F is for Finances: Becoming Prosperous as a Christian Writer by Michelle Strutzenberger

Have you ever felt discouraged over your level of prosperity as a Christian writer?

Perhaps you’ve made peace with the likelihood that you may never achieve a great financial return from your craft. One stat says writers in general, never mind those of the Christian faith, make an annual average of $3,000. 

Your writing income may lie close to that average. Or you may be one of the outliers. But, regardless, as a person of the Christian faith, you may have found a way to make peace with your financial return or lack thereof.

Perhaps you have also made peace with where your social media numbers stand. You’ve realized they are a metric that tells you something about the stickiness of your writing, but you know they aren’t the whole story. Sure, you’d jump for joy to see the numbers of follows, likes, and shares, popping, and you work hard to make that happen. But you wisely understand that the numerals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. can only say so much about whether your work is making a difference or not.

Maybe you have also come to trust that even though you don’t hear from every reader who is blessed, encouraged, changed, and helped by your writing, that doesn’t mean your writing isn’t blessing, encouraging, changing, and helping. You have learned to just keep writing, regardless of the feedback. You may one of those who trust that someday, when God reveals all our work as silver or straw, you will find out more about how your solitary sweating over sentences was used by God for His glory and the blessing of others.

Although I still walk into discouragement fogs as a writer, I can honestly say I’ve reached a place of peace about my financial return, social media metrics, and amount of feedback from readers. None of these metrics match my youthful dreams or adult expectations, but I’ve learned to accept them for the most part, even while I keep trying to improve them.

Still, I must confess that the outcome so far of my passion and hard work as a writer bewilders me a bit. The truth of the matter is that by all accounts, my work as a writer has not been prosperous! In fact, the best outcome I can see is that I’ve been able to make peace with my lack of prosperity!

That peace makes me happy, of course – and yet, and yet, there is a twist in the belly.

Since I was 12 years old, the burning to write, which I believe is a God-given passion, has ignited all kinds of written work. As a youth, teachers praised my writing talent. I’ve worked diligently to make the most of that gift, earnestly seeking to avoid being the terrible servant in Jesus’ parable who “buries” what God has given them. I’ve prayed earnestly over every piece of writing, including while working for 15 years as a secular journalist. Since leaving that work and recently launching a Christian writing ministry, I constantly seek God’s direction in what to write and then for His anointing as I write. 

Yet, like a hangnail, the bewilderment nags at my peace. Is there some other reason for my lack of prosperity? Doubtful thoughts that have wormed into my mind for years never leave entirely: Maybe this drive really isn’t from God. Maybe the people who told me I had talent were just being super kind. Maybe I’m one of those pitiful, blind-to-self folks who can’t see that they’re beating a dead horse and just need to stop. 

Or, what if I am being prosperous as a Christian writer?

What if you are being prosperous as a Christian writer?

A soul-refreshing, spirit-lightening a-ha came to me this week. 

I’m excited to share in my next post how a friend’s reflection on a Bible passage helped me rethink what it means to be prosperous as a Christian writer – beyond just making peace with a lack of prosperity.

About Michelle Strutzenberger: Michelle is an instructor and Braillist. She and her family enjoy hiking trails and mountains. More of her work can be read at awakehope.ca.