by Rebecca Yauger, @RebeccaYauger
Fear, Doubt, Discouragement… We’ve all been there.
In our day-to-day life, it’s so easy to get distracted and thrown off course from our goals, with health, weight, daily devotionals, and yes, even our writing.
Last year, there was no such thing as a regular schedule for me. My brother was battling stage 4 cancer. He is single and lived alone, so I ended up traveling to Arizona from my home in Texas more than once to care for him.
I was very nervous every time I went to be with him. Why? Well, questions and doubts plagued me. What did I know about caregiving? What if he had a serious medical issue? What if I couldn’t handle the expected mood swings? Fear clouded my mind.
But you know what happened? All I needed to do was show up. Things eventually fell into place. There were good hospital information and education for me, his friends showed up, going above and beyond with their help and support, and my brother exhibited amazing strength and a positive attitude. Finally, of course, there was the power of prayer, and God being there for all of us and guiding us through this time.
So, what was scary and intimidating turned out to be much less than I imagined. God only wanted me to show up and leave the rest to him.
This rule pertains to daily life. If you want to lose weight, show up at the gym, or your living room with an exercise video, or to
the great outdoors for a walk. Schedule your devotional time at the same time every day and keep that appointment.
What about our writing? As writers, we face discouragement and times where the muse has disappeared. Days of doubt and of feeling overwhelmed can stop you in your tracks.
When that’s the case, there’s only one thing to do: show up. Get words on the page with or without the muse. As you’ve probably heard it said, you can’t edit a blank page. And what if you edit and hate the words you see? You can only fix it if you show up.
Does it mean that things will be easy? No, of course not. But you can’t push through it without being there every day.
As I write this, I’m headed to New Mexico to care for my parents. My father is having shoulder replacement surgery. He is the caregiver for my mom, who had a stroke a few years ago. So, now I will care for both of them. Am I a little nervous? Sure. There are a lot of “what ifs” these days with caring for my aging parents. But guess what? God only wants me to show up. Friends from my parents’ church have already reached out to me. Mom and Dad have fantastic neighbors who are readily available if I need them. In this way, God assures me time and time again that I’m not alone.
When I show up to do the difficult task in front of me and bathe that task in prayer, I’ve seen how God shows up and shows up big!
So, next time the blank page gives you feelings of doubt or re-reading your words discourages you, don’t quit. Be prayerful and continue to show up. Then trust God for the rest.
~*~
Rebecca Yauger worked for 15 years in radio and television broadcasting, before starting on her writing career. She’s been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and Guideposts magazine and continues to scribble away on various projects. She also blogs at www.TalkingAmongFriends.com. She was past Vice-President and Membership Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (www.acfw.com), and currently serves as ACFW’s Web Manager. She and her husband live near Dallas and have two grown children and one beautiful grandchild.