The above image is the official graphic used for RealmMakers 2024
I wouldn’t be where I am today without God and who knows where I’ll be next year if still walking this planet. I shouldn’t be as amazed as I feel. After all, I walk with a God that is full of love and nothing is impossible for Him.
I attended the RealmMakers conference virtually this past week, Thursday evening through a shift for dinner time on Saturday. I love this conference because it is the place to be if you are a Christian wishing to write and share speculative fiction. If you feel called to share inspiring stories with any theme that aligns with God in a fantasy, sci-fi or paranormal world, this is the place for you. There are a few that even know how to do this with horror, though that is not my cup of tea. It’s amazing the stories that have come out and the competition is hot for the awards. I want to run off and read a lot of the finalist’s books. One friend came in second, which gets you an honorable mention.
None of the entrants would have gotten there if they hadn’t followed God into writing. We all had to learn how to write and get published. It doesn’t matter if we were indie, hybrid, or traditionally published. All types of publishing had a showing on the finalist list. An indie author won the book of the year. It is not how you get there, but the effort you put in with God to produce a quality book.
This goes for anything in life. God has given us all talents and desires He wants us to use to share His glory with the world and to teach others about Him. We all want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Whether we are the best lawn mowing service or house cleaner to famous creative or CEO, all that we do should be unto the Lord. If we don’t let Him in it, we shouldn’t expect His help. I know I don’t want to produce anything without His help. His logic, wisdom and understanding blows mine away, and I’m quite the nerd and good at organization.
In any sphere of influence, if we don’t step out for God, then we are letting our enemy have the space. When I was a kid, all this fantasy and related gaming stuff was a bad thing. No proper Christian would ever get involved with that. Now there are definitely things in the speculative and gaming world that are not good, but guess what? We Christians can blame ourselves for that if we scoffed at anyone walking in those spheres. The enemy had fun there while we stepped away, and only a few of us circled the fringes. I’m glad this is not the case now.
I know of hundreds of Christian authors and game developers working to supply wholesome entertainment for anyone that wants it. RealmMakers and the Christian Game Developers both have huge conferences to inspire Christians to enter this segment of the entertainment world. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the entertainment and arts industries in the past five years. Far more are diving in with more fervor than ever before. The memberships of these organizations are growing and producing exceptional products that stay in line with God’s Word, whether or not the product is overtly Christian.
As a Christian, God has given us authority over the Earth and everything in it. He has supplied us with His power to accomplish what He wishes for each of us. Each of us has a special little piece in the Great Story of now. All we have to do is accept the challenge of stepping out with Him and claim it. It will take work and a lot of training. Challenges and failures will happen. The enemy will not want you functioning in God’s power and will send many crazy lies at you.
Do not compare your journey and relationship with God to anyone else’s. Some of us get great offers and accolades with seemingly less effort than others. However, we do not know that for sure. We do not know the true story that God wants to weave with their lives. We need to focus on our journey and tell our story, whether we take a year or an entire life to do so.
Stand firm with God no matter how dark and bleak things look for the promises God has given you. Do the work with Him and it will come to pass.
This is So on target! Thank you!