I’m back into my website! Whew! Thank you for being patient! I never imagined being locked out of my blog would inspire such a panic!
So what have you been up to while I’ve been out of touch? It seems like I’ve been running, running, running. But now it’s time to stop and make progress on revisions. I always have a little bit of a crisis of faith when it comes to revisions. Can I make this story what it needs to be? What if I revise and it’s worse than before? What if I mess up something that’s working now trying to fix something that isn’t working? What if it gets sent back to me again with major changes and I miss my deadline and it throws the whole publication schedule off?
Such questions raced through my mind the other day as I forced myself to workout. (For I’ve learned that I feel so much better when I do!) I’ve been fixated on my mid-section in my workouts for the past couple of months. I’ve always had a bulging belly, even when I was toothpick-thin in high school and college. It’s where I carry my weight. And while I have no illusions of it ever being flat, I have wanted to see if I could tone it a bit.
When I started the intense abs workout, I couldn’t really feel my ab muscles working overly hard. I haven’t seen a huge outward difference yet, either. But I’ve continued on by faith, trusting the instructor that over time the various exercises will make a difference. Then this week, I realized something. All of a sudden, I could feel the muscles that were being worked! All that time and effort, all that faith that the process was making a difference even if I couldn’t see it, had paid off. Something was happening to my muscles with consistent exercise.
As often happens with me, I then made a spiritual correlation. Isn’t that what happens with our “faith in God” muscles, too? I have some faith muscles that have grown strong after years of years of being worked and stretched. Like my faith for financial provision muscles. From our first days as a married couple, me in college, him in law school, to now, with three college tuitions due in August, those faith muscles have’t just molded beneath the skin, they bulge where I can see them.
But my writing faith muscles aren’t quite as pronounced yet. So the questions come and I worry with them for a little while even as I move forward in faith. Being at the writing conference last weekend reminded me that my writing skills have grown over the years. And looking at my other books on the shelf proves God’s faithfulness through each revision thus far. My writing faith muscles are being honed. I’m starting to feel them work. And so I continue on, believing that I not only craft a better book with every word that slips from my fingertips onto the page, but my faith grows stronger as well.
What faith muscles have you been exercising lately?
Melissa Tagg
So glad you’re back!
I’m approaching a deadline right now and my own writing faith muscles are in need of some toning, for sure. I feel flabby with doubt. But yeah, you know, God is so faithful. And I just keep telling myself, he doesn’t lead us down a path to abandon us there…so I can laze about on a couch of uncertainty, or I can get up and exercise the gifts he’s given me…and even more, the faith that I truly do want to firm up.
Love this post today!
Anne
You can do it, Melissa, because you don’t do it alone! I feel sure your writing faith muscles will be finely sculpted very soon! 🙂