Set apart for God's use

by Teresa Slack Promotion comes neither from the east or the west, not from the south. But God is the judge: he puts down one and sets up another. Psalm 75: 6-7 Some days while I’m writing and the words flow like a stream after a spring rain, it’s easy to believe I have a special calling on my life. I am set apart for God’s use. He has a big purpose for me. My writing is meant to touch hearts and change lives. Then I get word from my agent that another publishing house passed on my work. I log onto one of my writing groups and I hear of a multi-published author who received a contract for three more books with a fantastic advance, and I come crashing to the ground. What’s the deal? Why doesn’t anyone like my writing? What am I doing wrong? When will God show me favor? Several times in the last few weeks I’ve talked to people, many of them writers who are disheartened about the loss of a job or cut in pay or yet another rejection from a publishing house. It is easy to ask; “Why not me? I know I have a calling on my life. I’ve read published works that are ten times worse than mine. Why is So-and-So blessed?” We don’t want to hear it will happen in God’s time. We want it to happen in our time. I work hard at my writing. I study the markets, am always on the lookout for new ideas and work like a dog to make my prose as precise and compelling as possible. So why am I not inundated with lucrative contract offers? Why doesn’t my agent have a picture of me up in his office to show fledgling writers what they should aspire to? You will drive yourself crazy trying to wrap your head around these questions. We won’t always understand why things happen the way they do, whether with writing or promotion at work or in relationships. The only thing we can do in times of trial and doubt is to keep doing well. Keep applying yourself at work. Keep growing in your craft. Use the downtime in your writing to read, study the markets and network. Faint not in doing good. It will happen as long as we keep working, keep submitting, keep growing, and most importantly, keep the faith that God is bigger than we are and he has a plan for each life he put on earth.