Start, Stop, Repeat … Start, Stop …

Have you ever started something and stopped, and then started again and then stopped again, repeatedly … for years?! That’s been my life for the last 24 years writing the Theodore, All God’s Creatures, and Morris Muse books and comic series’.

The last time I stopped was February 2022 after a productive four-month stretch of writing, drawing, developing a Patreon page, updating my website, and posting on various social media platforms every week. I was on a roll and then everything came to a screeching halt! Why? Well, I got burned out. I was working 20-30 hours per week and handling all of the responsibilities that go along with being a wife and mother. On top of that we were about to put our house on the market and begin the search for our new home a couple of counties away.

I didn’t want to stop, but I couldn’t keep up the pace. I was exhausted and falling apart. Although I had been fighting it, I knew I had to yield to God’s timing, that He knew what was best for me. So, I switched gears, stopped writing and focused on moving and my family.

Fast forward nine months! So much has happened. We sold our house, found our new home, my son graduated from high school and started college, I changed jobs, my eldest daughter had a baby (making me an ouma), my middle daughter got engaged and my youngest has adjusted beautifully to her new home, neighborhood and school. Whew! It has been a whirl wind! No wonder God stopped me. But now that things have settled down that itch to get back to writing has started up again. So I’ve been seeking God in prayer and looking to Him for direction, and perhaps for the very first time in 24 years I surrendered everything to Him, whatever His will, I bowed down. That’s not to say that I haven’t surrendered my aspirations to Him before, but this time it was different.

I’ve started and stopped so many times over these last 24 years that I’ve lost count, and I can’t remember a single time I wanted to stop. However, I can say that each time there were more important things for me to tend to, things that God wanted me to focus on. So, I did.

I don’t know what the future holds with these projects, but God does. I’m looking to Him and starting up again. I can’t promise that I won’t stop down the road, but let’s see how far He will take me. No matter what, I will trust Him and follow His lead.

I’d like to close by asking you the same question I asked you in the beginning. Have you ever started and stopped a project, ministry, business venture, personal pursuit, anything? If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear it. (carla@icdatproductions.com) Until next time, take good care and God bless.

P.S. Ouma is the South African name for grandmother. I just really love how it sounds.