The Hard of Writing

" . . . writing a book didn't just happen. 

It wasn't like it was left under your pillow by a fairy, already written. 

No. It was hard. 

You had to erase."

 ~ Jan Karon

I've spent the last two years researching and reading books on cancer, learning from other cancer patients, listening to stories of those who won, some who lost before our conversation ended, and many still fighting the battle—when all I wanted to do was run far from this disease, spend my days    living, loving, laughing, playing, seizing each moment God gives me, and playing like a I-don't-have-a-care-in-the-world child. The hard of writing.

But God gave me a story and a desire to use my illness for His glory. The process is hard, but the blessings are easy and huge. Wonderful cancer warriors became my friends, my encouragers, my mentors, my blessings. As God always does, He uses the hard to mold us into His Image.

As a Christian author, I've met precious writers. Many have a story, because they lived a tragedy. A child died, is missing, or is in prison. A spouse left. An illness dominates their lives. Writing their journeys required them to go back to the hurting place, feel the devastation all over again, and write and rewrite and rewrite the agony. The hard of writing.

Why do we write when the writing is hard? We write so satan won't win the battle because Christ won the victory. We write for the glory of God. We write to heal our hurts. We write because God called us to tell our stories. to comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Christian authors are like angels—God's messengers to a hurting world. They desire, as I do, to give God the glory for their victories over the pain.

If the Lord leads, please pray for Christians to keep writing their God stories of hope, encouragement, and comfort. If Christians stop writing, what books will fill our bookstore shelves?

Today my next book is in the hands of an editor who is making my writing shine. Then, I'll have rewrites and more editing and (horror of horrors) cover design! A bad cover can destroy a well-written book. I am a writer, not an artist or a designer. The hard of writing.

So, while I wait for the next phase of the book publishing process, I seize each moment as a gift from God while I rest, read, live, laugh, love, and blow bubbles like a not-a-care-in-the-world child.

Have a splashes of serenity kind of a summer!