Rest in the Midst of Reality

By Paulyn Aneke

I’ve read blog posts on how people have fared in the writing industry and I also have some measure of experience as a new and upcoming author. The gruesome nature of every stage is apparent. 

Looking at it from my own experience, it’s as though the writing part is the easiest to do—not that it’s easy, anyway, compared to any other parts of it.

At the beginning of January, the Lord spoke to me in Isaiah 43:18-19:

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

And then, I prayed and trusted God for every area of my life especially my writing. Quick on the heel of that, I got a form-rejection for a submission that was almost four months old. And then another for an anthology I wrote with three other authors.

Hadn’t the Lord spoken?

For a while, I was thrown off. The grounds of rejection weren’t stated, just blanket statements that didn’t mean a thing. I told my mentor I wanted to stop writing and she asked me, “Are you sure this is what God wants you to do?”

No, I wasn’t.

So she encouraged me. For a while, I went into hibernation. No writing, nothing. Months passed. I love writing, so, I didn’t feel happy that I wasn’t, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Sometimes, I remembered His words, and I tell Him I don’t know how you plan to do this, but I know You will. 

And I learnt to rest in the midst of the reality. Rest in Him who had spoken, who is also able to do it, despite the reality on ground.

Then, a call for submission came from a publisher on the ACFW loop. I contemplated it and came up with stories that I thought could work. I sent in two proposals and got contract to write them.

One is published on Amazon now, the other slated for early next year. But that’s not all. I had to pass up other opportunities because of grad school. Just yesterday being 27^th of July I sent another proposal. The four of us who wrote the anthology last year, had agreed to publish separately since they were stand alone. The same novella has found a home.

The fact that God did speak, doesn’t mean there’ll be a smooth sail. Sometimes, there’ll be, at other times, it may require that you rest in the knowledge that He watches over His word to perform it. Paul experienced shipwrecks even in moments when he was sure of the Lord’s leading.

Numbers 23:19:

God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

Resting is not easy either, but I’m learning. Learning to rest as I pray to write a scene, learning to rest as I wonder what next after finishing a piece. Learning to rest knowing that He knows what’s best.

Shalom!

About Paulyn Aneke

Paulyn is married and a mother of two lovely kids. She works as a clinical instructor. Her debut novella was released in April. To her, it's God, family, work and writing in that order. And God's been amazing.

https://m.facebook.com/mysovereign/