#132 The Battle is Real

Hey, Hitz Blitz family, this is Shelly hitz from ChristianBookAcademy.com where we help you to take a step of faith and finally finish your book. And today I just wanted to talk to you about really keeping God the center. And this is something that is so important and yet it's something that I think it's easy just to have other things just little by little gradually take the place of our focus on God. And I wanted to share a little bit of what I've been going through lately and just know, like, I am in the trenches with you. So my operations manager stepped down in March and he said he wanted to start his own business with his wife, which I'm so excited for them. But it was devastating for us because I depended on him for so much and having him on the team really freed my time up to do other things. And then we also had our tech VA step down. She was having health issues. So they both were finished within a couple of weeks. It was kind of a crazy time. So I've hired a full time tech VA and have been working on training him. I think he's finally getting to the place where he can do just the regular monthly, you know, every month tasks. But it has been kind of crazy because I have been doing a lot of extra work. I have had to step in basically as a project manager, managing the team, doing a lot of the tech tasks, copywriting, writing. Because my, my operations manager was also, he, he would do writing for us, content writing, copywriting. So it's been a lot. And then on top of that, we've had a lot of technical issues and we had been using a site called Traffic Wave for our ministry list for years because it was just one small fee for unlimited email addresses. Well, they gave us 10 days and said they were going out of business, they were shutting down. We had to move all our stuff out within 10 days. It was crazy. We had over 30,000 email addresses. It seemed like we had like probably 50 different email lists and all the emails that go along with that. So we had to do that. And then my websites have been really having issues and we've had a virtual private server for years. It's something a coach recommended years ago. And I did it and I didn't even realize, but it's been causing more problems than helping. But I was like determined to stick with it. I was so afraid that if we switched it would cause downtime, it would cause issues with our sites, with our emails. You know, there's so many things connected to It. And I've done so many things over the years. This is my 20th year in business, so I have hacked my way through business over these 20 years, and I just didn't know what might break, you know, if I did the move. So I'm like, okay, let's. Let's keep trying to figure this out. And they would always say, you need to ask your developer. You need. I'm like, I don't have a developer and I don't really have a, you know, budget to hire one. And so there is a guy that has been helping with our websites occasionally, and he's like, shelly, I just think it's time for you to change to a shared host. And that's really what. That's. That's the most we need. We really don't need a private server. And he's like, your. Your host is weird.

But anyways, it was like issue after issue. And then our WordPress themes, I found out, are no longer being updated and supported, and they were breaking. So I actually ended up shutting down two of our sites. Now we have three sites. And I thought I was going to have to shut down my site, yourcreativeadventure. Com. I'm not really using that site a ton right now, but it was causing problems and I just didn't know. And I was trying to fix it. Totally crashed the site. I couldn't restore it, my host couldn't restore it, and I had to get to that place of, if I never get this website back, am I okay? You know, and I finally got to that place of surrender. Okay, God, you know, I can piece together some things like that were still lead magnets out there in my books or whatever and put up some landing pages and just call it a day. And if I lose that sight, I lose that sight. You know, I didn't really want to lose it right now, but I just came to a place of surrender. And then I really came to a place of actually surrendering our entire business. You know, if for some reason we lost our entire business, if Christian Book Academy was completely taken away or, I don't know, destroyed or lost or whatever, I mean, I don't know, like, could. Could we survive? And I'm like, yeah, because God is our provider and we have so many different skills and we could start over. We have. We always back up our email list. Like, we could. We could do something. And I just came to a place of surrender and the Lord showed me that I had really been in a lot of fear the last few months. You Know, just fear of losing our websites and them not working and the tech, you know, because in order to have a business online, you have to have a website and you have to have emails to, like, do the email marketing and all of that. And then there was just the fear of finances because there's just been a lot of increased costs, and we've had even more cancellations this month, and, you know, just different things. And it's just. It's just an easy thing for the enemy to tempt me to fear his finances. And then just the whole thing of losing my operations manager. I mean, I had spent two years training him, and then just felt like, oh, it was for nothing, you know, and that's not true. I mean, he helped us so much during that time, and I learned a lot. And so, you know, it wasn't for nothing. And during this time, I'm able to update all the systems and everything, but I've just had a lot of fear. And I felt like it was like this big balloon right in front of my face that I couldn't see anything else. That was the biggest thing was the business and the fear of losing it or, you know, the fear of, like, me having to work so many hours again because, you know, my operations manager stepped on. It's going to take so long to train anybody new, and all of these things. And the fear of finances. I don't know, just all the things. I mean, can you relate? Have you ever felt that way, even recently? And the Lord showed me, Shelly, you're. You're operating out of fear right now. I want you to operate out of love. Perfect love casts out all fear, the Bible says. And then I felt like he was telling me, shelly, I want. I want you to look and have me be the center of what your time and your focus is and not the business. Let. Let the business be a side thing. And I will lead you, I will guide you, I will help you. And, yes, there will be work. There will be. It will be time. There will be times that you'll have to, you know, do a lot of tasks or do a lot of things, but keep me at the center. And I realized I had started to let my business become an idol. And just all the circumstances that have happened over the last few months, and it just got me off kilter. And I just wanted to share this because, first of all, just know, like, we are in this with you. This is a spiritual battle. And CJ was even saying that the other day because right as we were getting ready to start Working on some things for a new ministry. And some, like, a new thing that we were wanting to do is when my operation manager stepped down and I had to put all of that to the side. And he's like, shelly, I just think it's partially. Is a spiritual battle, and it's just partially life. I mean, websites need updated at times. You know, themes go out of date, people leave your company, and, you know, those things happen. But we are in a spiritual battle. And I was thinking about David and I was like, God, I want to be like David and have a heart for you. And then the Lord was like, yeah, but, Shelly, do you realize how many battles that David fought? Yes, he had a lot of victories. Yes, he had a lot of high moments, but he had to go out there and fight these battles. And there were moments where he just didn't know what was going to happen. And he had to be out there fighting the battles and trusting me and asking me for guidance and all of these things. And just because you are doing my will doesn't mean it's going to be just a season of rest and rainbows and unicorns and all the things. Like David. We put him many times in this position of like, oh, everything seemed to go well for David. He had the favor of God, but he also fought a lot of battles. He also had a huge, like, wilderness season where Saul was trying to kill him. And then he had another season where his son Absalom was trying to kill him and overtake, you know, his throne and all of the things. And so I just want to say, like, you're in good company if you've been facing some battles, if you have had some resistance, David did as well. But God is with us, and we can learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. That's what David did. That was his secret to success, is he knew how to strengthen himself in the Lord. Go and read Psalm 34 this week and just pray over that. And it talks about how I sought the Lord and he delivered me from all my fears. And we can be like David and be men and women after God's own heart, but know that we're also going to face battles. So let me just pray for you as you are moving forward in your call to rights. So, Lord, we thank you that no matter what is coming against us, no matter what we are facing, no matter what circumstances are in our lives right now, that you are on the throne, that you are more powerful than any force coming against us. Any technical issue, any relational issue, any financial issue, any Health issue, anything that we may face. Lord, I just pray that you would be glorified, that you would have the victory. And Lord, give us the strength to fight the battles. Just as David knew how to strengthen himself in you, Lord, help us to have you at the focus, not the circumstances, not the other things, but you. And that we would keep our eyes, Father, fixed on you and that we would know you are the one that gets all the honor, the glory and the praise for the victories in the battles we face. So, Lord, I just thank you right now for every person listening. I pray you would strengthen them in you right now, that you would help them to continue to move forward in their call to write, publish and market their books. And we pray this in Jesus, powerful name. Amen. All right, so friends, I am not completely on the other side of this, but. But I will say that I did finally make the decision to move our website host. And it went so smooth and it was so easy and nothing broke. And the guy that was helping me just did a wonderful job and it was done within a couple days. And I'm like, why did I resist this for so long? This was what I probably needed to do years ago. Plus, guess what, it saves me almost $1,000amy word. I thought that is a lesson for sure. Sometimes the things that we're resisting, that we're worrying about, that we're so afraid about, it's actually so much. It's so much smaller than what we make it out to be. And then. And if we. We just trust it into God's hands, He'll take care of it. And like I said, I'm still not on the other side of all the things, but I will say that I was praising God for the victory with those websites and thanking Him. I did not have to shut down YourCreativeAdventure.com and we were able to simplify our websites, which was great, and you know, move it over to a new host, save money. I think it's going to be better overall. I mean, even the guy that sometimes helps me with my websites, he's going to be able to help me better in this. So it all is working out and God has the victory and I want to give him the praise and the glory for that. And what. Whatever you're going through, if you're in the middle of it or if you are on the other side, just know that we are able to strengthen ourselves in the Lord, to come to him and to find strength for whatever battles we're facing. So I will talk to you soon. Friends, I hope this encouraged you today. Bye Bye.