Hello Again

It's been a long time since I last blogged. I hope you don't mind if I confess that the reason for that is because I've been discouraged, enough so that I was almost depressed. I've been writing for two years now. That means I don't have a job so I'm not making any money. Though I've gotten lots of great feedback on my books, I haven't gotten lots of money! I truly believe that I've been obedient to God in writing the stories he's given me. I have to believe that he has indeed given them to me. Not only do I get good reports about how my books have impacted people for God, but the actual mechanics of my writing is impossible. I've written ten books in two years, and they're not little paperbacks just thrown together. They average 120,000 words. That's about a 300 page hardcover book. They are also well crafted, edited and reviewed at least three times after the first draft is complete. I also layout the book in InDesign, including the cover. I am about to finish publishing my sixth book - and I only started writing in May 2009. Without God, that's not possible. But like I said, I'm not making money. Too many people in the Christian world want us to believe that if we're not financially prosperous, we can't really be serving God. I've heard too much of that lately, so I've been struggling to understand what's going on. If I'm really serving God, why isn't he giving me the obvious blessing of financial prosperity? Exploring the true teachings of the bible on financial prosperity is too much for this blog. At this time, all I really need to say is that I don't know the answer to the above question. I also don't know when or if God will ever bless me financially. It doesn't matter. The strongest evidence tells me that God has given me a calling. My responsibility is to use the talents he's given me for his glory. God is responsible for the results. If he chooses to not get the books I write into the hands of thousands of people, that's his right. My right is to decide to follow him or not. If I choose to follow him, I must do it regardless of any obvious results. I do choose to follow him. I do choose to write. That said, I still don't like to blog as much as I like to write my stories! I can't promise that I'm going to become much better at keeping up with my blog, but I am at least back on track. If you're really curious to know how the John thing that I was blogging about works out, you'll be happy to know that I've already written the next two posts. I shouldn't have too much trouble getting them up. I hope you'll come back.