Friday with Friends ~ Author RJ Thesman

Pursuing the Dream

~ CrossRiverMedia

After a discouraging month of rejections, I wondered if God actually wanted me to quit writing. What good is it, I reasoned, if no one publishes my work? No one out there is growing in faith because I write. If  publishers won’t print my words, what’s the point?

Then I went to a writers’ conference where the keynote speech focused on pursuing the dream. “Why do you write?” the speaker asked. “Is it for the glory of God or for yourself?”

When I returned home, I journaled for a while and asked myself why I write. Is it truly for the glory of God or for my own acknowledgment? Do I long for the book signings and the publicity or do I just want to please God with the words He breathes into me?

Honestly, it’s a little of both. Yes, I want to please God, and I am thrilled when people tell me my books or my articles nudge them a little closer to the divine heart. But the human side of me enjoys book signings and speaking, meeting more people who want to read the words that spew out of me.

I write because I can’t NOT write. I tried to quit once, maybe twice; but couldn’t. After a week or so of resting my eyes and my fingers, I turned on the computer once again. I picked up my journal and carried it to the coffee shop where the words poured out of me as quickly as the lattes on the menu.

For some reason, God has placed this desire in my heart – this overwhelming passion to put words on the page and hope they mean something to someone. If I never make the best-seller lists, so be it. But I like to think that sometimes an angel peeks over my shoulder and giggles at my novel or that Jesus smiles at the latest nonfiction article. I imagine that the great crowd of witnesses cheers for me.

Whatever the reason, God gave me the ability and planted the desperate urge in me to put sentences together and blurt out stories. What He does with my sentences and the ultimate result, is up to Him. But as long as I can, I want to keep stringing words together and hopefully make a difference – either in this world or in the eternities of people who read my blog posts, my stories and my articles.

So I keep pursuing the dream of being published and push for the desire of my heart to play out this passion throughout my lifetime - to someday meet someone who says, “Thank you for writing. It made a difference.”

RJ Thesman has been a writer since she flipped open her Red Chief tablet and scribbled her first story. Thesman has an education degree and has taught at various levels. She is a Christian Life Coach, a Biblical Counselor and a Stephen Minister. Thesman enjoys teaching writing workshops and helps beginning writers birth their words. She is the mother of an adult son and enjoys reading, gardening and cooking - especially anything with blueberries. Thesman lives in the heartland of Kansas with her son and an elderly cat.

Find out more at www.RJThesman.net.