by Sandy Kirby Quandt @SandyKQuandt

Despite your best efforts have obstacles and opposition stood between you and what you want to accomplish with your writing? They sure have for me. While reading in the book of Ezra, I noticed parallels between rebuilding the temple during Ezra’s time, and having a part in building God’s kingdom through our writing. Let me explain.

The Lord stirred King Cyrus of Persia’s heart to allow the Israelite captives in Babylon to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Not everyone’s hearts were stirred to return. Only the hearts of those God prompted returned. 

God does not prompt everyone to build for him through the written word. If you are reading this post, I’d say there’s a good chance your heart is one he has prompted though.

The first thing the returning tribes of Benjamin and Judah did before beginning construction on the temple was build an altar and sacrifice to the Lord. 

Before we construct our first sentence, our hearts need to prepare to offer not only the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, but the sacrifice of time and effort to complete the job with excellence. 

Some enemies asked to help rebuild the temple as a way of sabotaging the work. The Israelite leaders turned them down. 

There might be people in our lives who sabotage our efforts to write, rather than come alongside and support us. 

Next, the enemies spread false reports to King Cyrus about the Israelites, hoping that would stop the temple rebuild. 

Jealousy is often a reason for the spread of false reports and rumors. It has no place in our writing. When those feelings arise, and if they haven’t, they probably will, it’s best to write the feelings into our stories, articles, or devotions as examples of what not to do. 

Finally, when the enemy couldn’t distract the Israelites, they used two of the greatest obstacles to completing God’s work. Fear and discouragement. 

Fear stops us in our tracks. It strikes at those places where we’re most vulnerable. It causes us to doubt not only ourselves, but also the God who called us to write. 

Discouragement erodes our motivation to proceed. It causes us to lose heart for our project, sometimes to the point of giving up. 

Grounding our self in the truth of who God is, and who we are in him, is one of the best ways I’ve found to fight back against fear and discouragement.

The rebuilding of the temple stopped while matters were straightened out with the king. However, during that time, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged those building the temple to keep at it. They even helped with the rebuilding. 

When the building of sentences comes to a halt for our fellow writers, you and I can be the encouragement that rallies them forward. We can come alongside and cheer them on. We might help with the building as critique partners, brainstorming partners, beta readers, friends who pass along information which might be helpful. You get the idea. The list really is only limited by our imagination. After all, we’re imaginative creatives, are we not?

And this is where attending a conference like the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference comes in. Those who attend writer’s conferences, retreats, and workshops understand the importance of finding a support group of like-minded folks. We understand the importance of being encouraged and of being an encourager. We understand the obstacles and opposition that comes against us as we use our writing to build for the kingdom. 

We read these words in Ezra 6:14 (TLB). 

So the Jewish leaders continued in their work, and they were greatly encouraged by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah (son of Iddo).

The temple was finally finished, as had been commanded by God and decreed by Cyrus, Darius, and Ar-ta-xerxes, the kings of Persia. 

Let’s press on, building and encouraging, as we strive to overcome the obstacles and opposition which stands in our way of completing the work we’ve been called to complete. 

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a former elementary school educator and full-time writer with a passion for God, history, and travel; passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She has written numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog, and Let the Earth Rejoice. She has won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out Sandy’s blog, Woven and Spun. When The Way Is Steep