepted to schools where I can feel comfortable sending them to, where I won’t have to homeschool them the rest of their lives, where they can have friends and the whole school experience.  I pray these burdens on my heart are lifted.

I miss my old town.  I miss my old church.  I miss my friends.  My kids miss their friends.  Hell, I even miss my old house.

Do the trials of life ever end?