Words usually don't fail me. Which is a good thing, being that I earn my living as a writer. But as I sit down to officially begin this new venture of releasing my Christian stories and novels into the world, I find myself tongue-tied (or maybe finger-tied, since these are typed words rather than spoken). It's hard to express the enormity of what I feel right now: excited, of course, to share my work with you, but also nervous (what if no one wants to read my books, what if they read them and don't like them, what if...) and vulnerable (every story I write feels like exposing a piece of myself to the world).
Thankfully, when I get overwhelmed like this, God has a way of reminding me that it's not up to me what happens next. It's in his hands. So, trusting that, I'm going to step out, send these books into the world, and let God do what he will with them. My prayer is that they will touch your heart and remind you that he loves you with an unfailing love.
I have plans, of course, for what I'm going to write and how I'm going to get it in front of people. But as I make those plans, I'm trying to be mindful of my motivation and where my heart is. You know, a few weeks ago, my husband preached a sermon about ambition. I know he didn't intend to write it just for me (I don't often get customized sermons, even though I'm a pastor's wife!), but it really spoke to my heart. So often, we get caught up in our ambition for power, prestige, wealth, and all the other things that we measure success by in this world. But none of those things are lasting--none of them will lead us to true "success." That doesn't mean we can't be ambitious. But we need to be ambitious for the right thing--we need to be ambitious for God. Ambitious to serve him, to proclaim his name, to share his love. If that ambition shines forth in everything we do, then we can consider our efforts a success. So as I set out on this new path, I pray that God would make me ambitious--for him.
