The pandemic, the election, hurricanes, fires, a derecho*, illnesses and deaths of loved ones, layoffs and closed businesses, canceled events. Even Black Friday will be different this year, to avoid “spreader” crowds.
We’re just so tired of it all.
On Facebook, Kermit the Frog declared he would not set his clock back when Daylight Saving Time ended. “I don’t want another hour of 2020,” he said.
I get it.
This post is as much for me as for you.
This year has brought rejections, an even tighter publishing market, little time or motivation to write—it all adds up to discouragement about the writing career.
Apparently, the early Christians struggled with discouragement, too. The apostle Paul wrote: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9, ESV).
Just because circumstances don’t work out the way we want or expect doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. He is still God, and He is still working in our lives. He doesn’t want us to give up. That dead end or chasm in the road ahead may require only a slight detour.
If God has called you to write stories that reveal Him to the world, know that He will make a way for your stories to impact someone.
Keep writing, keep seeking His face, keep trusting. And maybe, in your discouragement, you can reach out to a fellow writer who’s also struggling. Encourage one another.
Remember that God is faithful and true. The stories you write may reveal His truth to someone who needs to hear it.
* Derecho: a line of intense, widespread, and fast-moving windstorms and sometimes thunderstorms that move across a great distance and are characterized by damaging winds. Powerful Derecho Leaves Path of Devastation Across Midwest.
