Please welcome this weeks guest Morgan Busse for The Journey. She answers the question: How have you seen God work in your writing journey?
How have you seen God work in your writing journey?
It started eight years ago when I first started writing. Like any writer, I dreamed of publishing a novel. It was a long process. I was a mother of four young children, so the only writing time I had was during naps and late at night.
Finally, after a couple years, I had a finished manuscript. Now time to fulfill the rest of my dream: become a published author. I sent out inquiries, attended conferences, and found interest in my book.
I am a stubborn person. I hold onto something with an iron-like grip. Deep down, I knew that I needed to give my writing to God. All of it. And I tried. If you were to use a percentage, I would say I gave God at least 95%. But there was always a small part of my heart that clung to my dream of becoming a published writer. A part that no matter how hard I tried, I could not give up.
So God graciously intervened.
A year later life came crashing down on my family. My husband lost his job. It soon became apparent that to help keep my family afloat financially, I would need to go back to work fulltime. And in order for me to work fulltime and take care of my family (which included our four young children), I would have to give up writing.
That night I prayed and cried. I tried to figure out how to balance it all. But I knew there was no way I could be a wife, mom, worker, and writer at the same time. Something had to give. It had to be my writing.
So on my knees, I finally and completely gave my writing over to God. 100%. I would walk away without a second glance back. I would not send out any more inquiries to publishers or agents. I would put my writing aside until the time came that my family no longer needed me to work. Or perhaps I would never come back.
But there was one catch: I had not heard back from an editor. I told God that it was in His hands what He did with my book. I would not pursue this editor. I would wait and see what happened. The next day I started my new job.
Two weeks later, I received an email from Jeff Gerke asking if I wanted to be part of Marcher Lord Press. I couldn’t believe it. After I had completely given up on writing, God gave me my dream back.
I was able to work on my edits during my lunch breaks and still be a mom after work. And after a couple months, my husband found another job, allowing me to come home again.
To this day, I am grateful for how God worked in my writing life. He knows what is best for me, and is shaping me to become the woman—and writer—that I need to be.
My first book, Daughter of Light, released in April, with two more to follow.
How about you? Could you walk away from your writing?
Bio: Morgan L. Busse is passionate about authentic Christianity and shares from her own life her fears and triumphs as a follower of Jesus Christ. The wife of a pastor and mother to four children, she has plenty of adventures to draw from. Along with blogging, Morgan also writes speculative fiction and released her debut book, Daughter of Light, with Marcher Lord Press. You can visit Morgan at www.morganlbusse.com
Website: www.morganlbusse.com
Book website: http://www.marcherlordpress.com/bookstore/fantasy/daughter-of-light-by-morgan-busse/
It always amazes me how God works when we finally let go. I guess it shouldn’t amaze me though 🙂
Jennifer, I think God has to bring us to that place, or we will never go where He wants to take us 🙂