Tracey Marley

A couple of weeks ago my two children were out in the yard playing. The leaves are starting to fall here in central North Carolina and because we were trying to indulge in the last few days of summer, I joined them. Hide-and-Go-Seek is always a favorite and soon I was assigned the task of counting to seven while the kids ran and hid.

“…five…six…seven. Ready or not! Here I come,” I called. Because we live close to the highway, of course I was peeking. I stifled a chuckle when I watched Anna, my oldest, drop to her knees on the count of seven and shut her eyes. She was in the middle of the front yard! She continued to squeeze her eyes shut as she remained completely still in the wide-open area. In her mind, if she couldn’t see me, I couldn’t see her.

I laughed, tagged her and ran back to base. Kids! I thought. They can be so funny! And then she did it again. This time she held up leaf in front of her face to disguise her presence. “Anna! You’re not hiding. I can see you!” And with those words, God spoke to my heart.

1 Peter 5:8 in the NIV reads, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” What my five-year-old was doing to hide herself from sight is very much like what I sometimes do to protect myself from the devil who is really a roaring lion looking to devour me. Sometimes the protection I’m willing to put on is inadequate at best.

How many times do I lift up a half-felt prayer in the morning to protect myself from evil during the day? And how many mornings do I simply glaze over a few verses of scripture expecting them to nourish my soul with wisdom and insight? Sadly the answer is too often.

Since that day in the yard, I’ve started thinking a lot about some of the things I experience when I’m working on a book. Either right before or right after I write, I tend to sense a heightened spiritual attack on my mind. It’s like the devil works his hardest to distract me.

Temptation, depression, anxiety, stress and doubt often assault me. But while I’m writing…it’s different. When I’m actively pulling things together to develop a plot, I can feel the Lord’s presence all over me. For me, actually writing the story is like undergoing a spiritual high. Scriptures come together, things connect and make sense. The Lord is able to show me things that I just can’t seem to get in other ways. Nothing speaks to my heart like when I write something, move on to the next chapter and then days later come back and see how the Lord is drawing the story together as a whole.

That may sound strange but a lot of what I write really comes off the top of my head. With Promise for Tomorrow, there was no grand outline and certainly very little forethought. I simply sat down and started typing what little I knew and that was what I had dreamt that morning.

When I finished, stepped back and looked at the character struggles and themes and how they came together and could be consistently carried out with just a little tweaking, I marveled at what God had done. It was under the Lord’s provision that the book came to be and I accredit Him for its early success.

Now that I am in the process of writing book two, I’m starting to realize the value of that method of blind writing. Now that I know what to expect in the publishing process and some of the things that go into a story to make it a good story, it’s easier to get sidetracked with the details. While I can’t say that my writing method is exactly the same as it was when I started Promise for Tomorrow, now I realize how much Satan wants to counteract my progress at all costs.

Forgiveness for Yesterday, book two in the series, takes a serious look at pride, rebellion, lies, lust and the destruction of harboring hate in our hearts. In other words, it exposes some of the tools Satan uses to keep us bound and oppressed. While I don’t want to give anything away, I will say that the truths revealed in book two give the reader the knowledge on how to overcome some very popular strongholds. I know with all my heart that Satan strongly opposes this exposure, and therefore I am in deep prayer over the best way to deliver God’s message of redemption through the characters and the situations they will face.

But the devil is on the prowl. That is why I not only ask for your prayers as I continue to work on book two, but that you, like me, will ask yourself if you are really in hiding. Are you really putting on the armor described in Ephesians 6 that is needed to guard yourself against what is a very real and powerful enemy? Are you guarded against the one whose desire it is to destroy? I hope so because I believe it is essential if we are to walk in the abundance of life that Christ promised.

If not, I encourage you to seek after the Lord with your whole heart, soul and mind and for you to guard yourselves against the schemes and trickery of the devil with God’s Holy Word so that when the devil does come looking, you will be completely hidden and safe in the arms of Christ.

Till next time,

Tracey

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” Ephesians 6:12 NIV.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” John 10:10 NIV.

Blogging is new to me and as busy as life is, I may not get to do it often. I will, however, try to be faithful to write when and what the Lord lays on my heart to share. Browse through and hopefully this will grow in time.

Tracey