This may be an odd title for a post, but it is on my heart to share with you today.
How many times has God asked us to do something or tell someone something, we don’t follow through?
Lately, I have been feeling stuck. I have been praying and praying for direction, what to focus on in my life, but nothing clear.
Then I realized yesterday, it has been clear for a long time, but I was choosing to ignore God’s direction.
The Miscarriage Project
Most of you know of my recently published book, The Miscarriage Project: Testimonials of Parents of Who Found Hope in God.
Finally becoming a published author is a dream come true for me!
However, I didn’t expect the before, during, and after process to be so hard! To name a few challenges:
- First, you have to write your manuscript. Short like a children’s book, or long like a novel, both take a lot of time to brainstorm, write, edit, rewrite, etc.
- Next, finding a publisher willing to publish your work is the hardest part. This is something I had to do a lot of research to find.
- The publishing process is such a waiting game and is necessary to have business and marketing knowledge (or know someone who does), I’ve had to learn most of this from scratch – research and asking others a lot of questions.
- Once you are published (and beforehand), comes the marketing. This, for me, has been the most challenging part.
How do I help people find out about my book without breaking the bank? How do I convince them to then read it?
Asking the Wrong Questions
I will be the first to admit, it is so easy to get caught up in the ways of the world.
Be this way, and people will love you.
Make this sacrifice, and it will be worth it. Your family will understand.
You have to work 24/7 to make any dent in your business.
You will never make it in this business, unless you take shortcuts, compromise relationships for progress, and think of yourself first.
None of these statements are true, but we believe them so easily.
Instead of writing to make money or to sell books (to provide for my family), I am only effective if I use my gifts for God’s glory.
The world makes so many empty promises. Why do we continue to believe them?
True Purpose
Our true purpose of our existence is not to spend our lives afraid of insignificance, and striving for impossible perfection, according to the world’s ever-changing standards.
We have God-given purpose – to love God, to love others.
The world leads us to believe we deserve whatever we want. As long as we work hard enough, we can do or be anything we want.
This is faulty logic, when God really created us for a specific purpose.
No matter how hard I want to be perfect, only Christ is perfect. Only through Him can we be sanctified – continually made more and more like Christ in his attributes.
The God-Shaped Hole
When I think of this concept, I think of these song lyrics, “there’s a God-shaped hole in all of us.”
There is always this lingering emptiness in our hearts. A desire to matter, to be whole, to find peace.
The world offers so many counterfeits to fill this whole, but only our true Lord and Savior, Messiah and friend, can fill it and truly complete us.
We lost this fullness and unbroken connection with God when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Ever since then, we have lived lives of brokenness, sin, and chaos.
However, our story doesn’t end there. Jesus Christ made this connection possible yet again with his death on the cross, and resurrection to the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
Hope in the Struggle
The amazing news: God doesn’t leave us alone in our pain and struggles. We have hope of a new, eternal future:
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Rev 21:4 NLT)
Now that is the true “happily ever after” you’ve been waiting for.