Month: April 2025

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Learning From Rejections

One of the best rejections I’ve ever received is, “You’re piece made it to the penultimate round. Unfortunately, we will not be publishing it.”

Sadly, not all rejections offer a touch of encouragement, but I believe we can learn from them anyway. For instance, rejections teach us the humility to lean into our critique groupers’ suggestions, rewriting a rejected piece provides a lesson in perseverance, and praying for our writing helps us to rely on God’s plan.

For each lesson learned, we can lean into God’s plan with an attitude that marks us as writers who follow God. Yes, when someone declines our precious words, we feel the sting. Nevertheless, every turned-down piece helps us to grow both as writers and as God’s people.

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Moving With God’s Tide

Acts 17:4 (ESV)—And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

I walked along the Amelia Island beach on a mission. Head down, I scanned the dense shell beds for the familiar glint of black. The tide rolled past my feet, shifting the shells like beads in a rain stick.

Nothing yet. I nudged a jumble of coquina with my toe, searching. Again, saltwater raked the shell bed. As the shells moved, a glisten caught my eye, shiny and black.

I stopped walking and bent down to examine the sharp point. I snatched it from the surf.

I’d found it: a shark’s tooth.

Like my mission, Paul’s required steadfast dedication (though his was definitely more important!). In Acts 17, he rolled with the tide of questions and disturbances, moving in and out of cities for his safety. All the while, he spread the gospel of salvation, with the mission to bring others to Christ. His persistent seeking of people to teach God’s message of salvation succeeded.

Like Paul’s, our persistence in moving with God’s tide allows for greater possibility of people finding Jesus. Through God’s guidance and protection, we can remain devoted to our mission for Christ. What’s more, we will see God’s work on earth succeed.

For certain, our commitment to revealing God’s Truth pays off: Lost souls come to know the gospel and accept Jesus as their Savior.

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Plunging Into Faith

A woman wearing goggles underwater with her cheeks puffed out
Mark 5:28 (ESV)—For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.”

It defies all logic that I love snorkeling. (1) I’m more like a sinking ship than a playful seal when in the water, and (2) my mind thinks breathing underwater an impossible feat (and rightly so)…thus, I cannot breathe through the snorkel.

To conquer this plague of the snorkel, I first death-grip a boogie board to float on the water and then I breathe in, hold my breath, and plunge my face into the water. Over and over again. Much like the woman with twelve years’ bleeding, who breathed in and held her breath repeatedly, hoping for healing every time she visited a doctor, only to still struggle.

Her healing came when, with faith, she plunged into the crowd, despite her ceremonial uncleanness. Believing the reports of Jesus’ healing power, she touched Jesus’ cloak, and when Jesus asked “Who touched my garment?” she came forward, trembling, and told him the whole “unclean” truth.

Like this woman’s, our plunge of faith allows us to breathe through the Holy Spirit. Without him, we can only hold our breath and hope. With him, we’re free to swim underwater without fear of choking or worse.

Truly, submerging our life in faith saves us from drowning in the disappointment of over and over again.