seeking first the kingdom

August 24, 2025August 24, 2025 ~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ 2 Comments

Early on in my book-publishing journey, I was blessed to learn of and then attend the first Kingdom Story Writers retreat (in 2023). I had recently self-published my first book, Friend of God, in simple obedience to God’s leading and was eager to continue writing, but was wrestling with imposter syndrome, convinced I was ‘not a proper writer’, and with no idea of how to get there. In my mind, proper writers made a living from it, won awards for their work, and generally knew what they were doing – none of which applied to me. But it was the ‘kingdom’ aspect of the retreat that called to me, as a word that God and I had been chatting about a lot at that time, so I stuffed down the imposter feelings, and went anyway.

The retreat was a blessing on many levels, but there were two lasting impacts that I am most grateful for: the enduring friendship of some brilliant, Godly people; and my confirmation as/ commissioning to be a kingdom writer. I was released from the pressure of being a full-time professional writer, striving for recognition or awards – or even publishing deals – and released into the blessing of simply writing for God, in the company of others with the same calling. I am free to write everything with the purpose of seeking His kingdom first. I do my best for Him, but I’m not chasing awards or a full-time income, or even a publishing deal, just the certainty of knowing I am writing as He leads, to help people get to know Him better. The rest is entirely in His hands, and I have found total, genuine peace in that.

But the funny thing is, that verse about seeking first the kingdom, has a second part to it:

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

Since I was released just to write as God leads, without checking to see what comes of it, I have been contacted out of the blue to do three separate paid writing/ editing jobs this year! One of my books – Finding Jesus in the Wilderness – has been short-listed for ACW’s Book of the Year 2025 award! And I have started a Substack column with two subscription tiers: free, and paid (both at God’s leading). I fully expected all my subscribers to choose the free option as I would, and in fact have repeatedly told them the paid version doesn’t properly start until January ’26. And yet, 20% of my subscribers have already signed up for the paid tier (see today’s screenshot from my Substack)

I even had a message from Substack this weekend to say that I am now in the top 50 writers in the ‘faith and spirituality’ bracket! (though I sadly can’t find the message to share now).

AND on top of all that, as I have been tithing the very small amounts of money that come in, God has been getting money to me in other ways, to make sure I have enough in my account to pay for the next book! Honestly, I am overwhelmed. I haven’t yet covered all my publication costs so far, but I am heading in that direction, thanks to Him.

I’m not saying any of this to brag on me, but rather on God, and how faithful HE is to keep His Word. As I have genuinely sought to serve Him and His kingdom, He has been promoting my writing. I still don’t care about the awards – it will be lovely if I win but I don’t expect to – I’m just thankful for the vote of confidence from other writers that took me to the shortlist. And as much as I would love to do this paid, full-time – that’s not what drives me. If the money stops tomorrow and nobody else subscribes, I will still write for God, because it’s knowing that I’m co-labouring with Him in it all that is more fulfilling than anything the world can offer.

But I just wanted to share this testimony for anyone else who may be struggling with their identity as a writer. You don’t have to follow the world’s ideals. Let go of your worries and just write your best for God and His kingdom, and the rewards – in this life and the next – may or may not look like mine, but they will be more than you can possibly imagine!

All praise to our faithful God!

(holy) ghost-writing

June 23, 2025 ~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

and what I have learned so far…

Near the beginning of the year – it may have been in a conversation with my adult sons about jobs, earning money and all that malarkey – I came across the question, “If you could do anything and make a living from it, what would that be?” The question niggled at my subconscious until I realised I need to answer it for myself. You see, I have a year left of home educating my youngest son, and then – after fourteen years of this amazing Home Ed life – I will have no job! And I’ve been vaguely wondering what I might do next, while trying to stay focused on the necessary evil of GCSE studies first. But as I tried to satisfy the question that refused to lay down and be silent, I realised there was something I would love to do. If I could be paid for anything at all, the thing I would love most of all, would be to write. Particularly if that involved writing Bible Studies (I’m a bit of a Bible nerd). I mentioned it to God in passing and thought no more of it.

Sometimes praying requires lengthy periods of standing in faith, hope and trust while everything looks increasingly disastrous until the breakthrough finally happens. But on this occasion, God seemed to take my passing comment as something to act on immediately. For within that week I had two people contact me, offering to pay me for writing work!

*imagine me with my jaw on the floor*

I don’t know if this will develop into ongoing employment, but how lovely if it does! Meanwhile, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself…

The first job was a close structural edit of the very lovely memoir written by a fellow kingdom-writer. Next to Bible-studies, memoir is a passion of mine: I love helping people to share their testimonies. I believe every Christian has a story of God’s goodness, and I want to help people get them out into the world to encourage others. So I thoroughly enjoyed that work, and was brought to tears when the money landed in my account. It’s been over twenty years since I last earned any money. I’m grateful to God and hubby for the finances provided through hubby’s work, but it has been a challenge to my sense of worth at times, not to be able to financially contribute. Hence the tears – of gratitude.

And that brings me to the second job: ghost-writing (that is, writing on behalf of someone else, not writing about ghosts!) The book I have been asked to write is part-devotional, part-teaching, with a lot of Bible – yippee!
But of course, ghost-writing – even with the Holy Spirit’s help – is entirely out of my comfort zone. Again. So today as I reached the end of (the first draft of) another chapter today, I wanted to write down everything I have learned so far on this super steep learning curve (perhaps that should be a learning mountain?). It might help someone else, but more importantly I want to remember this if I do it again in future…

(Holy) Ghost-writing Lessons:

1/ Draw up a contract.
Even if it’s between friends, it’s important to establish boundaries and manage expectations from the beginning. Be clear about time frames, payment terms*, and rights. Thankfully this part was straightforward as I was happy to be flexible about most things** but we were both pretty like-minded on everything anyway.
*re: payment terms, Woodbridge Publishers give a helpful starting point for newbies like me. You just need to agree whether you will be paid per word, per hour, or per completed chapter/ project etc – and how much.
**the only non-negotiable for me was that I was not interested in the kind of ghost-writing that involves pretending to be someone else. I think it’s dishonest. So while I didn’t care about the royalties, I did feel it important that I was acknowledged for writing it – as I would insist on acknowledging anyone who wrote something on my behalf.

2/ Agree on a clear outline, word limit and target audience.
It’s a hard one for a self-confessed pantser, but without an agreed structure, you will find yourself writing a lot of vague and rambling words that end up being edited out. It’s just a waste of time.

3/ Schedule regular interviews (in person, or video call) AND RECORD THEM.
I haven’t found a better way yet of capturing the official author’s voice, tone, priorities etc. For small queries, voice notes work well if the author is willing, but for chapter direction, progression, content, style, interviews are invaluable. *Note to self: find a better transcription process next time!

4/ Schedule regular feedback.
This can be at the same time as the interviews, but it’s easy to spend too much time on the feedback, so be strict! And prepare specific questions about the kind of feedback you need, e.g. ‘Does this flow/ progression make sense to you?’, ‘Does it sound like you?’, ‘Is there anything I have missed that’s important to you to include?’ and so on. I guess ghost-writers of fiction would have questions more to do with plot, characterisation etc.

5/ Go for it! If over-thinking and lack of confidence can be crippling when writing for yourself, it can be even worse when writing for someone else. Just write, and make sure you are open to whatever the author comes back with – even if they change their minds about direction etc. It’s their book, not yours – and that is actually kind of liberating!

So that’s it for now. More lessons may follow – I’m not finished with the project yet. I just wanted to note these down while they were fresh (ish) in my mind. I’ve got to say though, I’m loving it! Feeling very blessed…

project lampstand

January 13, 2025January 13, 2025 ~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

It is neither a secret nor a surprise that I – and many writers – struggle with the promotional aspect of publishing books. Especially for those of us who are introverts, holing up and scribbling (or typing) away for hours… days… months on end can feel like lovely self-indulgence at times. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still hard work – especially once you hit editing stage – but it’s largely hidden and ‘safe’. However once our precious books are finally published and we just want a good rest to recover from the exertion of it all, that can be when the even harder work begins: the excruciating torture of promotion and advertising our work in order to persuade countless people, both friends and strangers, to part with their hard-earned money in order to read what we have produced. *Shudder*

And having had time off after Finding Jesus in the Wilderness came out (because I was genuinely exhausted… and then it was Christmas…) I entered this year with absolutely zero momentum or motivation. But it’s something I know I need to do. So at a recent prayer zoom for writers (thank you Kingdom Story Writers), I asked for prayer that God would find a way to help with my motivation (I think I actually asked for Him to give me a loving kick up the behind!) Then this weekend I met with the KSW team to plan our upcoming retreat (in May – watch this space for more info to come soon). Oh it is so GOOD to meet with like-minded fellow Kingdom writers! We did achieve the planning needed, but also enjoyed plenty of rich time together sharing encouragement and practical advice which gave me some ideas to get me pointed in a helpful direction.

And after everyone had left and I got some time to chat with God, He took me to the well-known verses from Mark 4:21-22,
“He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.”

Talk about motivation (or a kick up the behind, if you prefer)! I do believe that in the books that I have written I have done my best to shine my light as clearly and openly as I can. I don’t think I have tried to conceal or hide them (though the ‘bowls’ of shame, imposter syndrome and self doubt, and the ‘beds’ of laziness or procrastination are always lurking as temptations). But I can see that I do need to make a conscious decision to lift up the light in my books and put it on a lampstand: to do everything in my power to help people see what God has given through me.

And that is all the motivation I need. So I am in. I’m asking God to give me a budget and a strategy in order to promote my books and shine His light as bright as I can… and then trust Him with the rest. I don’t fully know what that will look like, but I do think it will involve an upcoming blog tour, plus possible newsletters, giveaways, reviews, opportunities for support etc. All things that will probably still make me cringe inwardly. But I am going to do my best to be brave nonetheless and embrace “project lampstand”.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
(Matt 5:16)

come to me

September 19, 2024 ~ Rachel Yarworth, writer ~ Leave a comment

If I have a single message – a core value that all my writing comes back to – it is this: God desires relationship with you, not religion. He doesn’t just want to be believed in (even demons believe in Him – James 2:18); He wants to be KNOWN. Personally.

There were two occasions this week when that message was highlighted to me again. Firstly during my daily Bible reading which took me to Isaiah 28:13…
“So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that,
a little here, a little there,
so that as they go they will fall backwards;
they will be injured and snared and captured” (NIV)

It seemed to me to epitomise the tragic descent from hearing the life-giving revelation of God’s word, into a bunch of religious rules followed by those who have never heard God for themselves. The Pharisees were a prime example, taking the law given to Moses and adding rules upon rules until those who wanted to serve God were trapped in legalism. Tragically, church-goers across the world today still experience this kind of religious observance of rules and miss the joy and freedom of walking with God Himself. For when we don’t know Him and walk with Him in relationship, we have to resort to what other people have said about Him, rightly or wrongly: a two-dimensional second-hand representation. It’s no substitute for the real thing, loving relationship with God Himself.

So, He invites us to walk with Him. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus words are recorded: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]” (AMP)

It is only by coming to HIM, in person, that we receive rest from religion, and our souls are saved.

The second thing that struck me this week happened while I was reading a fiction book set in the times when Jesus physically walked on earth. A character was discussing the crowds that followed Jesus hoping to be healed, and I suddenly saw the scene before me: Jesus walking through a town where hundreds, if not thousands, gathered hoping for a touch. And a question rose within me: if Jesus’ mission was all about healing, why didn’t He just gather a crowd together and then command them all to be healed in one go, when clearly He had the authority and power to do so?

As soon as I asked the question I heard the reply:

“Because I wanted them to come to ME”

There are several accounts of Jesus healing in crowds. These are a few: Matthew 15:30 says, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them” (NIV). Matthew 4:24 says, “people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all” (NLT). Luke 4:40 says “all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them” (NKJV).

Evidently it was about the personal touch: whether being laid at His feet, or touched by His hands -the vast majority* of the people healed by Jesus were those who encountered Him and saw the love and compassion in His eyes as he healed them (*and for those few exceptions who were healed ‘in absentia’, it was after a friend encountered Him personally). If He had healed people en masse they would have been blessed by the healing but missed the most important point: encountering Him personally. (Healing is great, but knowing Him is better. Our physical wellbeing is only an issue during this brief lifetime; knowing Him is for eternity).

I heard a well known Christian preach his theory about Jesus not healing everyone, saying that when Jesus left town there would have been people left behind who weren’t healed, delivered, or raised from the dead. From that assumption he inferred that Jesus didn’t want everyone healed, but that does not seem to match with the Bible teaching that Jesus healed ALL who came to Him. Because God never turns anyone away. He wants everyone to personally receive His love and favour and to enter into relationship with Him, so that when this life is over and we step into eternity, He will have no cause to say “I never knew you” as He said to those who claimed to do great things on His behalf (Matthew 7:23). No, when we know Him and walk with Him, we will be with Him forever, continuing the relationship that can only begin here.

So today I am meditating on those words, “Come to ME”, and praying for myself and for you that we will lay aside all empty religion and simply come to Him, to truly get to know Him and walk with Him in relationship. Amen