My writing had been rather stagnant. Serious rewrites were in order for “To Seek and Save,” but with the rejections piling up, it’s harder and harder to feel motivated to press on.
Is fiction writing even what I’m supposed to be doing? Maybe I should just concentrate on writing business news, something I already know how to do and get paid for.
Turning to the Bible for direction, I was drawn to John 7:38, the verse on the front page of my web site.
He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
That verse has always been meaningful to me and it goes perfectly with the photo of the Missouri River. Reading it anew, I noticed something I’d overlooked before. The verse can’t be separated from the one before it:
Jesus stood and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.’
I wanted great words to proceed from my pen. But I’d missed the most important part: Before rivers of life can flow out of your heart, you have to drink from the stream. So I quit writing for awhile. Spent time in prayer and reading and just thinking and seeking God’s direction for a change, instead of telling him how I thought it should go.
And I discovered once again that scripture is true. Drinking deeply from Jesus quenches the thirst of our soul. My interest in writing has been renewed and I’ve started a brand new book featuring a real estate agent with the working title “Subprime Dreams.”
I went to the American Christian Fiction Writer’s conference in Minneapolis in September. Instead of taking all my expectations, I tried to simply be open to find what God had in store. I had a wonderful time seeing people I’d met before and making some new friends. I’m encouraged anew to dig into writing fiction, even though it’s hard.
Most of all, I’m concentrating less on churning up streams of words to spill out of my heart and spending more time dwelling at the headwaters.
