10 Common Misconceptions of the Wannabe Novelist, #9

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8. #9: Once I publish my novel, I’ll finally be someone people notice. Oh, this is a sad, sad way to live—to be a slave of others’ approval. When I was a child, I wrote stories simply because I enjoyed writing them. As I grew older and became more self-conscious, I realized that writing could be more than fun and games. I could actually get published and “be somebody” (as if I wasn’t somebody already). Someone important. Someone people would notice. Who knows? Maybe I’d even write best-selling books, and then people would know who I am, and I’d be famous. The Trap (Do you hear the pride ringing in those statements? Perhaps the pride of life described in 1 John 2:16?) In my opinion, the most genuine famous people I’ve ever met are the ones who never sought attention.…

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You Have Been Delivered!

God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler in two senses. From, and out of. First, he delivers them from the snare—does not let them enter it; and secondly, if they should be caught therein, he delivers them out of it. The first promise is the most precious to some; the second is the best to others. “He shall deliver thee from the snare.” How? Trouble is often the means whereby God delivers us. … At other times, God keeps his people from the snare of the fowler by giving them great spiritual strength, so that when they are tempted to do evil they say, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” … Thou shalt yet be brought out of all evil into which thou hast fallen, and though thou shalt never cease to repent of thy ways, yet he that hath loved thee…

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