Down – and then Up Again

Last night I surfed the Internet looking for a couple of likely suspects to send my book to to request a back cover endorsement. What I found were two books very much like my own. Whereas it confirms my keen journalistic instincts (smile), seeing that my book has already been written was discouraging. I thought that if I had found these books two years ago when I was doing my marketing research before writing, I probably would have never written the book – it’s already been written! To be accurate, one is to my target audience and on my subject, but not using Proverbs as a springboard. The other was on my topic using Proverbs, but addressing a younger audience – sixth to ninth graders. So there is something unique about my book, I reminded myself in my hours of pep talk later. Nonetheless, I was discouraged. I prayed God to send me an encouragement. The prayer wasn’t out of my heart before God started making me feel unique, reminding me of all the ways His plans for me are different from anything I’ve seen thus far. Thanks, Heavenly Father.

 

Then today, not 24 hours later, I got a phone call from Patty Wyatt, a co-founder of GirlfriendsUnlimited. She said she was “honored” to receive my book in the mail and excited about providing an endorsement. Wow! Furthermore, she said she was going to take my book to her cabin over Thanksgiving weekend and “relish the pages.” She said I put a smile on her face, but you should have seen my face as I listened in awe to this welcoming message. Ya see, as godly and even nice as so many Christian authors and ministers might be, I’ve been turned down by a bunch of them for endorsements - “no time” is the most-often cited reason. So just to get a “yes” is great, but that it came so graciously delivered was a huge encouragement to me. It was exactly what I asked God for the night before.

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