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The Steve Laube Agency

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Home » Faith » Page 3

Faith

Amnesia: The Key to Success

By Dan Balowon February 28, 2017
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At some point, anyone involved in motivational or inspirational communication will touch on the necessity of leaving the past behind and moving on from a painful experience or time of life in order to grow personally or professionally.

Millions of people spend billions of dollars each year on counselors helping them overcome past issues in their lives.

For Christians, leaving a past behind through forgiveness and redemption is a cornerstone of the Christian walk.

However, many authors remember every failure as if it were a millstone around their neck, crushing their spirit and threatening to undermine their work.

An author writes a book, which never sold to a publisher or didn’t sell well as a self-published work, and they give up.

For other authors, success is a millstone.

Multiple bestsellers can lead an author (and publisher) to put so much pressure on each new book to be as good or better than those preceding, making an otherwise enjoyable and fulfilling writing career a virtual literary death-march.

Or, an author might have been published and a book sold well, but then was never able to achieve the same success again. Initial success raised expectations (their own and others) and they have been a disappointment ever since.

Like the football player who scored four touchdowns in his first game and then didn’t score again all season.

Some authors have had their lives changed negatively both by their success or the lack of success. Both extremes can be destructive.

Marriages have been destroyed.

Families altered significantly.

Friendships fractured permanently.

Financial ruin.

Church involvement affected.

All because of either a publishing success or failure.

Most authors don’t truly grasp how much being an author places them in a precarious postion, if they allow it. You are choosing to be a “public person” resulting in being the target of both appreciation and criticism.

It is a risky business if you are not prepared spiritually and emotionally.

The best way to deal with it is through selective amnesia. (Often this comes naturally with age!)

Remembering only God’s faithfulness and his residency in you is the only thing that really matters. Everything else? Let it go.

Christian authors, who write beautiful passages on God’s faithfulness and his presence in the life of a believer, can sometimes be the very ones to forget the truths about which they write.

They forget their identity is in Christ, not in their writing.

They forget God gifted them with human relationships, not the first printed copies of a book.

They forget God is in control, not them.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians discussed leaving the past behind for fellow believers when he wrote,

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14, NIV)

“Forgetting” and “straining” are two very important aspects of being an author.

The prophet Isaiah wrote:

“This is what the Lord says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”   (Isaiah 43:16-19 NIV)

Forget failure, remembering only the lessons learned, be thankful for them, and strain forward.

Forget success, remembering only that you worship a God who blesses, be thankful for it, and strain forward.

Remembering and holding on tight to failure or success will eventually weigh down on you and stifle your growth as a writer and your availability to be used by God in meaningful ways.

No Christian writer would desire this to happen.

 

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Category: Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration, The Writing Life, TheologyTag: Failure, Inspiration, Success, The Writing Life

Are Deadlines Killing Your Christmas?

By Karen Ballon December 14, 2016
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Remember the days when all we had to do at Christmas time was sip hot chocolate, trim the tree, and wrap gifts, all while listening to Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole croon out those wonderful old carols? Yeah, me neither. For so many of us, Christmas has become another item on our To-Do list. One that we keep moving as deadlines grow ever more dire. It’s crazy. This time of year, the time when we …

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Category: Faith, The Writing LifeTag: Christmas, Deadlines, Faith, The Writing Life

The Writer’s STEP

By Karen Ballon November 30, 2016
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As some of you know, I have asthma. As does one of my very best friends. And you know what these two…ahem…”seasoned” asthmatics love to do? Hike! Yup. We plod along, coughing and wheezing and laughing (or, to be more accurate, gasping) about how they’ll find our poor deceased selves on the path, but that’s okay, because at least we went out doing what we love. I realize that people who don’t know …

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Category: Career, Encouragement, Faith, Get Published, Inspiration, The Writing LifeTag: Encouragement, Faith, The Writing Life

Writing from Weakness

By Dan Balowon November 8, 2016
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I believe some of the most powerful books ever written by Christians will be published in the coming years. Why? Despite our best efforts, Christians failed to transform culture through the ballot box, boycotts, ministry/church programs and use of the media. Worldwide, Christians are not a moral majority but an imperfect minority. All the seminars, books, and evangelistic meetings did not make the …

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Category: Agency, Book Business, Encouragement, Faith, The Writing LifeTag: Encouragement, Faith, Theology

Expecting the Unexpected   

By Karen Ballon April 6, 2016
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I used to think that if you did a, b would follow, closely tailed by c. That belief was blasted into smithereens by the time I hit my third decade of life. I’ve learned that doing a MAY bring b, or q, or something not even remotely related. I’ve learned in my life, my career, and my faith to expect the unexpected. So why am I telling you this? Well, a couple of weeks ago I promised you a blog …

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Category: Christian, Faith, PersonalTag: Christian, Faith

Love at Christmas

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 24, 2015
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In the spirit of God’s love at Christmas, I share with you a reading from The Book of Common Prayer: 1 John 4:7-16  King James Version (KJV) 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only …

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Category: Christian, FaithTag: Book of Common Prayer, Christian, Christmas, Faith

A Writers’ Advent: Week Two

By Karen Ballon December 9, 2015
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In this second week of advent, let’s take a look at both the second and third candles: the Angel and the Shepherd candle. As I thought about these two groups, I realized they played two very specific roles in the birth of the Savior: the angels proclaimed God’s glory, and the shepherds bore witness to what God did. All through Scripture, angels bring us messages. They speak God’s truth so that we …

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Category: Faith, The Writing LifeTag: Advent, Faith, The Writing Life

A Writer’s Advent

By Karen Ballon December 2, 2015
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Last Sunday, November 29th, was the beginning of one of my favorite seasons of the year: Advent. Some of my earliest memories are of Advent, of doing devotions as a family around an Advent wreath, my two brothers and I eager to be the one to light the candle each week. I don’t know about your traditions, but for us, the four purple candles were the Advent, Angel, Shepherd, and Bethlehem candles. …

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Category: Career, Faith, The Writing LifeTag: Advent, The Writing Life

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 26, 2015
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Today I will be cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for my family and I hope you will be celebrating with those you love as well. Perhaps you will be able to take a few moments to ponder the Gospel entry from the Book of Common Prayer, presented in more than one translation. God Bless you. Readings for Thanksgiving Day The Gospel St. Matthew vi. 25 JESUS said, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall …

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Category: Christian, Faith, PersonalTag: Book of Common Prayer, Faith, thanksgiving

Are You Seeing Ghosts?

By Karen Ballon November 25, 2015
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I read something this morning that I don’t recall ever reading before. I mean, I’ve read the story more times than I can count, but one line caught me today: “But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost!” Recognize it? It’s from Luke 24, when Jesus appears to the disciples as they’re walking along the road. He even tells them, “Peace be with you.” And what do …

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Category: Faith, Personal, The Writing LifeTag: Faith, thanksgiving, The Writing Life
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