Pouring rain here today but hope it's sunny wherever you are - in the very center of your soul, at least! I've been thinking about something my Sunday school teacher once said - that our lives are all Mercy and Grace. His Mercy and Grace. We wouldn't even breathe without it. He enables us to do even that. Anything beyond breathing is a huge bonus.
We even get to serve Him! And that is a privilege. He even gifts us to do so. I always wonder how people can take any credit for the things they do well when it's all about His Mercy and Grace. Like writing. He's gifted me to write (though I'd rather have played the fiddle!) but I can no more take credit for writing than having green eyes and blonde hair. It's just what happened and is as natural as breathing.
Growing up I kept my writing a secret to all but my parents and brother. Pretty hard to disguise that loud typewriter pecking for hours on end even behind a bedroom door:) I think they thought it was just a hobby, an escape. It was more the latter. I can't tell you all the places I've been with paper and pen! I have to confess that when I married Randy at the ripe old age of 33 he didn't know I came with an ounce of writing baggage. Like Dr. Dobson says, dating is a time of concealment. I just never talked to anyone about it and I never knew anybody else who liked to write - or admitted to it anyway.
So here I am out of the dark and into the light, so to speak. And I wonder what all the fuss is about!? I still don't talk about it but things have a way of leaking. I have two God-given prayer partners here and one is equipped with a wonderful sound system:) It didn't take long before people started sharing her joy (and mine) when this writing dream was realized and I signed that contract.
Still, I squirm when folks ask me about it. Yes, I'm thrilled but I'm still at the stage when I think I'll wake up and find it is all just a dream. I get tickled at people's reactions to someone with a book about to come out (well, in my case, according to the counter in the right margin, 300 more days). But you're the gal down the road who cans beets and lives in that little grey house with the green shutters and drives that old red Jeep and has those two boys with flat-tops, etc. At least this is what they seem to be thinking. One lady asked me my qualifications for writing. I almost laughed! And I didn't answer right away!
What are my qualifications anyway? Not a one. It's all back to His Mercy and Grace.
God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace ...
2 Timothy 1:9
I was a "closet" writer when I was a kid, too. Writing just meant so much to me that I was afraid to let it out where others might make fun of my dreams. But then when I got married at the tender age of 17, I was ready to see my words in print. I began working toward the goal then and I've never stopped. I'm thankful every day the Lord gave me that writing want to. And that He coupled it with some good old fashioned stubborn perseverance so I wouldn't give up when the going got a little tough at times.
ReplyDeletePublication day will zoom around here quick as anything for you, Laura. It will be exciting for you to hold that first book in your hands.
You really do know how I feel, Ann! I can hardly wait to see the cover, much less get that book in the mail. I think you are right about keeping our writing hidden growing up because it meant so much. It's so good to hear that from another writer.
ReplyDeleteBless you!