DON’T QUIT!

On midnight of June 28, 2017 I sent my first ever novel, “Sengali: A Cat’s Tale”, off to the printers. It was a lifelong dream come true that also became a profound lesson in grace and perseverance.

Self-publishing can be a very challenging, rewarding, grueling, fascinating, exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating and ultimately triumphant process. On that night of June 28 I had been consumed by it for well over a year and, quite frankly, was utterly spent: mentally, physically, and emotionally. I had just pressed through what I thought was the last of more barriers than I could count when yet another one smacked me down. Only a technical problem…but it broke me. I shut down my computer, curled up in a fetal position on my bed, and burst into tears.

I just quit.

Literally.

With nothing left in me to fight, I decided the past 7 years of my life had been wasted and I would never try writing another book as long as I lived. But in that moment of despair, I felt the gentle yet firm whisper of God’s Spirit speak to my heart, “Get up and send it! Finish this! Don’t worry if it’s not ‘perfect’. Just trust Me, get up, and send it…now!” Yet I still felt paralyzed. Honestly, it was one of the most intense spiritual battles I have ever experienced. The Enemy did not want me to publish this book and I knew it. If for no other reason than I had written it in obedience to God and dedicated it to Jesus Christ, he didn’t want it published (not to mention the lives I had prayed would be impacted through it). And yet I was just too exhausted to fight back. So I cried out to the LORD and reached out to turn on the radio. I’ll never forget that moment. The song that had just started playing on K-Love was “Giants Fall” by Francesca Battistelli. I had never really listened to it before…but I listened that night. I listened with everything in me. And by the end of the last note I was praising and shouting and jumping off my bed to turn my computer back on. In minutes “Sengali: A Cat’s Tale” had been sent to the printers and in three weeks I was holding the very first copy in my hands!

A dream of a lifetime.

A huge battle won.

And my life has never been the same!

So the moral of this story is: DON’T QUIT! Don’t give up! When you reach that place where you are utterly exhausted, discouraged, and ready to lie down and surrender CRY OUT TO JESUS! If He has called you to it, He WILL give you the grace to complete it! So don’t listen to those giants. Get up! Trust God! And FINISH IT!

Embrace ADVENTURE,

CHRISTIS JOY