Friday, May 10, 2019

Tell Fear to Go Fly by Robin Jones Gunn

Robin Jones Gunn
You don’t become a respected author with an impressive track record without working hard and taking risks. I admire Robin Jones Gunn, and I’m thrilled to have her as a guest today. Soak in her encouraging—and important—message. ~ Dawn


Tell Fear to Go Fly

I’ve been thinking about this verse in I John 4:18. “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Here’s what I’ve learned as a writer over the many decades. Fear and love cannot fill the same space. Love must drive out all fear. Fear must go away. Fear and love do not co-exist.

Yet so many beginning writers tell me they’re afraid. Afraid of rejection, afraid of failure. Some are even afraid of success. They started out with hope and joy but fear came knocking and they opened the door. Now they sit in a small, dark place where fear is making all the decisions for them.

Dear Beautiful Writer, tell that dark-winged enemy to go fly. Ask God to drive out all fear and fill your heart and your thoughts with His love. Then go back to work and write your little heart out.

When I was writing “Becoming Us” I saw the main character, Emily, as a thirty-something woman who was timid by nature but had fallen into a place of fear as a result of the losses in her life. She’d been married long enough to discover that everything didn’t go the way she dreamed it would. In order to be free to take the next step, Emily had to trust God’s perfect love for her. She had to make peace with the losses and cast out all the fear in her life before she could move forward.

Writers travel a similar path.

Don’t keep looking over your shoulder. Be at peace and write out of strength. When you write without fear of what others will say, without fear of whether you’ll finish or who will buy your work, then your words will be created out of love. Love for the art of word-crafting. Love for the Author and Finisher of your faith. Love for your readers. Love for the gift that’s been given to you. Love for the privilege of being able to communicate truth.

Don’t believe any of the lies that fear has been telling you. Write out of love, not out of fear and your words will echo in the same deep place inside your readers. Your words will be set free and so will you.

_______

When you #write without fear of what others will say, without #fear of whether you’ll finish or who will buy your work, then your words will be created out of #love. via @RobinGunn on #seriouslywrite

Don’t believe any of the lies that fear has been telling you. Write out of #love, not out of #fear and your words will echo in the same deep place inside your readers. Words of wisdom for the Christian #writer from @RobinGunn on #seriouslywrite


Becoming Us
Becoming Us


Emily bravely puts aside her fears and attends a party where she meets Christy, Sierra, Jennalyn and Tess. An unexpected moment links Emily to this small group that call themselves the “Daughters of Eve,” and the five women become unlikely best friends. 

Regular gatherings follow, and as the women share their stories, they find their lives weaving together in beautiful ways. It’s a season of raising children, figuring out relationships and dreaming together about what’s next. Emily needs a fresh start, but even with the encouragement of her new friends will it be possible to be free of the painful past that brought her to California?




Robin Jones Gunn is the bestselling, Christy Award winning author of nearly 100 books with over 5.5 million copies sold worldwide.

Best known for her Christy Miller novels for teens and the Christy Award winning Glenbrooke and Sisterchicks® series, Robin’s non-fiction titles include Praying for Your Future Husband, co-authored with Tricia Goyer and Spoken For, co-authored with Alyssa Bethke. Her newest novel, Becoming Us releases May 7, 2019 from WaterBrook/Multnomah, a division of Penguin Random House Publishing.

Hallmark Channel created three movies from Robin’s Father Christmas novellas staring Erin Krakow, Niall Matter and Wendie Malick. All three movies broke the record for the network by being the season’s highest rated and most watched original movies.

Robin’s love for storytelling and training writers has taken her around the world. She has served on the Board of Media Associates International and has been a keynote speaker in Africa, Brazil, Europe and Australia as well as Canada and throughout the US.

Many readers who grew up with Robin’s books have written to tell her how the memorable characters in her stories have mentored and influenced them over the years. Robin and her husband have two grown and married children and live in Hawaii.

Connect and learn more about Robin here: