Guest Blog ~ Martha Rogers ~ Prayer, Perseverance, Patience

Martha Rogers is a Christian freelance author of both fiction and non-fiction and speaker. Her stories and articles have appeared in a number of compilations and magazines. Her first fiction will be released in 2007. Her experiences as a public school teacher, Sunday school teacher, youth leader, First Place leader, Mom and Grandmother give Martha a unique field of ministry.


Prayer, Perseverance, Patience

Perseverance and patience are two traits that are a must for any writer who aspires to be published. Writers must keep on writing and submitting no matter how many rejection slips may fill the mailbox. Patience means we must wait on the Lord and follow His will for our lives. Psalm 27:14 tells us to “Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” That is what writers learn from rejections. We take heart, submit again, and wait for the Lord’s timing.

Age could have been an excuse for me to quit aiming for publication, but my stubborn will made me persevere. I truly believed the Lord wanted me to write, and if that were true, I couldn’t give up. So many times I questioned God’s timing. Had he forgotten how old I was getting? Was He expecting me to keep going anyway? Of course the answer was yes, and that’s exactly what I did.

If God has truly called us to write, then the doors will be opened and contracts offered on His time table. He’s never too early, and He’s never too late. His timing is perfect and will sometimes come when we least expect it. All He requires is our obedience. If we let our excuses detract us from the mission we have with our writing, then we defeat our purpose and miss His plan for us.

I had a choice. I could either let age determine what I would do, or I could ignore it and keep writing and submitting. I chose to forge ahead. Along the way I received support and encouragement from many writers, both published and pre-published. While others received contracts, I got rejections, and found it hard to be happy and to rejoice with them.

Prayer has been a priority with me, and praying for an attitude change helped me to see that their successes were God’s plan for them at that time. Prayer, perseverance, and patience are the three of the most important things for a writer to have. Pray for guidance, persevere in the face of rejections, and wait patiently for the Lord to do His work. When these three are in line, His plans for you will be accomplished.

Rejections can become one excuse we use for not writing along with those such as age and no time.