Anniversary Thoughts

This will not be a long post, but I wanted to acknowledge that this month carries a special meaning for me. It was in March 2021, two years ago, that I began writing Sani: The German Medic. Here is my journal entry, dated March 6, 2021:

For two or three days now I have been sorta consumed with writing. I’m always checking in with God making sure I’m on the right track. I’ve always enjoyed writing but couldn’t see myself as the person to sit there and take on a project like that. The thought of research itself daunted me. But to research something I felt passionate about? This is a new concept to me. Suddenly I feel what most writers feel when they zero in on something they’re passionate about…

Yet I continue to second guess myself. Isn’t this a waste of time?… Why bother wasting time on something that will never be published, or even finished? … Yet I feel like God has been walking me thru, holding my hand, planting ideas as they were needed, for three days now.

And so began an amazing journey. I hold out no expectations, I feel like I’m along for the ride. Dr. David Jeremiah (by now you know he’s my favorite preacher), in his radio teaching for today, talked about how Esther ended up in the Citadel at Susa because she was forced to go, not because she wanted to be there. She probably did not want to spend a night with the Persian king (think about it: a devout Jewish girl, knowing what it meant to spend a night with the king of the land in which her people had been held in captivity).

This is an excerpt/paraphrase of Dr. Jeremiah’s words:

When Esther knew it was her turn, she did not take {anything} with her, she would just go in her own strength and in the power of the Lord. You don’t need to complicate the will of God by assisting Him to accomplish His Will. I’ve told pastors over the years, don’t you ever call a church and seek for a position…. after you’re there for a while, if you’re not absolutely dead certain that God called you there, you will have a very difficult time staying there. So whenever you’re seeking the will of God, you make sure God is the one doing it, not you… Just go in His power and let His will be wrought in your life. If you’re not careful, you will complicate the will of God for yourself. I know for a fact God called me to preach because I resisted it for so long. I was drafted. He chased after me and inducted me. {Preaching} is not what I wanted to do and I’m thankful for that. I’m in the ministry because God laid hold of me and said “this is what you need to do.”

It’s not all that different with my writing. Yes, I loved writing when I was a kid, and I loved history, but I gave up on both of them because I saw no future in them. You know, we always think about making money. I was told not to go to college for history because the only thing a person can do with a history degree is teach and there was, at the time, already an abundance of history teachers. Further, even as a youth, I knew how virtually impossible it was to get a writing contract. And besides, I planned to have kids, so… I lost all ability and desire for both things anyway, and it was the farthest thing from my mind by March 2021.

“But God.”

I enjoy writing and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to do it, whether I ever make a living (or even a profit) at it or not. I’m thankful for every book so far and every door of opportunity that He has opened up. I love meeting people and talking to them about history and writing and how God has worked in my life, or whatever else the conversation lends itself to. By the way, I’m a total introvert, too, so you have to know that enjoying meeting people is also new for me–but yes, I love it!

There is one more thing I’ve got to acknowledge today. Most of my characters don’t have specific birth dates, but Jake Schmidt and Frederick Smith do. Frederick’s birth date is January 1, 1919, and Jake’s happens to be today, March 7 (check out the previous post for a little more about him). He’d be 107! Bad boy or not, I see the end of his story… kind of the way God sees the end of ours. It endears him to me. Book 3 will carry on the theme of his story with Emmy, which began in The Prodigal Sons. I’m hoping to finish drafting it by the end of the month, and it should be out by fall. If you want to get a taste for what happens in the interim between the two books, make sure you check out my Christmas novella, The Christmas We Both Needed, releasing in time for Christmas in July. Pre-orders are up now!

Spring is coming, readers!