#193: How to Persevere in Your Writing

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Writers, what happens when you come up against obstacles? Do you press through? Do you give up? Do you get discouraged? Today I'm going to talk in this training about perseverance. Hi, my name is Shelley Hitz. I'm the owner of Author audience academy and trainingauthors.com and I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine and I want to talk to you about this topic of perseverance because I think it's so important. There will always be moments in your journey where you'll want to give up, where it will get hard, where you'll hit obstacles, where you'll have enemies, like voices of people even saying, why are you doing this? Or get bad reviews? Or you hear things, criticism from others or your own stinkin thinkin'. And what do you do in that moment? One of my favorite verses for my business in this particular topic of perseverance comes from Galatians 6, 9, and it says, let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time. Do you get that? In God's time, not our own time. At the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we don't give up. We will reap a harvest if we don't give up. I recently shared my own story in a podcast titled did you'd give up too soon. And so you can go back and listen to that. But what I didn't tell you in that podcast was when I had my first initial failure for my art business and I had set up this classroom online, I had paid money for these resources and I didn't even make back my initial investment. I didn't know the big picture. I didn't see what was coming. I didn't know that in just less than a year later I would use that same system, the same thing that I had set up. God had led me to set all these things up and have this in place so that I could create courses to help artists build a business. I have courses now. It's called Etsy Entrepreneur, Etsy Shop Makeover. And I have like a series of at least five other courses in the works. Like, it's crazy and people are getting results. They are starting their Etsy shops, they're selling things. I mean, it's just amazing what God is doing. And I've earned thousands of dollars from these courses. But I couldn't see that. When I had my first failure, I thought in my entrepreneurial mind, I failed. You know, I didn't even earn back the money that I spent setting this up, not knowing what was ahead, not knowing that it was just simply the foundation. It was just simply setting all these things up for what was to come. And sometimes when we're in a writing situation or a business or marketing or we have a book launch and it just doesn't go as well as we think. We don't see the big picture. It's like a puzzle piece. We have one piece of the puzzle, but God has the box top right. He sees the full picture. So today I wanted to talk about King Hezekiah. I've been reading through the Bible using the new living translation. One year Bible and King Hezekiah is just an amazing king. There were a few really great kings. King David is the most famous of all and really amazing king. But King Hezekiah was pretty awes.

I just wanted to share a little bit about him. It says in 2nd Chronicles 29, verses 2 to 3, in the very first month of his reign as king. So I mean just the very first month, he reopened the doors of the temple, he repaired them and then he called Israel to return to the Lord in Second Chronicles 30, verse 6. And he began removing pagan altars and shrines. And and it says he did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. But Hezekiah, I mean he was clean in house from the very beginning. He's like, we are going to put our eyes back on the Lord. We're going to put our trust back in him. And something that I find really interesting and I love this and I think this is a really great thing for all of us as writers, authors, business owners. It's in 2nd Chronicles 31, verse 21 and this is about Hezekiah. It says, in all that he did in the service of the temple of God and in his efforts to follow God's laws and commands, Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. Go ahead and write in the comments right now. Wholeheartedly. He sought his God wholeheartedly. And this is what I love it says, as a result he was successful. He sought his God wholeheartedly and as a result he was successful. His success was not based upon his efforts, on what he did, on his genius, on his amazing writing, on his marketing plan, on business plan. His success was based and was a direct result of seeking his God wholeheartedly. Can I get an AMEN over and over again, the kings that had success, and I'm seeing this as I'm reading back through the Old Testament, they had success because they put God as their provider. They put their trust in God, they sought him wholeheartedly, and as a result, they were successful. It is just so clear. Cause, effect, cause, effect. So are you seeking God wholeheartedly today? But what I really wanted to share was then the Assyrians began to come against Israel and warring and coming and threatening them and wanting to take over Judah. And it says in 2nd Chronicles 32, Hezekiah worked hard at repairing all the broken sections of the wall, erecting towers, and constructing a second wall outside the first. So once he heard that these threats were coming, he started to go to work repairing the wall. Now, this is kind of a picture of, do you have some vulnerable places in your wall? You know, emotionally and spiritually and relationally? Are there places that as you move forward in this calling that God has for you to write and publish and impact lives beyond what you can even think or imagine? Is there some repairing that needs to be done? I know I've had to go through some deep, deep healing of stuff in my past. I talk about it in my book, Broken Crayons Still Color. And it continues. I mean, there's always things, you know, we're a work in progress, right? But he began to repair the walls. And then it says in verse 6, then Hezekiah encouraged them. I love it because Hezekiah is an encourager. And I feel like God has given me that gift as an encourager as well. He says he encouraged them by be strong and courageous. Go ahead and post that in the comments. Be strong and courageous. I love that phrase. You know, God said that to Joshua when they were getting ready to enter the promised land. And I think depending on the translation, it's like 10 to 12 times throughout the Bible. Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army. For there is a power far greater on our side. He knew that. He knew that. He knew it wasn't up to him. It wasn't up to his strategies. It wasn't up to his resources. There was a power far greater on their side that was going to help them to have victory. There is a power far greater on your side, writers. There is a power far greater than your resources, than your creativity, than your outline, than your marketing plan. We just simply need to seek him, right? And he says he may have a great army. Talking about the Assyrian the king of Assyria. But they are merely men. We have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles for us. You know, in a previous podcast, I talked about Jehoshaphat, and I wonder if Hezekiah knew the stories of Jehoshaphat and how God fought for him, if he knew the stories of King David and how God fought for them and just all the stories throughout, if he knew about that or if he just had such a faith and a trust in the Lord because of what, you know, his relationship with him. So, you know, Hezekiah takes the stand, but his enemies come and they begin to taunt him. They begin to threaten him. And so I want you to think, you know, sometimes we have those enemies too, that threaten and that taunt and that come against us. It could be people that leave comments. It could be family or friends. Like I said, it could be reviews. It could be our own thoughts. Could be the enemy, the lies of the enemy. And there's this whole letter that the king of Assyria sends to Hezekiah, and he says to the people, he says, don't let Hezekiah deceive you. Don't let him fool you. Like I said, no God of any nation or kingdom has ever been able to rescue their people from me and my ancestors. You know, he's just taunting them and threatening them. It says they mocked the Lord God and they were heaping insult upon insult. So what do you do, like, when you are in that situation that, you know, your enemies are. You know, your. These obstacles are coming up against you? It says Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, cried out in prayer to God in heaven. Again, there's a theme. Same thing with Jehoshaphat. He cried out to the Lord in prayer and. Yeah, it does look impossible. Yeah, this does hurt. You know, sometimes people's words hurt. Yes. This is hard. Yes. I don't know what's gonna happen. The unknown. You know, when you're writing and publishing a book many times, there's a lot of unknowns and going into that and not knowing how it's gonna turn out, what's gonna happen, what's the result, and just all of these things. But it says they cried out in prayer to God in heaven, and I find it interesting. It says cried out. Have you ever cried out to God in prayer? Like, just in a loud voice, just crying out, or with literal tears? I know I have. It says they cried out to the Lord in prayer. I can almost hear them just like. Like yelling and Screaming and just crying out. And the Lord again, cause and effect, prayer, seeking God. And then this is. This was the effect. It says, the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. Done. End of story. One sentence. It was all it took. One angel. I don't think I saw that before. And so I read it again. This time I'm like, doesn't say, oh, army of angels. It says, the Lord sent an angel, one angel, and completely wiped out this Assyrian army who had been conquering nation after nation after nation after nation. God does it differently every single time. And He. His approach is different for every single situation. But what we can know is his character. He responds to trust. He responds to prayer. And, you know, this. This whole topic of perseverance. When those enemies come, when they're taunting, when they're saying things to you, when obstacles are going to come, what is going to be your response? You know, are you going to press through or are you going to give up? Now, there is wisdom in listening to the Lord. And sometimes we are to surrender. We are to let go. But many, many, many times we're to keep moving forward. And it doesn't mean we have to figure it out in our own strength. It doesn't mean we have to come up with it. We have to do it, pull ourselves up with our bootstraps. It means crying out to the Lord, coming to him for his resources and his power. He can wipe out our enemies in one sentence with one angel.

And so this is how the Lord rescued Hezekiah and the people, Jerusalem, from the king Sennacherib of Assyria, and from all the others who threatened them. So there was peace throughout the land. Peace. That's such a gift, isn't it? And we can have that gift of peace from the Lord. But I just want to ask you today, and I encourage you to do some journaling right now, of what enemy is threatening you and taunting you today regarding your writing, marketing, or publishing. What is that big enemy right now? It could be something like perfectionism. It could be something like what someone has said to you. It could be fear. I mean, so many different things. So try to get as specific as possible. Even if you say fear. Fear of what? Fear of, you know, really try to get specific. And then, you know, do you truly believe that there is a power far greater on your side? Do you believe that you have access to that power? And then I just want you to take a moment to seek the Lord wholeheartedly, just like Hezekiah did. It says that was what brought him success, was when he sought the Lord wholeheartedly and put your trust in him.

Not your own abilities or your own resources or other people. We can be strong and courageous when our focus is on God's power and not our own. So I was recently talking to someone and they were just a writer and they were just so discouraged and kind of depressed. And I just really encouraged them to not look inward or look at their own strength and to not give up, but to look up, to fix your gaze on God and his power. Because it's so easy to focus on ourselves, right? It's so easy to see, just like I did with my art business in my own mind and seeing what I could see in that limited amount of time. I was looking at my own abilities, my own resources, the numbers. You know, it is easy to look at all of those things instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus and fixing our eyes on God, the power that's greater than ours. His strategy is typically so much different than ours, right? And asking him for help, crying out to him for help. And so I want you to take a moment to journal about this and see what God brings to your mind. But I want to encourage you today with this quote, never, never, never give up. Right? If this is what God's called you to, if this is what he's given you to do, he will provide what you need in getting you across that finish line again. My name is Shelly Hitz and I will see you next time.

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