Those Who Walk Alongside Us

I like this picture - it was taken when my husband Steve and I were on the snowfields below the base of Mt. Rainier on our trip this summer. I think often of Steve and also my friends who have walked with me on difficult travels in my life. Even on one of my climbs up Lassen Peak, when Steve was not there and I could not get up one particularly icy section, a hiker came behind me and offered me a hand up so I could make it to the summit.

As a writer, it can be a tough and lonely journey as we struggle to put words on paper or the screen and then find a publisher for them. And it doesn't work to be a lone ranger in that walk either. The way can be treacherous. Lonely. Cold and snowy, even icy as we slip and slide. We really need a person to come alongside us, to help hold us up in prayer, to give a steady and sure hand, even a belief in what we are doing. Without it, one cannot get very far in the journey.

I encourage you as writer to find other writers and friends to come alongside and help you. When discouragement settles in or the rejections come or the writer's block is there, you can call on them to lift your arms in prayer. To show you a path that you never thought to try before. To give you words of wisdom that you may need to hear that provides a lamp and light to an otherwise darkened path.

Don't go it alone in this life. It's too hard. Reach out to others and allow them to minister to your life. Accept it humbly as a guiding hand from God that you need in your life.