Don't Give Up On Your God-Given Dream

By Andrea Merrell

Has God placed a dream in your heart? Has He filled you with words of hope and encouragement that will bless others? Has He given you stories to thrill and entertain? Do you feel content and at peace when you’re sharing those words with the world?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then God has called you to write. When He calls, He equips. He will guide, instruct, and open the right doors of opportunity. Writing for Him is a wonderful journey, but just like every other adventure in life, the road can be filled with bumps and potholes. Those obstacles can cause discouragement and disappointment. Don’t let them derail your dreams and keep you from fulfilling your purpose.

Disappointment has been referred to as the gap between expectation and reality. Having your hopes crushed can be a damaging experience. I’ve heard writers say things like, “It’s too hard. I tried and failed. I’ll never do that again.”

One writer says, “Experiencing failure is the price you must pay to achieve success. Sometimes you must face it and overcome it repeatedly in order to be able to move forward and pursue your dream.”

Failure can come in many forms: a rejection letter, losing a contest, not getting the agent you had your heart set on, a negative critique, an awkward appointment with an agent, editor, or publisher. But failure is in the eye of the beholder. Some say we only fail when we don’t try. When we learn to take a different perspective, we can learn much from our failures. The key is: don't give up.

Learning is growing. And every stage of growth has its own set of growing pains.

Never stop believing in and pursuing your God-given dream.

 What is your dream? We would love to hear from you.

(Photos courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Miles and the path traveler.)

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Never stop believing in and pursuing your God-given dream. via@AndreaMerrell (Click to tweet.)

Making a Difference as a Writer

By Linda Gilden @LindaGilden

“If you want to change the world, pick up a pen.” This is one of my favorite writing quotes and is from Martin Luther. Since the moment I heard it, I knew I had heard directly from God as to my calling.

I had always wanted to do something that made a difference. When I first started writing, I was content to write in my office and have a few things published. But sitting there all alone with my computer didn’t make me feel like a world changer. Looking across the top of my computer out the window at the vast landscape in front of me should have been inspirational. Instead, because it was all the world I could see every day, it felt very small.

Several things helped me change my perspective.

• I had peace about what I was doing. I didn’t feel restless to go do something else. God called me to be a writer, and I was learning the craft. With each successful placement of my work, I had the opportunity to touch or change a life.

• I ceased to worry about how I fit into the writing world and concentrated on doing what God had called me to do. Some like to approach the writing world as a competitive venue. God has a special message for every writer to communicate in a way that is unlike any other writer’s style. I needed to let my uniqueness overflow onto every page.

• I began to receive bits of encouragement from others. Friends commented on my writing, a note or two arrived from people I didn’t even know, my passion continued to grow as aspiring writers asked me for advice.

• Second Corinthians 3:3 says, “You are a letter from Christ … written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of the human heart.” Whether my words are on a computer or spoken by the way I live, I am God’s messenger to the world, and others are reading.

Yes, being a writer is a pretty solitary job. However, very few other professions have the opportunity to take their messages directly to their audiences. 

Can you be a world changer? Absolutely. How? One word at a time reaching one heart at a time.

(Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and vectorolie.)

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Being a writer can be a pretty solitary job, but we are world changers as we reach one heart at a time. via @LindaGilden (Click to tweet.)

Linda Gilden is an award-winning writer, speaker, editor, certified writing and speaking coach, and personality consultant. Her passion is helping others discover the joy of writing and learn to use their writing to make a difference. Linda recently released Articles, Articles, Articles! and is the author of over a thousand magazine articles and 19 books including the new LINKED Quick Guides for Personalities. Linda’s favorite activity (other than eating folded potato chips) is floating in a pool with a good book surrounded by splashing grandchildren—a great source of writing material! www.lindagilden.com