Practicing the Discipline of Waiting
The following comment was written in response to my blog post about 'waiting' by author and speaker Joy Gage. It was so lovely I thought you might enjoy reading it as well:
By Joy Gage
Guest Columnist
You should see the red rocks of Sedona dusted with snow. Two weeks ago we saw snow all around us. Yesterday it was 70 degrees. We love living where we see snow every year yet never have to plow through it. It seems the best of both worlds.
From my youth I learned "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."
But I have never found it easy.
Waiting is one of the many disciplines a writer practices. With practice everything else about the craft becomes easier. But waiting remains the same–a difficult discipline.
Three years ago I grew so tired of waiting that I quietly threw in the towel. My agent never seemed to have time to give the feedback I needed; one publisher after another looked at my "very interesting historical novel" and found a reason not to publish it. My muse disappeared as I grasped another pressing responsibility–caring for our daughter who was dying with cancer. I looked back over my time in the publishing world–a respectable record but I had hoped to do so much more. I assumed the time had come to bow out, to quit trying and to be content with teaching on line for Jerry Jenkins.
When our daughter died, (2 years ago) she left such a hole in the family that we collectively reeled for more than a year. I filled my time by volunteering three days a week for a worthy cause. I made a great effort to get involved in the womens ministry at my church. But neither area proved to be the right fit for me. That year did not seem like a waiting period. It seemed more like the final bookend that closed off a former period of my life. But it was not.
God had other plans.
Last summer with no prior pondering an idea for a project came to me–a co-writing project with my husband. The book is finished and is being reviewed by a publisher. So we wait. Since that time I have submitted another proposal and am currently finishing a WWII novel.
In October a study on faith/obedience which I wrote for a mission board was released in Arabic. It has been distributed in Egypt and Jordan and 200 copies are on their way to a country I cannot disclose. A non commercial venture for which I must wait until eternity to discover any impact it will have.
In February within the space of 10 days at least a half dozen people contacted me about my book, When Parents Cry. This book was published over 30 years ago and after numerous editions (including a mass paperback by a N.Y. publisher) went out of print. The current interest has caused me to begin pondering a writing project that screams to be written. I have learned that as a believer, whatever God calls/equips us to do is ultimately in His hand. With Moses we pray, "establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." Thus the sales reports and the royalty checks do not tell the whole story. The publisher may determine how long a book stays in print but only God can determine how long that book has an effective ministry.
You are one of the two most gifted writers that I know. And you find ways to minister to other aspiring writers. I have watched you circle a room, encouraging people everyone else overlooks. I pray that while you wait that God will encourage you in many, many ways.
Many, many blessings,
Joy
