Dear Readers,

It’s been on my heart to write you some honest thoughts about our relationship (yours and mine) and life as a Christian writer in the days of publishing, consumerism, and division in the country/church.

First, God made me a writer. It’s in my original design.

As long as I can remember, I’ve written.  That’s me. I read and I write. (These days, I work hard to remember to also get up and move.)

Since the first time I sang, I Surrender All, I’ve known I wanted my writing to serve Him, the Living Word. If you strip me down to my essence, I am a sinner in love with Jesus, miraculously saved by grace, who has relied on that grace and written about it all my life so that others might love Him, too. I’m sure my agent knows this but don’t tell my publisher– even if I wasn’t paid to write, I would write.  Jeremiah’s words totally resonate with me “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in,  and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9 ESV).

Second, God has given me a heart for you, people who have followed Jesus in this complicated world, often for decades.

Some of you are pastors, leaders, writers, speakers, or missionaries, but others of you have powerful ministries in your homes, in your prayer rooms, or in ways most of us won’t know until you receive your reward in glory. Like me, you love Jesus and like me, you love His Word. You know you aren’t living perfectly or sinlessly but every day, you open the Bible, pray, and seek His face again. I do, too.

Image by Sirin from Pixabay

These days, it’s hard not to lose heart. The division in our country and in our churches causes you great pain although some of you would argue one side and some of you the other. Your heart is heavy for your children, grandchildren, or the next generation of believers. Sometimes in the heat of spiritual battle, confusion or doubts creep in and you find comfort knowing there are others holding on to the truth you also hold dear. Those numbers are dwindling but you also believe God doesn’t need numbers. He’s not Tinkerbell counting on our applause to survive.

The deceitfulness rampant in our country angers you and it breaks your heart to know that some will fall away from the faith, lose heart, or never hear the truth of Jesus because sin and deception have suppressed the truth. You trust in the Sovereignty of God but you also trust that He calls us to bear witness.  You want to be among those who speak the truth but fewer and fewer are willing to listen. Even you have faced disappointments and hardships and heartaches that have sometimes quietly put your heart at risk.

You don’t want surfacy devotions and you’re tired of pablum and platitudes. You want real writing about what it’s honestly like to struggle with God’s Word and living breathing humans needing love. I want to be here for that.

Third, sometimes I lose my way as a writer.

Christian writers seeking traditional publishing have wrestled in the past twenty years with needing numbers of readers and honestly, that goes against everything we believe about where our focus is supposed to be. Most of us don’t want to be any kind of celebrity. We have no inner desire to be “followed” by thousands. And yet, we have experienced rejection after rejection, book projects that were praised for biblical content, strong writing, and relevance but sadly, we don’t have the numbers and so . . . file it away and try again.

Now, that’s hard, but it’s not hard like living in areas of the world where Christians are persecuted, imprisoned, even killed. It’s not hard like leaving family and friends to serve overseas to share the gospel. It’s not hard like being the only one in your family who knows Jesus.

It’s hard like pastoring and preaching in a small New England church week after week with humility and grace and I’ve seen godly men do this without complaint. 

So, this letter is not a complaint but I want you to be aware of the myriad temptations facing Christians who write– temptations to sensationalize, pander, compromise, or to give up. I’ve faced all those temptations. Pray for those called to preach, to speak, to write for Jesus that we have courage to resist and to remain faithful even when no one listens or reads. There are even newer temptations coming along with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence). We can ask it to do our writing for us. When we’re trying to earn an income and reach more people, the ease of that can be tempting. One reason for this post is that I want you to know I have committed NOT to allow AI to write my blog posts, articles, or any portion of my books. These blog posts and Substacks are written from scratch by me.

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Finally, I’m coming back to the heart of writing which for me is living worship.

I am blessed to be surrounded by godly men and women in the Christian writing world with their heads and hearts on straight about the business of writing. We encourage one another to be content with “small” ministries, to write and speak the truth even when it’s unpopular as long as its biblical, and not to chase the numbers (although we remain faithful to spreading God’s messages to as many people as we can reach).

I’m equally blessed to have a publisher, Our Daily Bread Publishing, committed to theological integrity, and editors who allow me to write deeper devotions with the writing voice God has given me. I believe you found that in Graceful Influence and you’ll find it again in God’s Abundant Mercy releasing this Spring. Hopefully, the new book I’m working on, The Emptiness Cure, will find a home that also cherishes biblical depth and the needs of believers who have walked with Jesus for a long time.

But, for a time I think I’ve been pinballing around blog/Substack topics trying to find some footing I started to lose (like Asaph in Psalm 73). I have opinions about all kinds of national topics including world politics, cultural conflicts, deconstruction of faith, and Christian celebrity influencers and occasionally I’ll write a thought or two about something that’s on trend but that’s not the focus of my daily life. I will write about headlines (as I know some of you value those posts) but I believe it’s been a mistake to let the media and the culture LEAD our conversation. God leads. We follow His leads and whether the culture follows or not, we have one another, yes?

I want to return to topics that may not be sensational but I find them in God’s Word and wrestle to apply them to my daily life– and so do you. I want to write to glorify God and I want to write for YOU.

Years ago, when I began blogging, I once complained to God that I was doing all this writing for “only 30” readers. In that moment, I sensed a great conviction of the Holy Spirit that each of those readers were of great value to Jesus and if I couldn’t value them, why would He send more. I repented and I committed to write with excellence no matter the size of my reach. Of course, my readership has grown and I remember you’re not numbers, you’re men and women like me, seeking God, walking toward home, trying hard to remain on the narrow road and love the way Jesus loved in a world that hates you a little more every day. We need one another and are blessed to walk this road together.

So, I really need your thoughts. Write in the comments or send me an email (lorisroel@gmail.com) and let me know what topics you need to read about in the days and weeks to come. We can face them and wrestle through them together.

I remain the disturber of hobbits, wanting not to settle into a Jesus-following life that is comfortable and easy but to be willing to follow Him into the discomfort of a life of truth, love, and sacrifice. That’s what I want to write about but more importantly, that’s what I want to live. What is on your mind these days? Please, let me know.  Goodness and mercy, Lori

Honest Thoughts from a Christian Writer about Us https://t.co/jWjSf5tOwG #Christianwriter #ChristiansandAI

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) August 26, 2025

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