Chronic Illness Pain Support Writers Guidelines for Devotionals and hopekeepers

		Daily Online Devotionals
		HopeKeepers Magazine [pdf file]
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We are currently accepting writers for our daily devotionals. If interested, email our devotional coordinator with 2 sample devotionals.

Please read the following very carefully.

Chronic pain daily devotionals are meant to give people a sense of God's presence and a improved perspective on the day. Please read the guidelines for our HopeKeepers Magazine, as they will give you an idea of the tone the devotional should have. Devotionals should be simple and to the point. Rather than just writing out your feelings and attaching a verse, choose a specific emotion or experience and give us the details! Tell us how you have overcome the challenge or how God has given you a new perspective.

For great examples order Mosaic
Moments. This was a compilation of devotionals from our devotional writers and founder, Lisa Copen published in 2003.

What do we look for in a devotional?

Start it off with a scripture, in quotes, NIV version.
It should have a brief anecdote, example, quote ("As I walked
down the street today, I looked up to see a cloud that was shaped as a cross...")
Word count: be no less than 325 words and no more than 375 words in length. It may be returned if it's too short or too long.
It should inspire the reader to reflect, be encouraged, and even go dig out their Bible.
It should be interesting. Write it and then look at it 48 hours later, than edit and send it to us? If you had 3 minutes a day to read something would this fill your need?
It shouldn't be too religious. Don't use lots of religious jargon-- For example, don't TELL the reader about God's mercy, instead SHOW the reader how you have experienced God's mercy and why you want to share it with them.
Be specific. It should SPECIFICALLY have examples that relate to chronic illness. For example, avoid writing about how to generally "live with illness." Write about how hard it is to get out of the car, how you've learned to not worry about what people think, how your family is learning to adjust to you cooking just 3 nights a week--and how God is part of this. If your devotional does not contain anything about chronic illness or give examples at then have you explain how they relate to chronic illness, it's likely it will not be printed.

We encourage you to submit your work, but please understand that there is no guarantee that it will be published. We also request that you have received the Rest Ministries chronic pain daily devotional for a minimum of ten days before sending us your work. We would like you to sit back and enjoy the devotionals first and have a better understanding of what we are searching for.

Read our statement of faith. You must agree with this for your work to be considered.

Devotionals should be formatted correctly! Click here for details and an example.

Copyright: No contract is necessary. It is presumed that by submitting your work you have given Rest Ministries the right to publish your devotional on our website, in our HopeKeepers Magazine, or any other publication that we distribute.

You will maintain the copyright to your work, meaning that if you have your work published someday, we will not have any righs or privileges to it.

Compensation: You will be given credit for your work, but there is no monetary compensation. We hope that knowing you are changing lives is a great reward.

If you have any questions, please contact Rest Ministries' director. Thank you for your ministry to us and those that we serve through your writing.