Unanswered Prayers

Are you old enough to appreciate unanswered prayers?

That was the question posed by the evangelist at our church in his message Saturday night. As usual, his question sent me off on a tangent (ahem!) and I started thinking about how many of my prayers regarding my writing career haven’t been answered when or how I wanted.

It also got me to thinking how I felt about those unanswered prayers three or four (or more!) years later.

So, I asked some of my Seeker Sisters about unanswered prayers and how they viewed them after a period of time has lapsed.

“Everything that has happened in my publishing career has been a God thing . My agent was due to a connection with another author, I had pretty much given up on finding an agent when it happened. I love her. I love that I can talk plain to her and she is normal. The genre I ended up selling in was a God thing. I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be but it's like I planted the seeds and this is what grew. He knew the harvest and the timing. And my Seeker sisters were a total God thing, because I was not looking for another group to join. If there is one thing I have learned in this journey it's to cast my cares on Him.” Anonymous

I can so relate to the above. Every sentence has my name written all over it, even though I DIDN’T write it. God shook his head many times for me, and said, “Not yet, beloved. Not yet. You’re not ready.” It was hard to accept at the time, but looking back, I know He was right. He always is, isn’t he? Thank you, God, for unanswered prayers.

“My unanswered prayer was that the first manuscript that I sent out to agents, The Corinthian Rules, did NOT get bought. At the time I didn't realize how inane the writing was, although my voice was strong. Voice is not everything--the writing has to be good, too, and that manuscript definitely was NOT. If it had been bought, I'd have either had an absolutely horrible revision or I'd have been heartily ashamed it was published after a few years, or I'd have gotten reamed in Amazon ratings. Well, I still got 1-star reviews on Amazon with Sushi for One, but at least with Sushi, I'm confident the writing is as strong as I could make it, and although people don't like it, well, I know did my best.” Camy Tang

I look back at some of the projects I submitted, even projects that were almost picked up by publishing houses and cringe, knowing my writing wasn’t ready. Yes, at the time, I thought it was great, and maybe it was the best I could do, but now I know it could have been so much better. Thank you, editors, for not publishing my work way back then! And thank you, God, for unanswered prayers!

“Through twelve years of struggling to make a sale of one of my novels, I actually gave up a couple of times. But God always gave me some encouragement to keep me going (like positive editor feedback or a contest final). And though it seemed to take forever, once I did sell--and jumped right into revisions and art fact sheets and line edits and copy edits and promo--I realized I would NOT have been ready for all that years earlier. I'm now a firm believer in God's perfect timing. So hang in there and trust that God knows what He's doing! (Yeah, I know. That's one of those "duh" things, but something I had to learn.)” Missy Tippens
I love this quote from Missy! You know why? She brought something out that I hadn’t thought of before. Even though God has said, “Not now,” many times during this writing journey of mine, he’s always given me something to encourage me, to keep me going and believing as I perfected my craft. Thanks, Missy, for that wonderful reminder, and thank you, God, for unanswered prayers.

“Years ago when I finaled in the Noble Theme, I had an agent appointment with a well-known agent - well, actually two of them who said exactly the same thing: "Congratulations on finaling in the Noble Theme. So you write about cowboys? Well, sorry to say, but no one is buying cowboy/western right now. But good luck!" Talk about bursting my bubble! I won the Noble Theme in Contemporary Romance that year and ended up talking to Joan Marlow Golan. She congratulated me and asked what the book was about. I gave her a quick two sentence pitch. AND THEN told her she wouldn't be interested in it because cowboy stories are dead, so I'll have to write something else. Can you imagine the look she gave me? She gave an encouraging/indulgent smile as she handed me her card. She loved cowboys and if the ms was complete, told me to send it to one of her editors. Wow. That book didn't sell, but the next one did...to Steeple Hill. I love Joan for knowing what I’d been told and making an effort to correct the error of information : )” Audra Harders
As Missy and Audra told us, timing is everything. God’s timing. God is the best editor we have, and he’s looking over our shoulders, shaking his head at our determination to rush ahead of his plan for us.

Each rejection, failure, or low contest score hurts, but I’m stretching my wings and growing my craft every time I put my work out there. I look back at some of my rejections now and I’m thankful that God didn’t answer those prayers the way I prayed. Because like Camy said, I’d have some work out there that I wouldn’t be all that proud of.

Thank you, God, for unanswered prayers!

Have you learned to appreciate unanswered prayers regarding your writing?

If you haven’t, you just might not be “old”* enough yet.


*Old used in this context has nothing to do with your real age. :)