If my heart still hasn’t come to believing God yet, I keep going in His Word.
The next steps are:
- Asking questions from the verses
Sometimes I then ask questions about the verse I have been led to. Rich Case of Living Waters Ministry, who taught me how to abide, says this process is “asking if the matter is settled in your heart.”
As I understand more about what God is saying to me about His promises from the Bible, my faith grows and my ability to live out what He commands me to do grows.
Out of this Mark 11:24 verse that I quoted in part I of this blog comes a few questions.
- Have I prayed for what I want lately?
- Why don’t I believe it?
- Have I received His answer?
The answer to the last question may be no because I haven’t seen the answer yet or because the answer doesn’t look like I thought it would. Then I wonder if I have hindered receiving if His answer looks different than I expect. So I take another step…
- Listen for confirmation
I tell Him sorry if I missed his answer previously, or if I still don’t believe it, and I ask Him to open my heart to receive. One day recently when I was in this dialog with God, a newer client of mine wrote me and told me how much she was learning from me. She said she really appreciated me my gentle guidance. That compliment brought to mind another client’s compliment, who told me that she learned so much more from me than her experience with her editor who worked for a traditional publishing house. Why? Because I had taken more time with her to teach her and to actually give her feedback on her work instead of just changing it.
That confirmation of the newer compliment was to remind me that He is still equipping me to make a living editing and publishing, and to share what I know.
Thank You Lord! After I know my mission, I may have questions about the work, so I take another step:
- Ask any questions about a specific writing topic
Mark 11:24 also invites me to ask questions about anything in prayer. Therefore, I move to specific questions about whatever I’m writing, like,
“What is the overarching take away of this chapter for the reader?”
“Where is my journal from a particular time frame?”
“Lord, help me find a previously written document that I drafted years ago that I know had a clever filing system that I can no longer remember.
Much of the time, as I wait and listen, He gives me answers to those prayers. Other times, I need to keep processing on difficult topics, so I take another step:
- Seek other verses on your stressor
While I used to have a different stressor every day and do one verse and change topics, this year I find I’m on the same topic for weeks. I might look up the verses one day, look up the original meanings the next day, a third day, I might ask the questions. Then in subsequent days, I may cross reference the verses using a cross reference Bible. I keep going on the same topic until I feel like the struggle diminishes.
Because all this took me a while to learn, I’ve put together tools to help myself—and you. I hope you find them useful!
STRENGTHENING RESOURCES FOR YOUR WRITING JOURNEY
THE BELIEVE JOURNAL—To foster your belief that you can endure this writing journey, I’ve created a resource just for you. It’s a journal called Believe, and its full of scriptures and photos for inspiration, as well as places for you to record Bible verses you are reading and blessings, lessons, and prayers. It’s all the information I wish I had on my journey toward authorship. Order your copy today!
PRAYERS FOR COMMON WRITER STRESSORS—In the free resource below, I share prayers and writing tips, and you will also get regular updates from me send directly to your email box.
NEED MORE PERSONAL ATTENTION? Check out my online writing courses or request writing and editorial coaching.
