When will I get published? Why do I have to wait so long and go through so much in this quest?
I'd like to continue the discussion I started in the last post, this time referencing a story I heard not long ago. I was watching a Christian talk show, and the guest was renowned Christian author and speaker Carol Kent.
Carol's story is one of high mountaintops and the lowest of valleys. For years her life revolved around inspiring others, with her successful books and her presentations across the country. One day she and her husband woke up to a "New Kind of Normal," to quote one of her book titles, when they learned their son had been jailed for murder.
The story of the actual crime is too long to recant in this space, but, needless to say, Carol and her family were devastated when son Jason was given a "toe-tag" sentence--life with no chance of parole. Carol and her husband moved from Michigan to Florida to be closer to her son, and her life drastically changed. She still spreads the Gospel through books and speeches, but she also now spends a lot of time visiting her son in a stark, sterile prison environment. Jason has made the most of a desperate situation, leading Bible studies, teaching inspirational classes, and helping his fellow prisoners in a variety of ways.
Carol and her husband have rallied for Jason's early release, but the most recent appeal for a clemency hearing was denied last fall, with no chance to appeal again for nearly five years. Carol was disappointed but received encouragement from a surprising source--Jason.
"If God chooses to allow me to walk in freedom in this lifetime, it won't be because I received the favor of well-connected politicians and attorneys," he said. "It will be because God moved in the hearts of decision makers in a miraculous way. I am content with that."
How often have I tried to make things happen by myself rather than trusting in God to move in His way, in His time? Publication won't come from well-connected agents and editors--it will come when God connects me with the right person at the right time, when He moves in a miraculous way.
Who knows? Maybe that time will come at this year's Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. Or maybe God will use the information at the conference to equip me with the tools I need to do the job right, inching me closer to publication.
Either way, won't you join me at KCWC in Elizabethtown in June?
--Carlton Hughes, Publicity Chair
www.kychristianwriters.com
(For more information about Carol Kent, visit www.carolkent.org)
2 comments:
I'm looking forward to KCWC 2011, especially hearing from featured speaker, Cecil Murphey, http://themanbehindthewords.com/.
Other faculty looks interesting, too. http://kychristianwriters.com/ConferenceDetails.aspx.
Carol, upon attending a conference here in Houston, my husband and I were fortunate to hear Cecil Murphey, very inspiring.
Reading the blog reminded me of a friend of my mother's whose son was in prison for killing a man over a horse. The son is still in prison, the parents went through all of their savings with attorney's fees. The son believes he can do God's best work by being in prison and helping other prisoners find life with Christ.
The son is truly at peace. The parents have both passed on.
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