Dancing in the Rain

Rain, rain, and more rain! And rain predicted all week! The sky clears briefly, we dash out for quick dog walks, and then the skies reopen and pour forth. It is predicted to rain all week (again!). I am not loving it. However, at least it is conducive to keeping me indoors editing my new book, which I spent a good nine or ten hours doing yesterday.

The strangest thing happens when I start the edit process of my books. Problems I never saw while writing them multiply like mushrooms in a never ending rain. This new book is almost 400 pages long, so now I can go through and strike out the less than wonderful parts. But in the edit process, another strange thing happens. ALL the parts seem less than wonderful! Suddenly I feel like a fake, a fraud, a fearful failure! Whatever compelled me to believe I could write this book?!

Sometimes, I think we Christians struggle similarly in shouting out with abandon the joyful message of salvation. We fear rejection, we don't think we are good enough to convince anyone, or we have no right to impose our thoughts on mankind. So we cower inside, finding the rain a convenient excuse.

I feel this way with every book I write, all the way up to the moment I publish. (sometimes even after...) And some are not as good as others, but I have learned that unless one takes the plunge, moves forward into frightening self disclosure before the world, one will always be hiding indoors, afraid to go out and dance in the rain. And sometimes, if there is endless rain, you have no choice if you want to dance.

I know there will be lots of people who won't like my book. But there will be some who do, and even a few who will thank me and say it carried a message that they needed to hear. It is not directly a book about God, though indirectly ALL my books are about God. And since God brings the rain as well as the sun, it is best I find joy dancing in both.

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“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16 NIV)


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http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU