Embrace the Wait Tip #2: Let It Go

I’m in a weird stage of life. I like to call it my empty-ish nest season. My husband and I married young and began having kids right away. So by the time we hit our late 30s we already had three teens in the house. Great ones. My hubby and I relished the fact that we were still young and vibrant, still full of ambition and youthful drive, and well on our way to that point all parents simultaneously long for and dread—the moment we would launch our fledglings into the great big world. You can imagine our surprise when, at that precise moment in time, God threw us a curve ball and blessed us with two adopted babies to raise.

What an adventure it has been to launch one set of kiddos while starting over with the other set. You might think that the little ones would have provided a buffer for the agony of releasing the older ones into adulthood. Nope. And perhaps you imagine that the experience we gained through rearing the older kids would have prepared us for the challenges of raising the younger. Double nope. But one thing I have learned through the whole process is the value and importance of letting go.

I tend to hold on too tightly to things I love. I think that trait must be hard-wired into my protective nature because it bleeds into every aspect of life. My first novel took six years to write. Two more to rewrite. Then another three years passed before I allowed God to pry my eldest word-child out of my tightly clenched fist and release it into the realm of the public eye.

How I ached over the possibility that someone in editor-agent-reader land would find my manuscript lacking, find it absurd, or even worse … irrelevant. So much of myself went into the pages of that book that many times I wondered if the characters were truly born from my imagination or if they were a manifestation of a split personality disorder. But in the gentlest of ways, God reminded me that the manuscript was never mine to possess—it belonged to Him. He had provided the ability. He had provided the inspiration. He had provided the means. And He had provided the words. My job as steward of those words would now change to executor of them. The hardest part? To surrender my hopes and dreams for my writing to His perfect plan.

Oh yes—I have continued to promote the manuscript, continued to help it be the very best it can be, and I’ve pitched it harder than a firecracker salesman on the fifth of July. But in the end, there’s great comfort and freedom in knowing that He will see to completion the good work He began. For His glory.

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30, 1 Peter 4:10-11, Colossians 3:23-24, Psalm 138:8, Philippians 4:6

Fun Fact: After Christian author, Lynn Austin, received back her first manuscript submission in a garbage bag, she held on to it for over a year, quit writing, and pursued a different career. But God continued to prompt Lynn to submit the story again. When she finally took the leap of faith to release the manuscript —God used that book, Gods and Kings, to help launch her writing career. Lynn Austin now holds the record for the most Christy Awards ever won! And she happens to be my favorite Christian author.

Annette Marie Griffin is a award-winning writer who speaks at local women’s group meetings and women’s retreats on the topic of biblical womanhood and finding our identity in Christ. She is the Operations and Events Coordinator at a private school for special needs students and is the editor of their quarterly newsletter. She has written custom curriculum for women’s retreats and children’s church curriculum for Gateway Church in San Antonio, Texas where she served as Children’s Ministry Director and Family Program Director for over twenty years. She and her husband John have five amazing children and two adorable grands. She’s a member of Word Weavers International, ACFW, SCBWI, and serves on the Board of Directors for The Creative Writing Institute.