#155: Are you on the merry-go-round of writing?

As I was praying for you all, I felt like God gave me a encouragement to share with you Kingdom writers on this journey to writing, publishing and marketing your books. Most of you have more than one book in you, right?

And I saw a picture of some of you just spinning round and round. You feel like you're not getting anywhere. And it gave me a picture of a merry a go round. Do any of you feel like that in your writing? Sometimes where you feel like, am I getting anywhere? Is this going anywhere? Am I ever going to publish this book? And I just saw in the merry go round, it's on a playground, it's for kids. But then, you know, it's the comfort zone. It's what you know, it's easy to do. You just sit on the merry go round and just let people push you or go around and round. But then I also saw that there was a bike and you could actually get off of the merry go round and get onto the bike. Takes more effort, right? You can just sit on the merry go round. You can just let momentum take you and let people push you, but you have to actually take initiative to get off of the merry go round, get onto the bike, and then you have to push it with your own two feet, right?

And I feel that some of you, not all of you, but maybe there's at least one of you, that this is for that it's time to get off the merry go round and the comfort zone and doing the same things, and it's time to take some action, partnering with God, not doing it on your own strength. And when you get on a bike, it actually gets you somewhere, right? You're not just going in circles anymore. That may feel fun, it may be entertaining, it may be good, but it's. You don't feel like you're actually getting somewhere. Whereas when you're riding a bike, you're getting somewhere. But you may have to stop, take, catch your breath, let your legs. Your legs might be burning, or you might not go as far in the bike at first. You build endurance by doing the thing. My husband is an endurance runner. He knows this. And you build endurance by getting your reps in, by getting out there on the bike, doing the pedaling, building it each day. If it's 15 minutes, you're building that endurance. How many of you feel like you're building the muscle of writing consistently right now, you're building those reps, you're not as good at it right now, and that's okay. When we first started riding a bike, we'd fall at. Sometimes we. It wasn't easy, but then after we got in the flow, after you build the reps, after you practice, you get used to it. CJ used to ride his bike all around his town and his friends. And it was a small little town, it was safe to do. And he. He'd go everywhere as a little kid on his bike because he could get somewhere right on that bike, and he built up that endurance. And so I feel like the encouragement to some of you today is keep showing up.

Keep getting your reps in. Keep showing up. Keep setting your timer for 15 minutes. And whether or not any of that ever goes in a book, you're building the muscle of writing. You're building that muscle of consistency. And God sees you Kingdom writers. He sees you. And the scriptures that came to mind was about Jesus. Jesus had things that he did on a consistent basis. It says in Luke 4:16, as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on Sabbath. That was his custom. He had that routine. And then in Luke 5:16, it says he often withdrew to the wilderness to pray. And so he had things that he was showing up for, he was doing on a consistent basis. And I want to encourage you today, keep showing up. God works in the little things. It's a process of continually giving to God the little bits of time and energy and creativity that we have and watching him multiply it. How many of you feel like you just have the two fish and the five loaves? You're just like, I just have 15 minutes. I just have a little bit of energy. I just have a little bit of creativity. Today, I don't know if I really have what it takes. Keep showing up. God is with you Kingdom writers. He is with you. And he will continue to give you the skills as you show up. Like, we don't instantly become experts at riding a bike the first time. If I gave up on trying to ride a bike when I was seven and my dad was trying to teach me, I would have never learned. I had to keep showing up. I had to keep trying. And you will build the skill. Your writing will get better. I am such a better writer now than I was when I published my first book in 2008. Why? Because we've written and published over 70 books. Because I've written all these blog posts, emails, social media posts. I just keep showing up. You guys see me, I am doing the things. I want to encourage you as well. You will improve, you will get better. But if you feel like you're on the merry go round and you're not getting anywhere. It may be time to get off and get on the bike. It will feel uncomfortable, it will feel like work sometimes. And how many of you know our flesh wants to resist work? Just set the timer for 15 minutes and whatever you need to do, ask the Lord to help you to do it. So let me pray for you. God, thank you so much for all the Kingdom writers that are here right now or listening later. We thank you, God, that you are with us and that we can, through your spirit, get off of that merry go round. The enemy wants to keep us in our comfort zone and just spinning and spinning and never really getting anywhere. But God, you have a different plan for us, you have a different purpose for us and you want us to stay. Step off right now, that merry go round, if that this applies to us, and get on the bike and say, holy Spirit, help me, Jesus, help me, Father God, help me, Help me learn. I may fall, I may stumble, I may not go very far today. But as I keep showing up, you will give me this skill of writing. You will help me to finish this chapter. You will help me to finish this book and click the publish button. But I will come to you. I will choose to do the work today and partner with you, partner in your strength. It doesn't have to be hard, but it is work. So, Lord, we thank you for what you're doing in us and all the books that are gonna be published as we just keep showing up and we pray this in Jesus powerful name, Amen. Amen. So if that was for you today, just let us know. I would love to know if that was for you today, but I encourage you, keep showing up, he is going to give you the skill. He's going to help you as you, as you come to him and continue to partner with him. All right, we're gonna let you go and I will talk to you soon. Bye bye.