Write from the Deep

How do you know if your humility is real...or false? Especially when it comes to promoting your books? Join us as we explore how writers should practice humility.

If you’re just skimming the surface of the story God’s given you, you’re doing your readers a disservice. Go beyond superficial writing! Dig deep when you write, and your words will not just entertain, but change lives.

We are being conditioned to live superficial lives. But God calls us to lives that are real, vulnerable, and immersed in Him. Don’t settle for less than God’s best for you!

Trust is hard. Even with God. Sometimes it’s especially hard with God. It’s not that we don’t believe He’s trustworthy, it’s just that we can’t surrender ourselves to that trust. But there’s a wonderful reward when you do so, and that’s immeasurable peace. So let us help you discover what’s holding you back, and how to start trusting today!

In our last episode we talked about how trust has two parts, there’s the action on our part—believing, relying, depending, hoping. And a qualifier about who or what we trust in. The reliability, truthfulness, ability, or strength of what we’re hoping in, what we’re placing confidence in. And we tackled the latter side of the issue first: Is God trustworthy?

Our answer? A definitive YES.

Today we’ll talk about our side of the bargain. If God IS trustworthy, are WE able to act on that? Are we able to do the trusting? How do we know?

Signs that you’re not trusting God

* Anxiety

* Worry

* Lack of peace

* Taking back something you’ve “surrendered”

* Not obeying God

What builds the obstacles inside of us that hold us back from truly trusting God? The simple answer is fear.

We’re afraid we won’t like how God will handle something. That those who deserve to be punished won’t be, or that those who deserve great rewards won’t get them, or that those who are hurt and sick won’t be healed physically.

We put our expectations of timeline, of how things should happen, on God. But remember who sees all, from beginning to end? That’s not us, folks. That’s God and God alone.

When you trust God, really trust Him, you surrender the situation and yourself and walk away. Trust means giving something to God and then not thinking about it again until you see His answer. No matter how it comes, and no matter how long it takes. (Another resource to help you with this aspect of trusting is episode 47: Is God Really Good?)

So why is true trust in God so important?

Trust changes everything.

The Fruit of Trust

Blessing

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8

Freedom

Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  Romans 8:1-2

Joy

If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.  John 15:10-11

Guidance

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track.  Proverbs3:5-6 (the Message)

Confidence

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength…”  Isaiah 30:15

Future reward

For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.  1 Peter 1:4-5

How do we develop trust?

We learn to trust by trusting. There is no magic formula.

* Be in communication with God about both how we’re trusting and what we’re struggling t...

It’s easy to say we trust God, but do we really? True trust means no worry, no taking back what you surrendered. True trust means peace. No matter what.

In our last episode, Ginny Yttrup joined us to talk about surrendering to God, and in the comments on the post we talked about how hard surrender can be and one of the things Ginny posted was: “Surrender is a walk of trust.” She nailed it. One short little sentence, very big idea. Because what she was saying was trusting is a prerequisite of surrendering. How can you surrender anything to God if you don’t deep in your gut trust Him?

We all THINK we trust God, but if we do, why do we worry, fret, take back what we’ve surrendered? Why do we struggle to find peace?

What is trust?

* New Oxford American Dictionary: “To believe in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of”

* New Oxford American Dictionary: “Have faith or confidence”

* Webster “To rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of”

* Webster “To place confidence, depend, hope”

If we’re talking about trusting God, we have to ask: Is God trustworthy?

Can we hope in Him?

Rely on Him?

Is He strong enough to do what He says He’ll do?

Sure it’s easy to say He is…on the surface, but what about the deep places? We talk on this podcast about the deep having different meanings, and often we talk about the place of struggle, but the deep is also a place of deep relationship with God. Deep abiding. Deep knowing. Deep communing. Deep…trust. If we want that kind of relationship with God, then we better settle the question in the deepest part of our being. Is God trustworthy? Because that’s going to affect everything going forward.

Is He trustworthy/truthful?

How do you decide? You look at what He says and does. What’s His track record?

Moses, at the end of his life, before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the promised land, reviews for them everything God had done. He gives them their history so that they can remember God’s track record.

* “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”   Deuteronomy 7:7-9

Joshua does the same thing at the end of his life:

*  “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”  Joshua 23:14

And God is still keeping His promises, like the promise of sending us a savior in Jesus:

* “From [David’s] descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised.”  Acts 13:23

So the evidence in Scripture proves that God is trustworthy, but what about strength?

Is He strong enough to do what He says?

Daniel chapter 3 talks about Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in the furnace in Babylon:

* Nebuchadnezzar makes a big statue and forces everyone to worship it, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse, and they’re brought before Nebuchadnezzar who’s furious at this rebellion.

* He gives them a final chance and the consequences: “…if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace.

51 – Surrender in the Deep with Author Ginny Yttrup

We’ve heard it over and over: “Don’t give up!” “Never surrender!” But the truth for writers is that surrender isn’t necessarily a bad move. In fact, as author Ginny Yttrup shows us, it’s the absolute best move when your journey takes you into the deep.

SHOW NOTES

Ginny L. Yttrup is an award-winning author of five novels including her latest, Home, which released earlier this month. She writes contemporary women’s fiction and enjoys exploring the issues everyday women face. Publishers Weekly dubbed Ginny’s work “as inspiring as it is entertaining.” When not writing, Ginny coaches writers, critiques manuscripts, and designs websites for authors. To learn more about Ginny and her work, visit ginnyyttrup.com or wordsforwriters.net.

 

What the Deep means to Ginny…

My immediate response, the first word that comes to mind is suffering. But then I thought it’s so much more than that. There’s a negative connotation to that, and for me the deep isn’t always a negative place. It’s a place of growth. It’s the place where I may not want to be, but where the best things happen. It’s the place that God has used the most in my life. When I’m not in a deep place – a place that I consider that place of growth – life is shallow. I don’t live well in the shallow end. I get really bored there. I feel stagnant there. The deep is where I most want to live, but it’s a little bit of a paradox. I want to be there, but I don’t.

 

The journey as a writer…

I was an avid reader growing up. As a child, books were my safe place. They became my protection, in a sense, from a traumatic childhood. I just loved books. And most of what I know about writing, I learned through reading as a child and through my adult years. When I was in my late twenties or early thirties, small children at home, I got the bug to try to write something myself. But I had absolutely no idea how to do that. I was a horrible student in school, barely graduated from high school, took a couple of college classes and realized that was not going to work for me either. So the idea of trying to learn to write was pretty intimidating. But someone told me about the Mount Hermon Writers conference. That was in California, so it was an easy drive for me. I took a leap of faith, signed up, and attended my first writers conference 25 years ago. That week on that campus I found people who were like me. And I didn’t talk to any of them. But I watched them. I observed, and I just knew this was where God was leading me.

I continued attending for many years and met Karen five years into my journey…Before I met Karen, I attended a workshop she taught on passion, and that particular week I ended up very, very sick with a sinus infection. I didn’t sleep much during the conference, and in the middle of the night, reading God’s Word, I felt like the Spirit whispered to me, “Someday you’ll work with Karen Ball.”

I continued to pursue nonfiction for ten more years. And when I finally started writing fiction, I emailed Karen my page, the only page I had written. And she said, “Keep going.”

Several years later, when that manuscript finally sold, it sold to B & H publishing, and Karen Ball was the acquisition’s editor.

 

On surrendering…

Surrender is the idea of giving the situation, the circumstance, the desire, the dream, whatever it is that you’re holding, giving that over to someone else. Letting someone else have control of that dream of publication and pursuing a career as a writer.

50 – The Danger of Isolation

Have you ever felt alone? Have you been lonely? Do you ever struggle with the sense that there’s no one around that you can go to when you need prayer or just a pal to listen? If so, you’re not the only one! You’re “not alone.” In fact, in the last 10 years or so, studies have shown that our sense of aloneness and loneliness has grown more profound than ever before. So why should we care? Because one of the enemy’s most powerful tools to use against believers, especially those of us who are writers, is isolation.

 

What are the dangers of isolation?

Studies done in the last 5 years show that isolation isn’t just unhealthy, it’s deadly.

* Elderly people who don’t have enough social interaction or a strong social connection are twice as likely to die prematurely

* Social isolation is deadlier for people than obesity

* When one is socially isolated, the increased mortality rate is equivalent to that of smoking

* Social media is false interaction. Recent surveys have shown the more time a person spends on social media, the less happy that person tends to be. True social interaction must be done face-to-face.

When you’re isolated the enemy has you one-on-one.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 tells us “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

 

When you’re isolated:

* It’s harder to see truth, easier to be swayed, You don’t have an objective viewpoint to help you see better

* You don’t have anyone in the fight with you

* You have no one to give you ideas, help/instruction, or support/encouragement

* You have no one to challenge your ideas

* You don’t grow as a result of mixing with people who see things differently (even other religions, etc.)

* You can become exclusive in your thinking, believing you’re the only one with the right answer

* You’re more prone to arrogance – not being teachable, as writers this is problematic

* You may become unwilling to reach out to writers who are “the competition” when in reality you can help each other

 

Isolation can cause you to form a habit of self-reliance and selfishness, which leads to not depending on God either.

But we were created for community. We’re the BODY of Christ.

 

Is there anything good about being isolated?

Intentional healthy isolation—let’s call that solitude—can be helpful for…

* Unplugging for spiritual refreshment, connection to God, prayer, listening, reflecting

* Focusing on individual skill building or emotional growth

* Reading and reflecting on what you’ve read

* Turtle Time: Recharging if you’re an introvert

 

How can we know if we’ve isolated or if we’re seeking solitude?

Consider this distinction between the two from Psychology Today:

“Loneliness is marked by a sense of isolation. Solitude, on the other hand, is a state of being alone without being lonely and can lead to self-awareness”

Psychology Today goes on to say, “Solitude is a positive and constructive state of engagement with oneself. Solitude is desirable, a state of being alone where you provide yourself wonderful and sufficient company. It’s a time for reflection,

49 – Mesu Andrews Shares How to Deal with Chronic Pain

Few things can derail our lives like chronic pain. It invades every aspect of who we are and what we do, especially as writers. If you’ve found yourself wrestling with chronic pain, or any chronic struggle, come join the discussion with biblical novelist Mesu Andrews as she shares her writing journey with pain as a constant companion. The truths and wisdom she shares will lift your heart.

 

Show Notes

Mesu Andrews’ deep understanding of and love for God’s Word brings the biblical world alive for her readers. She and her husband, Roy, live in a log cabin snuggled into the beautiful Appalachian Mountains with their dog, Zeke. The Andrews’ have two married daughters and a small tribe of grandkids. Mesu loves movies, football, waterfalls, and travel. Biblical fiction is her favorite genre to read and write. Her first novel, Love Amid the Ashes (Revell, 2011), tells the story of Job and won the 2012 ECPA Book of the Year for a Debut Author. Love’s Sacred Song (Revell, 2012) relates the poetic Song of Solomon in story form, and Love in a Broken Vessel (Revell, 2013) sets the story of Hosea and Gomer in biblical Israel. In the Shadow of Jezebel (Revell, 2014) displays God’s sovereignty over Jezebel’s daughter, Queen Athaliah. The Pharaoh’s Daughter (Waterbrook/Multnomah, 2015), the first in The Treasures of the Nile series, unveils Moses’ early years through the eyes of his Egyptian mother, and Miriam (Waterbrook/Multnomah, 2016), the second book in the series, introduces Yahweh’s prophetess during the ten plagues and the Exodus as she struggles to trust this God she doesn’t understand.

 

What the deep means to Mesu…

The deep has so many meanings. I love the water, I love the ocean. It’s so powerful to me. I was in my twenties before I ever saw the ocean. And I remember being just so afraid when I saw it. It was so powerful, so awesome. So, the deep is not just a dark place, it’s also a powerful place. It’s where I find God… and His power to work through me, sometimes at my weakest. The deep is a very intriguing place to me. It can be scary, but it also is a very powerful place that we can write from.

 

Walking through the fire…

Back in 1996, I got a simple virus. I had a 102 temperature for about six days and when that temperature broke, my symptoms didn’t really go away. Three weeks later I was still having those same symptoms and had been to the doctor repeatedly. He didn’t really know what was going on. Back in 1996, that was way before fibromyalgia became the fad disease of the 90’s. It took me a year of many, many doctors, some of them who said, “It’s all in your head.” Others told me, “Yeah, you probably have sin in your life.” I finally got to one guy who poked on those eighteen little touch points that give you the diagnosis.

By 2002, busy pastor’s wife, two teenage girls, my husband was a full-time student… I was doing a speaking ministry. I was traveling quite frequently, at least twice a month. Life had gotten busy again. In July of 2002, I woke up on a July morning and I couldn’t move my arms and legs, had a hard time breathing. All I could do was say, “Help.” They got me to the doctor. He had no idea what was going on. Tests again, doctors shaking their heads, scratching their heads don’t know what’s going on. Spent six months in bed…they confirmed fibromyalgia,

48 – The Power of Focus

What are you focused on in your writing journey? What’s your focus now? Today? Join us as we explore how much the proper focus can empower and encourage you.

 

Show Notes

Things move slowly in the writing industry. Like the speed of half-frozen sap. Which means that as writers we’re often waiting for things to happen tomorrow, or a few months from now, or more likely, waaaaaay down the road.

We’re waiting to finish our manuscript. Waiting to hear from our critique partners or beta readers. Waiting to hear from an agent we’ve submitted to.

We’re waiting to hear from an editor. Waiting for a contract. Waiting for a royalty statement.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Or maybe we’re in a season where we can’t write as much as we want to and we’re waiting for that season to be over.

The problem is when we focus on the future we lose sight of the tremendous treasure and importance of today. Too often we place our worth in what we accomplish rather than in who we are in Christ.

As writers, most of what we accomplish can too easily feel tied to what happens down the road, when that book reaches a reader. Or when the next book gets published, or whatever. But God values us today for who He created us to be. He values us simply because He chooses to value us, to delight in us.

* Zephaniah 3:17 says “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

* Isaiah 43 says, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…you are precious and honored in my sight and…I love you…”

 

Problems with Focusing on Tomorrow

* When we focus on tomorrow, we don’t place enough importance on doing what matters today. Which means we don’t do as good of a job on today’s tasks. We don’t give them the quality attention they need. We’re not in the moment, we’re in the future somewhere. That doesn’t allow us to give our best to what we’re doing right now.

* Being too future-focused makes us more easily discontent with today. It opens the door to frustration, complaining, and comparison.

* It also opens the door to worry, anxiety, and fear. What if these good things we’re hoping for and waiting for never happen? Or we focus on all the things that can go wrong. So many terrible things we worry about or fear are the things that NEVER happen. Worry eats up our valuable energy and becomes a powerful tool of the evil one to keep us exhausted, or worse, keep us in bondage.

* We should say that this also applies when we are stuck in the past instead of focusing on today. We’re hanging on to regrets, frustrations, hurts. That’s just as detrimental.

* For those who may be struggling in a deep hard place, in a place of trials, God is giving you––moment by moment––the grace to get through. Moment by moment, minute by minute, hour by hour. It’s tempting to keep looking for tomorrow when our suffering may end, but we’re missing the beauty of His sustaining grace today. We’re missing that gift in this dark place. We’re missing the opportunity to give Him glory for how He carries us every moment. To bring Him glory by acknowledging our great need for Him. We’re not meant to live apart from Him but in dependence on Him.

 

Focusing on today helps us:

* Overcome worry and conquer anxiety about tomorrow

* Move beyond the scars and bondage from our past

* Prepare for whatever will happen tomorrow by laying a proper foundation today

* Make the most of the gift that is today

* Learn to rest in God’s presence with us today, and in the sufficiency of “daily bread”

 

47 – Is God Really Good?

There are lies waiting for us in the deep. Lies that strike deep in our souls, spreading through us and misleading us. And one of the most damaging—and dangerous—lies of all is this: “I’m starting to doubt God’s goodness.” Isn’t that a reasonable reaction? After all, aren’t we just being honest when we say that? On the surface, the answers are yes. But sometimes what’s “reasonable” and “honest”…aren’t. Come explore what we’re really saying when we buy into the lie that maybe God isn’t so good after all.

SHOW NOTES

Maybe you’ve heard this prayer, or maybe you prayed it yourself as a child: “God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food.” For such a simple prayer, it contains incredibly important theology. But words sometimes have a way of becoming rote. We speak them and don’t think about what they really deep down truly say.

Today we want to focus on the phrase “God is Good,” because when things go awry in our life, or when they’re hard, or we suffer, or loved ones suffer, It’s easy to question: Is God really good?

 

What does it take to bring us to that place? What makes people say they doubt God’s goodness?

* Our prayers aren’t answered when and how we want

* We find ourselves in difficult circumstances longer than we think we should be there

* People, especially other believers, hurt us

* There is so much evil in the world

Oh, the temptation to take hold, to embrace the doubt, to question God’s goodness! Life can be so hard! Overflowing with struggle. Not the “I-can’t-find-a-parking-spot-at-CostCo” kind (as irritating as those may be), but the struggles where home or family or security or life are in peril. Hurt and fear leave us feeling abandoned. And as each blow lands on already bruised places in our spirit, we wonder what God is doing.

 

Is God still good, even in the deep places? Does being in deep places change His goodness?

It’s okay to struggle. It’s even okay to doubt. But we need to move from doubt to trust that God is who He says He is.

Do we change our God based on circumstances? What do we give more attention to—what’s happening or God’s character as shown to us in Scripture? Do we assign more power to God, or to whatever is assaulting us? Where do we spend our time—struggling and fighting against the assault or seeking God?

When we let ourselves focus on the struggle, when we become steeped in the pain and consequences of whatever is happening, it has a tendency to numb us. Overwhelm us. Is it any wonder, then, that we can’t FEEL God? And because we can’t feel Him we think He isn’t there. And that’s when the doubting…the questions start.

But here’s the thing, friends. While I agree that God is big and powerful enough to handle our doubts, do you understand what you’re really saying when you say you “doubt God’s goodness”? This isn’t just some harmless response to bad times. This is something far more. This is questioning whether God is who He says He is.

When we allow these thoughts—these blatant lies—into our hearts and minds, we’re not just doubting an aspect or behavior of God—we’re questioning God Himself. Think about it. We, the creation, are sticking out our chins and saying to our Creator, “Prove you’re who you say you are.”

Now, I’m not saying this doesn’t seem to be an understandable response. We’re human, and we’re frail, and we can only take so much, right? And it’s not like you’d be the first to do this. Remember good ol’ Job? God lets him talk and ponder and even complain and doubt Him. And then, in Chapter 38, God speaks to Job out of the whirlwind:

 

Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you,