For Christian Writers/Bloggers: Lay Aside The Weight Of Distractions

This wasn’t supposed to be the plan today.
I was supposed to share a post on my book’s virtual blog tour/giveaway.
But I’ve learned to not be too stringent – so much so that God cannot use me for what He wants to do in a particular season, here and now.

On Saturday, it suddenly dawned deeply in my heart that most of the Christian blogs I read have actually been on “leave” for a while.
Some of them may have valid reasons… Exams, marriage, kids, new Jobs, etc. etc.
But still, I want to focus on something that was laid in my heart deeply as I went from blog to blog that seemed DEAD.

Before I go on though, I would love to state that I write this post from nothing but a place of love.
Left for me, I would not even delve into it but if you are a Christian writer like myself, you know how it is when you get a burden in your heart that just won’t go away.
Believe me, I’d rather go ahead with my new book’s giveaway than write this but I believe that God wants to correct some of us, call back some of us who are missing it in this writing ministry and for me, warn me before I even make the mistake of relegating this ministry for Him to the background.
I strolled around some Christian blogs I follow on Saturday and some of them have not been updated for some months.
Some weeks, some days… most with no explanations for “absenteeism”.
Writing the word “absenteeism” even has me chiding myself… like Frances, “It is not so serious”.
But what if it is?
What if this writing ministry that God has placed us on is actually so serious as to warrant that we make sure that it’s only “tangible” things that pull us away from it?
I don’t know the mandate you got when you started writing/blogging for Jesus but for me, God drilled the plan for this “ministry” into my head.
This is us shining forth Jesus’ light with the gift He has given to us… on social media where the voice of the world; gossip, fashion, celebrity lives, etc, seem to hold more sway.
I don’t think we can ever quite wrap our heads around why using our gift of writing for Jesus is so important in this day and time.
There’s so much junk flying around the internet.
So many young souls looking for the truth of the world but they keep stumbling unto darkness because the lights who should push the darkness away are “on recess”.
They are on leave…
They just got married…
They just got a new job…
They just had a baby.
Oh please I hope you all see my heart in this… I am not at those stages of my life yet but I believe that with these words I am writing right now, God is warning me not to ever get it twisted.
What He has placed in my hands to do, this writing for Him, blogging and spreading His light even in my own small corner should never be relegated to the background – dumped and forgotten.
Maybe you didn’t get express instructions from God concerning your writing for Him on your blog… Maybe your writing for Jesus isn’t that “serious”… in that case, this call to reminder isn’t for you…. but I’ll also like to say that, if you do not know that the work you do with your pen in your little corner is important… the spreading God’s word on your blog to souls… then know it today, it’s important, terribly important.

And since we all, like me now have the knowledge that our blogging for Jesus is a part of a larger scale of need being met in this dark world, then please let’s take this reminder to return to your place of service seriously.
I can’t help but add that there is a step of walking in purpose in my new book called “Lay aside the weight of distractions”.
I lived that book as I wrote it and of course God made it clear to me that distractions aren’t only the irrelevant things that pull us away from doing what Jesus had told us to do on earth for Him, distractions include the “Valid reasons”.
The academics, the new husband/wife, the new baby, the new job, the much needed vacation that spills into years and years of you resting and forsaking the job your heavenly Father has given to you…
All relevant things that just are not relevant enough for the Master to put them into consideration when He returns from His journey and asks you for a return on the talent/gift He asked you to go to work with.
Is God saying that you should forsake the other aspects of your life?
No.
But He is saying that your purpose, what He has laid in your hands to do for Him should forever and always take first place over every other thing that He gives to you.
And if that thing He has laid in your hands to do for Him is writing/blogging for Him, then why are you treating it so loosely?
I know you are busy but if the Master comes today and asks about the assignment He gave you to write for Him and spread His name abroad, will the excuse of you being busy with work, school, etc, hold sway with Him?
Don’t you think He would ask you why you never placed Him first even as you found a way to work around a #Balance with the other aspects of your life He has blessed you with?
Of course there are seasons of life that wisdom demands that you chill for a bit and maybe let your blog stew for a while, eg, when I wrote bar finals last year, but then again, what do we say after you are done with those seasons of life and refuse to get back into running the race He has set you on in writing for Him?

I was on Proverbs31 devotional site on Saturday, reading up on the comments and how much God’s love, unity and togetherness just wraps these women even online and I just saw a glimpse of what God can do with fingers/hands/hearts willing to serve Him with their pens.
I personally know that writing/blogging for Jesus is a big part of my ministry for Him.
Sometimes I get tired and I just want to crawl up and let the blog lay fallow… but that will never work.
Jesus will return one day and ask me “Frances what did you do after I told you to raise my name high with your pen?”
What would be my answer then?
What would be your answer?

I know that seasons of life crop up.
Life happens but let’s all pray for grace to keep track with what God wants to do with our ministry of writing for Him.
Let’s all pray for grace to balance our lives enough that God’s purpose always takes priority over the gifts He has blessed us with.
Let’s all pray for grace to be self-controlled and grace to manage our time… because most of us say that we don’t have time but if we were pretty serious with the Lord’s work on social media, most of the time we spend lazing around people’s time lines on the net can be better spent putting the words that burn in our hearts into writing.
I know you all know how it is when Jesus lays a burden in your heart so strongly… you know He wants you to write it out but you just keep pushing it away… citing time as the reason why you can’t sit still and obey God’s leading to share that word that someone needs.
Who gave us the time anyway?
Who are we supposed to be using the time for?
We have pushed too many words away… words needed by souls at that point in time.
Can it stop already?

I can feel my heart being worked on by God as I type this.
Ensuring that when I come into a new season, these words will stand as a witness against me… Making sure that I never relegate the Master’s business as regards writing for Him to the background.
I hope that you will yield and obey whatever words He has placed in your heart too and walk in the grace that He gives for you to live a #balanced life, placing His assignment and purpose for your life at the forefront of every other thing that He blesses you with.

God help us all.

 
Till Next Time On Christian Writer’s/Bloggers Corner,
Love,
Frances.

P.S: The virtual book tour/giveaway is still on schedule for today.
I obviously cannot put the rules for getting a free PDF version of my book here.
But I will put up a post detailing it all on the book page and then put up a blog post here tomorrow.
The book will also definitely help you with laying aside the weight of distractions (both relevant and irrelevant) on the walk of purpose.

If you are a blogger and want to help with taking part in the online book tour on your blog, holla at me.

It’s easy to help, (basically just to put up a post on your blog with the rules for entering the giveaway) and you get a free PDF of my book too. So it’s a win-win for you 🙂

You can mail me at okorofrances@gmail.com or comment on the post below…
So stay tuned both on the book page and on the blog as the giveaway would go live soon 🙂

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