Are You Experiencing Spiritual Warfare as a Writer? Good!

 

I had no idea when I started writing I would face so much spiritual warfare. It started with my blog. At first, my husband didn’t understand what I was doing. I thought, for sure, he would be my biggest fan. However, he was not excited about me sharing personal information on such a public platform. He “liked his privacy.” I laugh now.

A year later, I published a digital book. While this book never made it to The New York Times Best Seller’s list, it was the first time I saw my husband take me seriously. In all fairness to him, he needed to see me dedicated to my calling for a sustained period of time. I had a habit of quitting and running when things got hard. 

And, boy, did they get hard. 

My website crashed multiple times, I lost content, I kept changing themes and colors, I spent way too much money, and I got discouraged time and time again because I didn’t understand SEO, technology, or social media. 

Nevertheless, the next year, I published a paperback book called Estranged: Finding Hope When Your Family Falls Apart. More than anything, I was shocked my husband was okay with the topic; it was about our family estrangement with my parents. So much for privacy. This one was a doozy. 

Shortly after publication, I was scheduled to do a few podcasts. The biggest one was with FamilyLife Today (Dave and Ann Wilson). After that broadcast, I sold tons of books. I thought I was awesome. 

Then my world crashed and burned.  My daughter had two concussions within a short period of time. All promotions of my new book were canceled. I needed to be home ministering to my precious daughter who couldn’t even get out of bed. After six months, she finally healed.  

And then Covid hit. 

My book would have to wait…again. After months of no movement, I threw a huge tantrum. 

Last January 2021, I completely quit. I was going to show God what I thought about “His calling.” The spiritual warfare was too much. I canceled a big podcast, I disconnected my blog, deleted Mailerlite, shut down all social media accounts, etc.

And then I felt it–God’s presence left me. I felt a darkness. That’s when I prayed. 

I asked God to give me back my blog and the accounts associated with it despite the fact that many of them were irretrievable after weeks of being disconnected.  I sent out a fleece. I knew if I could get them back, it would be a sign I was to continue writing..  

And that’s when something bizarre happened. 

My sister called me and told me she had a word for me. She said she saw a cornfield full of corn stalks singing. There were thousands in every direction. She said I was standing in the middle of the cornfield with my computer, writing. My words were nourishing the stalks and causing them to grow rapidly. Here’s the kicker: she told me my blog was going to grow exponentially in the next few months. (It had never been over 20K pageviews a month).

That was some fleece. I didn’t even know if I was going to get all my accounts back at the time. Then God moved. Almost every person I talked to was able to restore my account without any losses. 

Redemption. 

And then the growth came. Just like my sister predicted, last year my website hit 70K pageviews in one month, Woman’s World magazine published a piece highlighting my book, I was on multiple podcasts, Her View from Home and christianparenting.org published articles I wrote, and I gave my testimony at a Baptist church on a Sunday morning.

Only God could have done this. It wasn’t me. 

For those of you who are struggling with one set back after another, trust God with your calling. Most of all, expect that spiritual warfare is going to be intense. If it isn’t, then you are not rattling the gates of hell. Writing is a huge faith journey that includes many failures, losses, and rejections.

When God does move and the impossible happens, know it wasn’t you; it was God showing His glory through you. 

 

 

Special thanks to our friend, Julie, for sharing this with Declare! Julie is a wife, mother, teacher, blogger, and author. Before she married, she taught speech, drama, and English for three years in the Richardson Independent School District. Now that her children are grown, she works intermittently for her husband, writes, and speaks. After a heartbreaking estrangement from parents who were in ministry, Julie realized she was not alone in her feelings of shame and her struggles to interact with family in a healthy way. Now that she has reconciled with her family, she wishes to help others find hope when they experience family problems. When Julie is not talking about forgiveness, she is sharing helpful tips about parenting, marriage, faith, and family on her blog. Julie lives with her husband of 28 years in Dallas, Texas. You can find her book Estranged: Finding Hope When Your Family Falls Apart on Amazon or your favorite digital book store. Her blog is called Mom Remade at momremade.com, Check out her social media on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram @julieaplagens