Tools - T&R Independent Bookstore

Facing your obstacles is a tricky business. In today’s blog I am going to give you some ideas on how to face and overcome obstacles to your writing career. But a warning right up front: this is not a one-size-fits-all approach, although it is.

Did I just contradict myself? No. This approach only works for Christians; those people who have invited Jesus Christ into their hearts and have been born-again. I don’t care what your denomination is, if you are a born-again believer in Jesus Christ as your Savior, then this is for you.

Facing Your Obstacles Involves Submitting to Christ

As a Christian author you have what all born-again believers in Christ have, namely an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. He cares for you and watches every move, every decision you make. And He already knows what those will be. Moreover, He loves you and has a plan for you for today.

Wow! What a powerful, wonderful God we have!

He has Promised Us Wisdom

Unfortunately, we often neglect the simple act of faith to ask for wisdom. Instead, we try to do things by ourselves, including trying to face our obstacles. Until we finally realize that we can’t do it myself. Once we realize that then we turn to Him. It would be so much better if we turned to Him at the beginning of the obstacles.

Facing Your Obstacles Requires Faith

When we turn to Christ and trust Him for all our needs, including those pesky obstacles, He graciously steps in and provides us the ability to use certain tools. But first we need to trust Him.

Tools for Facing Your Obstacles

Here is a small list of tools. Feel free to add to them.

Pray to God seeking wisdom
Identify the problem
Rewrite the passage
Form a picture in your mind of the scene
Change the routine you normally follow
Set the book aside for awhile and work on something else
Don’t Quit

These are just 7 ideas. Please notice I put Pray first. That should be our first tool, then let God lead you to which tool you use next. Probably the second tool would be Identify the problem, but after that it can be in any order and include tools I have not listed.

Simplicity

You might think this approach is simplistic. You are right!

But that is one of the great things about our Christian faith: it is simple. Man-made religion is complicated requiring you to jump through hoops. But Christianity is simple. It all begins and ends with Jesus Christ.

I have lost count of how many times I have asked God for help whether at home or at work and He has answered in marvelous ways. Unfortunately, I have not always started out asking but He waited until I was frustrated or facing an unknown obstacle and then asked Him.

It would have been better if I had asked Him at the first when I came up against the obstacles, but thank God He waited for me to wake up and realize I needed Him!

Face your obstacles by first laying them out before God and then trusting His leading. It will save time and effort, and bring solutions faster and better than on your own.

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

Don’t forget to comment below. We are always interested in your opinions. And to make sure you get our blogs, simply check the box that says, Notify me of new posts via email.

Company information:

T&R Independent Bookstore is a division of T&R Independent Books founded in 2014 by R. Frederick and Tess Riddle. TR Ministry, aka Ministry Services, is both a charge and an exciting outreach to the Christian Community.

Do you know how to expand your skills?

God has a Canvas to Work On

When I was born into this world, I carried with me certain talents. But when I received Christ as my Savior, I received new talents. I believe that when I got saved, I had a blank canvas. Up until that moment, I was working on the old canvas which was dirty and torn. But He gave me a new canvas.

It is like He took whatever was good and put it on the new canvas, then He discarded the old. Then, He goes to work on the new canvas which now includes good talents and interests that I was born with, cleans them up, and teams them with the new talents He had given me on my new or second birth.

God has Gifted Us

God has gifted everyone who has accepted His Son and gotten saved into the family of God. It is too bad the media and Hollywood has so distorted what it means to be a child of God. We are all creations of God, but only those that have been born again are His children.

Back to the Gifts. His gifts are perfect, but they are not complete. He gifted us with the purpose of us using and developing those gifts every day. Athletes, such as football players, need to be coached, to exercise, and practice to perfect their skills. Well, so do Christian authors.

More on the other side of this break.

To discover how you can be the writer you want to be, write to us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We will respond.

Check us out and get your career moving.

Now back to the article.

Tools to Expand Your Skills

We live in a highly competitive world making it difficult to succeed in any field. Well, the field of writing is no exception. But, as Christians, we have a God who can and will direct us to the proper tools to use.

For years I was a gatherer, which is a person who just gathers or absorbs new information like a sponge. I had a great deal of knowledge but not the discernment to detect how to use that knowledge. It is for guys like men that God provides tools.

More Tools to Expand your Skills

The Bible provides numerous tools, such as:

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety (Prov. 11:14)
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels (Prov. 1:5)
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counselors they are established. (Prov. 15:22)

This is a very important tool. For years I gathered information from a variety of sources, but I kept my own counsel. Don’t get me wrong, as a Christian I was following Biblical guidelines. The problem was that while all the sources at least seemed good, they didn’t necessarily agree.

So, the first thing to do is to be more selective in who your counselors are. That is a prime reason for why I am a member of Christian Authors Community. These are authors who all love the Lord and want to serve Him.

How Do I Use Counselors Wisely?

Well, if your counselors are Christians, and I mean born-again believers, then you have a solid resource. Know your counselors.

You do not have to agree on all doctrinal issues. We are not talking about church or how to serve within the church. But it does help to know their doctrinal beliefs in that it will help you understand their actions and advice.

These are Counselors, but it is Your Business

Listen to the advice, write it down. Then ask, Does it fit who I am as a Christian? Or Does it fit within the calling of God? Does it fit within my goals? In other words, is the advice or information usable in your particular writing career.

Asking questions like that helps focus your attention on the advice itself and upon the leading of God. I mentor in spiritual matters and one thing I constantly harp on is that we need to put God first. Same thing for business.

Not just in words, but to seek His will. To trust His leading. Just as He puts you into a particular church where you can grow and serve, He also puts you into positions and places where you can learn and develop your craft. These are all tools that God provides.

And if used properly, then you will benefit more from the tools mankind provides.

How to Find Good Counselors that can Expand Your Skills

That is a much harder question. I didn’t find good counselors or coaches on my own. Rather he came calling. I say he because it is Tom Blubaugh, but he has a community called Christian Authors Community, so there you have many. I recommend them to anyone. Different authors are experts or at least have solid experience in different aspects of authoring.