by Blythe Daniel @BlytheDaniel

Rejection can paralyze us from going further on our journey. I think one of the biggest obstacles for a writer is rejection. It can stifle a person’s path and growth.

The disciples of Jesus Christ traveled and talked up close with him and their ministry felt the same sting at times. Only, Jesus warned them not if but when this would happen in their ministry.

In Luke 9:1-2 Jesus gave them the power and authority to drive out demons and heal, and he sent them out to preach. He told them what not to take with them (I believe not to weigh them down and to establish their dependence on his provisions) and in verse four, these words: “Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.”

Wow, how often we want to talk about, avoid, or do something against a person who does not accept us or our writing? I’ve felt the sting of rejection in writing. I feel it for the clients I work with even if it’s their work. But does that keep us from shaking the dust off and continuing on the journey?

It didn’t hold back the disciples and it shouldn’t hold us back. In fact, I think that it was necessary for the disciples to know this before they spent time healing and preaching the gospel to others (verse 6). I think this was the precursor for the miracles they would see from Jesus that perhaps they couldn’t have believed if they hadn’t experienced the power of seeing miracles in their own journeys.

After they returned from Jesus sending them out, what takes place next (Luke 9:11) is that they went out with Jesus privately but the crowds caught up with them and it turned into a hillside miracle. Wondering where they were going to get provision to feed all those who had gathered to hear Jesus, Jesus simply told the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” Meaning “expect the miracle.”

They were empty-handed, but Jesus showed them what he could provide to trusting and willing hearts and stomachs. Fish and loaves to a hungry crowd. Jesus knew the journey could be hard. He knew that others could reject his teachings (and some did) but he continually helped the disciples to see what it was like to be a follower who didn’t care more for the comfort of his own life but was willing to lay down his life to follow Jesus.

You’re a message giver. As a writer, your ministry comes in words and actions. Literally we walk in places where some accept our words and others don’t. It’s easier to focus on the ones who don’t because we want to win them over. Jesus showed us that our work is Gospel-inspired. Pointing others to a relationship with a Holy Father, Jesus the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

I know the days when it’s hard to get back up and keep going. To shake the dust off. But I know when I do, Jesus shows me that it was the right choice. That choosing to follow Him includes the dusty, no-one-seems-to-show-me-love kind of days that turn into the Jesus-affirming moments we crave. Because as Jesus says in Luke 9:25: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” We can have all the worldly wealth, position, charm, and extras but if we haven’t already lost our life to Jesus and the life we have in him, it’s not worth it. We won’t find our lives anywhere else.

Years ago I worked with an author who, along with her husband, had a phrase over their lives. They were serving in a country run by Sharia law. It was an extremely dangerous situation they were working in but they knew they were called to it. A friend warned them of the dangers as they were en route to the country to which the couple said, “We know, we died before we came here.” That ended up being the title of the book that the wife wrote, sharing the story of their stance in Jesus even after her husband lost his life doing the work they had been called to do.

These words can encourage us to share in the work God has called us to. It’s inspiring. It causes me to pause and ask myself some days if I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do and in the ways he wants me to.

If you’re ready to shake off the dust, do it. You’re the one to carry your heart forward to the people that many of us will not ever reach because YOU’RE in touch with them. You’re going to their towns and homes and are able to minister. You have words to share that Jesus will use.

Often we get tangled up in self-publishing versus traditional publishing, having an agent or not having an agent, this publisher or that publisher. Our writing has to come from a pure motive, not just status or financial. It can’t be forced, and often if I try to make something happen apart from his provision, it doesn’t go anywhere. Let Jesus show you how and when. He’ll provide. If he can provide fish and loaves for 5,000, he will provide the way for you.

Let’s be men and women who shake the dust off, not just our shoes, but our weary hearts as well. He has more for each of us in his Kingdom work.

How are you going to join him in this new year? Let’s be inspired not to let anything hold us back. And to know that risking our lives for the greatest message ever told is worth every measure we make to share with others through our writing and our witness. I’m with you!

Blythe Daniel is a literary agent and marketer and has been in publishing for over 20 years. She has written for Proverbs 31 Ministries, Focus on the Family, Ann Voskamp, and Christian Retailing. She and her mother Dr. Helen McIntosh are the authors of Mended: Restoring the Hearts of Mothers and Daughters (Harvest House Publishers).

www.theblythedanielagency.com; www.ourmendedhearts.com