A Long Time Coming

Confession that you've probably already noticed?

I haven't written here in a very long time. In fact, none of us have, partially (I suspect, though I should probably only speak for myself) because all of us have been adjusting so much over this last year to how much our lives have been changing. But y 'all get that, don't you?

I've moved to Alaska since I wrote here last, and I'm sitting here in the sunlight (it's almost 11pm...) thinking about life and writing and it made me want to say something...Mostly to myself, but I hoped it would help me if I said it to someone else too, so I'm choosing you guys. Here it is.

We all have callings. I really believe that. And while sometimes your calling will change based on where you are in life...Sometimes it won't.

I have struggled lately to be consistent in my writing time. Something that was once so easy suddenly became difficult, spurred by loss in my life last year, then made worse when I had trouble with a proposal that I felt should have been easier to craft than it was. Then we moved, then we were adjusting, then we were helping our son adjust to the move or whatever it was that caused more behavior challenges than usual...

Basically, then there was life, right? =)

But tonight I felt reminded that my calling to write hasn't changed because of all of that. I am a wife. I am a mom. But I am also called to be a writer, to write the stories in my heart, stories that point to God's truth, whether I think anyone will really read them or not.

(Did y'all realized published authors worried about that too??)

The same is true for you, friend. The time you have to give to your calling may change. It may even be put on hold for awhile. But unless you really feel that God has told you to leave it alone and pursue something else, don't let it sit on the side for too long. I'm having to realize that. This writing thing? It's a unique calling. It may not feel like it when you're at a conference, or on an online writing community and you see how many other people have this same dream that you do. But it's unique--it's a job, it's a ministry, it's a hobby...and people won't get that sometimes. They don't have to understand how those things play out, how it fits into your life.

God gets it. You get it.

And you're still called. I'm still called.

I just needed to say that to someone else, and to myself tonight. =)