I'm Still Standing

Last year I made a covenant (a contract between me and God that He takes seriously, just like marriage) with the Lord that I would no longer let fear stand in the way of writing. I always knew I was not the best writer out there, but as the years passed, the stirring of the pen would not stop.

Before I had a blog I had all these ideas that I wanted to write about. To this day I have characters running around in my head just begging to be let out in a story (don't worry, this is normal, so other writers tell me).

As soon as I started my personal blog, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/, I got sick. I'd been through times of near bed confinement due to the pain of polycystic ovaries, but this was different. It was an 8 week sinus infection that I could not get rid of. During this time I also had bronchitis and mild asthma. Not long after I got feeling better with all that, my hormones took a dive and I spun around hormonally with perimenopause.

I list these medical issues because of this---I don't think any of it was an accident. As soon as I started to surrender fear, it made a kingdom difference. It also, I believe, shook the gates of hell. Not because I'm somebody, but because Christ is and He has work to do and finally, I'm a willing vessel for Him to use. Even if my writing reached one person, it was still more than it was reaching before because I wasn't writing at all. So the scared terrorist defeated one that the devil is, he hurled everything he could with his bag of tricks.

I'm not musical, but I'm a music person. Recently here I shared the song from Barnyard, Sam Elliott's I Won't Back Down. That song literally kept me going because I promised. I PROMISED to write for the Lord. I really take those commitments seriously. The second song I think of is of all things, Elton John's I'm Still Standing.

"And did you think this fool could never win

Well look at me, I'm coming back again

I got a taste of love in a simple way

And if you need to know while I'm still standing you just fade away

Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did

Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid

I'm still standing after all this time

Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind"

Music by Elton JohnLyrics by Bernie Taupin

Available on the album Too Low For Zero

http://www.eltonography.com/songs/im_still_standing.html

Yes, I'm a child of the 70's and 80's and I'm pretty sure when these entertainers collaborated, warfare issues between Christ and the devil weren't on their minds. Yet as I write, this is the song He gives me to share.

I made another recent commitment to write for the Lord. It is something that I'm excited about and I believe is going to be huge in His kingdom to encourage women. The founder of this ministry invited me to join on and challenged me to find a single purpose to share with others through the site. After praying for days, I know He wants me to write on this:

Surrender.

Guess what happened within days of confirming this direction?

I got sick.

With a sinus infection.

Guess what?

I'm still standing.

I'll write more on the writing opportunity next week!

Julie Arduini is a surrendered writer with her own blog, http://thesurrenderedscribe.blogspot.com/. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she blogs for the Christian Writers Forum Sundays as the mommy blogger. She is active with FaithWriters and has several writings ready to publish in different books and anthologies in 2008-09.

To get to know her better, read her interview by Lynda Schab at:

http://www.faithreaders.com/featured-author-details.php?id=33%20

To contact Julie, please use the e mail provided in our profile.