She Speaks

*This is the second in a two-part post. Click to start from The Beginnings.

The thought of writing a book sounds nice, but immediately my emotions betrayed me. I feared loneliness; I feared loss of efficiency; I feared the beast called publishing; I feared rejection. None the less, God downloaded an outline and three chapters. I committed my heart and way to writing.

To my surprise, writing the book was anything but what I feared. I felt loved and adored because God was with me in a tangible way, feeding me the words to write. My mother-in-law, Cindy, came along beside me and did the first edits on every chapter. Distraction and procrastination weren’t really issues as God drew me into our work together. It was such a sweet time.

Last year I learned about the conference, She Speaks, and laughed after realizing the cost. However, as I dipped my toes into the writer’s world, I began to understand conferences were seemingly essential to the journey. I set aside the budget God was calling me to set aside, and signed up for publisher appointments. At the time, I thought I was attending to “get” a publisher.

About two months before the conference, as I was wrapping up the book, God began to prepare my heart. When I started writing, I didn’t think self-publishing was an option. There wasn’t a breath of entrepreneurial spirit in me, and the thought of marketing my own book felt hopeless. Then one little bit of information caused me to reconsider: publishers rely on authors to market their book. Uh-Oh!

As the beautiful ladies of She Speaks prepared us for what to expect at the conference and our publishing appointments, I began to learn the details. What publishers are looking for doesn’t seem to be what God has placed on my heart at this time. I started to see God’s purpose for the conference not to find a publisher, but to teach and equip, and hopefully realize the next step for the book.

Monday before the conference, one of the pastors from our church expressed his excitement about the book. I had given him the manuscript and he agreed to read it. He is an author and has published both traditionally and self published. He suggested self-publishing, even expressing his desire to use the book in his ministry. The conversation gave me hope that God had a place for the book.

I was assigned two appointments, one with a self-publisher and one with a publishing house. I was surprised by the price of self-publishing and thankful the pastor had shared there were many different options. When I met with the publisher, she explained their house had a couple books on the same topic coming up, but recommended self-publishing! 

God doesn't speak much more clearly than that! I’m thankful for such clear directions, and will begin the journey to self-publishing!

The Beginnings

Last week I attended a conference called She Speaks in North Carolina. Similar to 800 other ladies, I’m left processing all that went on. The good news is, I received clear direction as to what to do with my book manuscript. But before we get into all that. . . like every good storyteller, I must start from the very beginning.

Writing a book wasn’t actually on my bucket list. Growing up, my best friend used to joke she would keep a notebook about me and someday write a book of “Lisa Stories.” I always seemed to find myself in the most interesting predicaments from flooding my parents’ kitchen floor with bubbles, to decorating the ceiling with orange juice, to flying over the handle bars of my banana bike.

In the eighth grade, Miss U kindled a quiet love affair with writing. Deep down, I loved to write! However, it only expressed itself in academic ways until I graduated from college. Soon after, I found myself with way too many words for my introverted husband, so I began to journal. Since I was a stay at home mom, I talked to the only other person there, God.

As I communed with God through reading and journaling, I began expressing my thoughts about God and His truths in article form. My hard drive became littered with such articles until one day God said, “This is for your blog.” Within a week I started the blog and the Samson Series was born.

For the last year and a half I have been sharing my God thoughts with you, and naturally my mind began to drift to dreams about writing a book. In fact, when we were looking for a house, I told our realtor, “This is where I will write my first book.” We bought that home.

At the time, my life was in transition because our youngest was entering school. Would I go back into teaching, as I had done before our first was born, or was it time to open my heart to something new? I took an internship at our church and learned to effectively run a ministry. A job became available, and it seemed to make perfect sense that I would apply. However, God was saying, “Not yet.”

Four months I waited. Other job opportunities came along, but still, God said, “Not yet.” Finally, I decided I could take up substitute teaching while God made up His mind. However, due to a glitch, I was forced to wait until the following school year to apply. “Oh,” I thought, “You meant, not yet!”

Around the first of the year, I stumbled across Joanna Weaver’s book, “Having a Mary Spirit.” As I read, it was as though God was saying, “This is the book I want you to write in your own words from your own experience.” Finally! I had my assignment.

Tune back in tomorrow for the rest of the story!!

What is Faith?

So what is faith? Is it something we believe with our mind? Is it something we do? Is it conviction or trust?

The answer is yes, but we must first consider the origin. Belief does not cause faith. Action does not cause faith. Trust does not cause faith.

The origin of our faith is God; it is of God. Belief, action, and trust is therefore a reaction to the faith God puts in our heart.

We cannot consider faith without checking out what the writer of Hebrews has to say, for the words in Chapter 11 are incredible! I’ve really been enjoying the Amplified Version as of late, so let’s take a look at Hebrews 11:1 (AMP):

“Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”

Human beings have an amazing capacity to believe. Our beliefs come from information and experience. Therefore, as we gather more information or have more experiences, our beliefs change. Faith doesn’t change.

Many believe a certain government system is better than others. Many believe vitamins, diet and exercise will make you healthier. Many believe a certain lifestyle is better than others. As humans, we put our trust in these things. But then something happens. A government fails. The person who exercises and takes vitamins gets cancer. The person with a better lifestyle dies young anyway.

This is what happens when we put our trust in something of this world. Our beliefs necessarily shift with the wind.

Faith is reality. It’s our substance. It is "perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.” It is the basis of our perspective and the way we see this world. It’s not just something we do on Sundays, something we study, or something we blindly follow. It is our entire existence, our being at our very core. It is our work, our play, our rest, our home life, and our public life.

Faith is to perceive things as they truly are. The human heart is proficient at denial but God opens our soul to light. The Gospel invites us to live in the real reality, even if our five senses cannot perceive it at first. God opens our eyes, opens our ears, and we taste His goodness. We attain His promises by faith. Faith is tangible.

Belief is of the mind, faith is of the spirit. While faith necessarily influences beliefs, it is not our mind that perceives faith. God puts faith in us, however, our mind often creates a barrier so we cannot see the proof of our faith! We know we have faith, but never experience confirmation in this earth. Our heart fails when we cannot sense that God is pleased or satisfied with us.

This is what God so lovingly wants to give us: proof of our salvation and new life. There is so, so much more to life than fleeting good times. There’s a depth, a richness, a layer of eternity that God wants to add. He desires to enhance our existence so that we actually receive a bit of our inheritance. We see and greet God’s promises by being sustained and controlled by faith. We trust naturally because we have a tangible confirmation of our faith. What we do, say, and trust become proof of our faith.

There is so much more! Do you crave more? Seek God with all your heart, strength, and mind! Happiness doesn’t rely on the happenings in life. Peace is not disturbed by violence. Love is not destroyed by offense. Soon, you’ll be perceiving the miraculous in everyday life. This is the life God offers. This is the life we can have right now. Let faith arise into reality!