Unless the Lord Builds Your Writing House
Photo by Dean Terry
There have been some great posts recently about the difficulty of this writing journey we’re on together. If you haven’t read The Lonely Writer and When You Feel Like You’ve Been Left Behind, you should go do that now. Both of those posts really resonated with me because it seems like the disappointments on this road far outnumber the successes.
Just last week, I was talking whining to a friend about how I’d hit a wall of discouragement. The whine-fest went something like this…
I’ve been going after this thing for a few years now–learning, writing, learning, writing–but I don’t have anything to show for it. It doesn’t seem like I’m moving forward. Is all this work even doing any good? I feel like I’m wasting my time.
I needed a little boost, some kind of nudge to keep going. And just like the Lord, within 24 hours of that conversation, He gave me a huge dose of encouragement. Exactly what my heart needed to keep putting in the work. Along with it, He reminded me of this verse.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1
I have a vision in my head of how I’d like my writing “house” to look. It includes lots of books with fabulous covers sporting my name, and enough income that I can call it a “job” without laughing. But, pretty as that dream house may be, it may not be the house the Lord is building for me. I can work my fingers down to nubs trying to build the house I want, but if the Lord is building something else for me, all my work will be for nothing.
The thing about building a house is that you have to start with a solid foundation. If I just slap some walls up and then focus on making the yard look pretty, my house won’t last very long. But God has a beautiful master plan for my writing life, and He builds houses the right way, even when it requires ridiculous amounts of time and energy. I have to trust that He knows what He’s doing, that the house He‘s building will be infinitely better than the one I’m dreaming of. My job is simply to do the work He gives me and trust that, together, He and I are making progress. And in those moments when I’m exhausted and it feels like the house will never be finished, all I have to do is ask and He’ll give me the encouragement I need to keep going.
Do you need some encouragement to keep going? If so, leave a comment. I’d love to pray for you.
