#234: Peace over Panic (Finisher Series)

Welcome to kingdom writers where we help equip and empower christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world we're your hosts cj and.

Shelley hitz this podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer your story matters.

Welcome to our finisher series so if you've been following along last summer we did our breakthrough series helping you break through those obstacles keeping you from writing your book then in the fall we did our overcomer series just helping you overcome and really do what god has created you to do in your writing now it's time for the finisher series and we are going to be focusing this series on helping you cross the finish line of publishing your book this is spiritual encouragement but we're also going to be talking about some practical things and we record these live inside our private group for christian book academy now i would love to invite you to join us just go to christianbook academy dot com i hope this episode encourages you.

Today hey gang cj and shelley here with opportunity to go live with you and you know this week we are doing things a little bit differently.

Some of you may have seen in the news that there's a major thing going on called the coronavirus yeah and if.

You haven't you're living in a cave.

Somewhere but we felt like we needed to deviate and at least spend an episode just you know praying together or encouraging one another regarding you know just all the fear and the panic and and all of the stuff that's happening right now in our world really this this episode is simply going to be titled peace over panic and that's really what we're going after today is.

The peace of jesus and as kingdom writers to be able to gather together i'm thankful that we have these opportunities.

With the technology that we have at our fingertips that we don't have to just be completely isolated even though we can't be with one another even though our churches have canceled services.

All of our world has changed at least for at least the next eight weeks maybe more who knows our world is is a different normal right now and yet we can still use this technology to communicate with one another and so let us know you're here and we're excited still to share what god's put on our hearts and even though a lot of people's spirits are dampened right now we as believers know that our hope is not shaken when it's placed in christ amen and so you know the nation's been rocked you know for the last one to two weeks as this thing has just continued to blow up a little bit more every day a good question we can ask ourselves is how are we as believers to respond in the midst of all this chaos.

And i don't know about you shelly but i felt like this has almost been like a shaking of sorts sort of shaking out i don't know maybe the the picture i get is when you put flour in a sieve and you just start you know shaking it and and letting that sift through.

Everything just becomes more refined and i feel like that's what's happening right now is even a lot of us as believers are finding out what are we truly made of what is our faith made up of in the midst of some economic crisis in the midst of some of the panic and fear that we see in the midst of uncertainty not knowing what's going to happen but we know that trials don't weaken our faith or create it but they expose what's already in our hearts and i think it's a good thing because maybe if we didn't know already what was there we're beginning to find out now especially when you go down that toilet paper aisle and or the hand sanitizer aisle and you realize what people value the most in life yeah that's a joke but it's still you've all seen the memes going around with the toilet paper yeah.

I was actually on vacation this last week as a lot of you know and so i had to fly back home yesterday and i was looking for some hand sanitizer in walmart and i mean there was not one thing a hand soap one thing of hand sanitizer i mean it was crazy i had to buy a little bath and body hand sanitizer from my niece.

But robbing our nieces no i paid her.

But in all seriousness it is like a refiner's fire that's the picture god has given me too is that when we go through trials whether it's something global like what we're going through now with the COVID nineteen coronavirus and the pandemic or whether it's something personal that we're going through and walking through that it's like a refiner's fire and all those impurities get to the surface and so if you've noticed some things coming out of you if you've noticed some things being brought to the surface it's not a time to beat yourself up or to panic or think why am i reacting this way it's a time to take those things to the lord and allow him to just do further work and further growth in you because as we all know we're continuing to grow this side of heaven amen yeah and.

You know whether this lasts a month or a year nobody truly knows but we do know the one who holds our future yes and still.

Like all of you we've been grieving you know some some real losses i mean there's a lot of loss out there right now a lot of things being canceled the sporting world those of us that are absolute sports nuts we're grieving you know in a very real way even though it's not the most important thing but what are you grieving i want you to put that in the comments what is it that you've been truly grieving as you look out and you see things you see changes you see maybe something in your local neighborhood or your community i think it's good to actually throw that out there and name it and just be real like this is what i'm really grieving the loss of this or that whatever it might be go ahead and put that down there just curious to know you know what our members are grieving in a very real way yeah as i was.

Traveling home yesterday it's just like you know it's just all around me people wear masks and gloves in the airport and you know you're just in a high alert and i was just like i was feeling something and i was like i don't think it's anxiety but god what is this it was just like oh it was right there and i was listening to a podcast and they were talking about how there is a lot of grieving going on right now and i was like bingo that's what it is i'm grieving and as an entrepreneur as a business owner i grieve for all these businesses that are having to close that might end up going bankrupt or you know closing their doors because you know of these unforeseen circumstances and you know it is a grieving at times when but there might be other emotions might be anger confusion uncertainty just you know worry about your relatives or other people but i think it is important to acknowledge it to bring it to god and say listen god this is what i'm feeling david poured out his heart to god it says in the psalms yeah so it.

Looks like debbie says cancelled vacation to arizona loss of play and fun and warmth and god's beauty a lot of.

People were canceling canceling vacations and trips of good friends from our church they had to cancel their their cruise you know that they they've been planning it for two years yeah two years.

Deborah butterfield says have to admit i'm really bummed about how much value my retirement.

Account a lot of people are feeling that too of like the stock market just going down and um you know it's it's just it's a reminder of how fragile this life is and how the one thing we can trust on is god right but it's still a grieving it's still real and we all.

Feel that katherine says i grieve.

Those who are living a paycheck to paycheck.

Yeah because some people are losing jobs right now i heard someone say that their friend had an event business and and they had to lay off seventy five percent of the employees because they're not doing any events right now and these are friends and they're like family and to have to lay these people off and not know where their next paycheck is gonna come from or how they're gonna feed their families it is there's a lot of uncertainty right there is some very real grieving going on.

As a runner you know looking at the running world just in terms of events being canceled i mean the boston marathon postponed apparently till september but you have so many of these spring all the spring events have been wiped out all of them because once one big one wipes out the rest of them say well we need to follow suit we don't want to be that person or that group that you know is stubborn but man it's not just the runners and their loss of training and all the loss of goals it's all the businesses and the communities in the area as well they're suffering as a result of those runners not you know fifty thousand runners not embarking upon boston or wherever it might be or the.

Tourists trickling into other parts of the.

Economy and again you know we grieve.

These things yeah nancy says grieving the loss of the interaction with my grandchildren and that's a huge one just the interactions with people like even just meeting with other christians for church you know and she says loss of income in the retirement account and then her daughter's wedding event business disappearing what she will do yeah it's it's all very real right now and it's touching every single one of us in some way right oh my goodness so so much yeah.

And you know i heard something this week my sister she goes to a church called liberty church in milton florida and their churches all you know did like a live stream and so we watched the livestream and one of the things that the pastor said was uncertainty is the starting point for both fear and trust isn't that interesting because i've always known like uncertainty is the starting point for fear you know and then you get that fear and that anxiety and what's gonna happen and da da da da da and i told cj it's almost been kind of like a suspense movie or suspense novel it's like we are living we are creating history as we speak nothing like this has ever happened before and so it's like we no one really knows what to do we're just figuring it out as we go and people are just trying to make the best decision they can our leaders and those in authority and we need to be praying for them wisdom for them but it's like that uncertainty of like okay every day you wake up it's like what's next what's going to happen next what's going to happen next but uncertainty is the starting point for both fear and trust so with that uncertainty it can actually be a springboard into deeper trust with god in the midst of unknown circumstances.

And god had given me a quote recently that i shared on a previous video but it just says we can trust an unknown future to a god who knows everything it was the one i shared about the blind skier going down with the guides she was blind but we can trust an unknown future to a god who knows everything because he is our guide he is our blind guide you know he is the one leading us when we can't see in the future we have no idea what the next weeks months years hold but he does and we can trust him i love love love corrie ten boom she has been a mentor to me through her books and she shared an illustration in her book the hiding place and she states that you know she's talking about her father and some things and she says father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed cory he began gently when you and i go to amsterdam when do i give you your ticket.

I sniffed a few times considering this why just before we get on the train exactly and our wise father in heaven knows when we're going to need things too don't run out ahead of him corrie when the time comes that some of us will have to die you will look into your heart and find the strength you need just in time but god was reminding me of this illustration and that when we need to know when we need the ticket when we need that information when we need those things god our heavenly father will give it to us in the time that we need it.

There'S a lot of things we don't know right now but we can trust the unknown future to a god who knows everything just like we can trust that if we're going to take a trip with our father he will give us the plane ticket or our boarding pass he will give us the train ticket exactly when we need it.

Amen and you know we as kingdom writers many of you have probably already thought about this but kingdom writers have an incredible opportunity at this point in history amen we can help put out fear fires and panic parties with our words and what i mean by that is that we can impact our own sphere of influence but also your words as you put out blog posts social media posts.

Your books that are going out onto amazon in print form as they get passed around to who knows who your words can actually go out and this thought just hit me as the as the coronavirus is silently infecting people and i'm not getting any anybody scared here i'm just i believe that you know the majority of the people do even recover from from the coronavirus so it's not a fear to you know like there's going to be people infected it's just the reality but what we have is an opportunity as kingdom writers we've got an opportunity to infect people with our words that god supplies us with we can be a source of a positive infection of putting out those panic parties putting out those those fear fires as i've had put on my mind we have an opportunity to change the atmosphere with the words that we're putting out into the world kingdom words and i just want to encourage you as a kingdom writer that this is the time to step up it's not a time to hide or panic silently it's a time to write what you're feeling even as raw and real as it is and put that out there to the world with the hope that you have in christ that's what we have we have a hope that goes beyond this life i mean let's just say we get the coronavirus and let's just say we die is that the worst that's the worst thing that can happen to me now i think many of us actually fear something worse than the coronavirus we actually fear well what's our future going to be like in this country economically i think that's really the pegged real fear going on here but that's another that's another issue i think right now we as kingdom writers can be tuning in to the lord god almighty and saying lord which words do you want me to share today this week and i want to encourage you to seek the lord on.

That and we have the hope beyond this life so even if something would happen to us we know that god knows every moment you know he has you know he has planned that and we have that hope of heaven and something better yet to come and we can share that hope you know can you just imagine for a moment if you didn't have the hope of heaven if you didn't have hope beyond this life how how easy it would be to panic how easy it would be to be in anxiety but you kingdom writers have this hope that you can share and this is our time as believers to shine in to the darkness.

And we as believers we don't just survive in times of crisis we thrive thrive and that's when people watch us shine that's when they watch the god within us rise up and and draw them to himself and so kingdom writers have the words of life and you may recall peter in john six sixty eight jesus had basically asked the disciples after some had left some followers of jesus had left after he had mentioned some hard teach.

He looked at his disciples and he says do you two want to leave and i think it was crickets for a few seconds before who else but peter had to speak up you know he was a man that wasn't afraid to throw it out there even if he was sticking his foot in his mouth but peter just kind of looked around and i can just imagine him saying where else are we going to go i mean like you alone have the words of life john six sixty eight says you alone have the words of life and it made me think man as a kingdom writer god is implanting the words of life inside me to share and i want to encourage you as well seek those words of life i love this quote by marcus aurelius.

That says the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts so a good question we can ask ourselves is what kind of thoughts are we allowing into our minds and this is a conviction for me as well as for all of us as believers is.

Are we spending time filling our minds with the news of the world more than we are the wisdom of god in his word meditating upon that ruminating upon things that he's putting on our hearts getting into books that would encourage us in our faith i think it's real easy during this time to like binge consume yeah and i found myself doing a little bit this last week binging news just you know there's an insatiable desire what's going on today what's going to change today and i think there's a very real need for us to like stay up to date but i also think we can tip that scale and we can get into this this mode of being obsessed and then what happens is we're filling our minds with all kinds of things that secular media is putting together in headlines in articles in news clips and it's filling our mind with more of a panic and scurry mode you need to hunker down make sure you got enough toilet paper you know this and that i mean it's just this this nervous energy that none of us as kingdom writers need and so i want to encourage us all to.

Consider which thoughts we're allowing again the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts and i'm gonna save i think for the the very end that passage that i was actually gonna read so i'm gonna turn it.

Over to shelley all right so as we were preparing for this we just kind of decided yesterday i think that wasn't it cj's like i think we need to you know change it up and and talk about this and so as i was just praying and asking god what to share he gave me two questions that i'm going to encourage you to ask yourself and then two questions to ask god in relation to all of this as writers but as just people living through this right in this moment so two questions to ask yourself cj kind of touched on it earlier is number one what emotions am i feeling so i think if we just try to buck up and say i'm just going to be an example to the world i'm i'm gonna just radiate peace and joy but we're not truly honest that we're grieving you know we're not truly honest that we're a bit angry or confused or you know i'm just all these things then it's just we're just you know forcing something and so i think that that it's really important to acknowledge and to grieve you know i've had to grieve and literally i will cry over things and sometimes it's small things and yet it's important to feel the feelings process them give them to god and yet be honest with god so then we'll be more receptive to being vessels of god's peace so what emotions are you feeling right now and just begin to process those the second question to ask yourself is where is my attention.

Where is my attention so what have you been consuming and again like cj said it's easy to binge the news i remember eight years ago when we moved here it'll be eight years next month when we moved to colorado springs shortly after that was when the waldo canyon fire happened and i just remember binging and watching the news like every second like what's going on and do we need to evacuate and da da da da and i look back in and i realized i was really in a fight flight or a fear mode and there is something normal to being in fight or flight or fear in a crisis that's there's some of that that's completely normal but right now most of us are taking precautions and we're not in immediate danger but yet all the media is stirring up the fight flight as i've been going through counseling another time right now i've been learning about the brain and the emotions really get going in the amygdala of the brain that's your fight flight and sometimes we can get sick stuck there and you know i think if we're focusing on all of these you know social media and the news and all these things it's really easy just to get stuck into our amygdala and this fight flight and these you know oh what's going to happen and da da da da da and the fear.

You know we need to take a deep breath find ways that we're able to calm ourselves there's many many different ways and we can actually you know we could actually do an entire podcast on that but you know when we're able to get calm and to have some distance it's like we're able to move to that prefrontal cortex part of our brain and we're able to think more rationally about something and then we're not stuck in that fear mode but where is your attention so this is something god has been speaking to me about for the last few years i hit just really i've told this story a lot but i just really hit.

A burnout with our business back in twenty seventeen i realized i was just on social media email i was connected twenty four seven all day every day never took a day off from technology and.

It was really difficult on my brain you know god's been slowly but you know gradually helping me i had a legit addiction to social media but actually at the beginning of this year god had asked me to take a break completely from social media we have our virtual assistant posting on our business page for us but for me personally to take a break and to step back and i've noticed a different response during this crisis i have been able to stay more at peace and i'm still checking in i'll check in once a day i'll google and then i'll look at the news tab and i'll just see the updates but i'm not constantly connected my attention isn't constantly there so two questions to ask yourself what emotions are you feeling be able to process those number two where is your attention is your attention on god or is it on the world and then two questions to ask god number one ask god how to pray about this crisis so i was at my sister's this last week and on vacation when all of this just started to blow up you know and it was thursday i think it was that all of a sudden you know all of the things started canceling the nba was going to cancel or the march madness canceled disney was closing you know all the ski resorts are closing you know all these things started happening schools were and it was just like this you know all of a sudden this rapid fire of stuff and where i'm just like oh my goodness what is going on mind blowing really just.

Not enough the brain just kind of fries because it's too much to try.

To absorb yeah i mean do you guys remember last week when that was happening where where you were at when you started hearing all of these things well i was not at home i was in florida and on top of that my brother in law had taken some kids from their christian school that he works at on a mission trip to costa rica he was returning from outside the country on friday was supposed to be in self isolation for fourteen days my mom and i were staying in another place but still in their house as we're there for vacation and so there's all these things of like okay what do i do and i have to admit my first knee jerk reaction was i just i can't go back into their house if he's self isolating and if he might have been exposed to something in the miami airport or da da da da and i went on a run and the lord was like shelley ask me ask me you know how to pray for this first of all but then you know ask for my wisdom on what to do and as i begin to ask him lord how how am i to pray for this because my you know i think the initial thing is lord just stop it you know let's find the vaccination let's you know i've been praying for the scientists you know god give them what they need in dreams and visions like you know in aha moments to discover this vaccination i really do believe we're to be praying for that as well but that was the only thing i was praying for protection and healing and the physical i was only praying for that physical part and so as i began to ask god how do you want me to pray for this and i'm not saying that this is for everyone you need to ask god how you are to be praying for this but i just felt like god began to speak to me and he said shelly there's a lot of focus on the physical health of our nation but i want you to pray for a spiritual healing of your nation and the world you know but specifically you know our nation you know where we're at and i thought oh you know this is an opportunity this is a time when it gets people's attention right it gets their attention and you know people are more open to hearing about things there's a lot of uncertainty but praying for the spiritual healing and he gave me the the verse cj you want to read it yeah.

We'Re all familiar with this verse it's a classic that we'll use in terms of thinking about whole nations so this is second chronicles seven fourteen this is the new living translation then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways i will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their.

Land yeah and so i just felt like god was like shelley pray for the spiritual heartbeat you know there are always going to be people who die but you know the spiritual heart of each person is even more important than their physical health while they're here on earth our physical health is important let's still pray for that but let's pray for people's hearts to be turned towards the lord amen let's not just focus on the physical and financial and these things that the media is focusing on but let's also pray for revival let's pray that you know god is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we can think or imagine then he said shelley i also want you to pray for unity in your nation how many of you know that live in the united states that there has been a huge divide you know i mean politics like republican democrat i mean it is huge i mean there is a huge divide what if god would be you know able to use something like this something horrible something you know that we would never wish upon anyone you know this is not from god if something is stealing killing or destroying it's from the enemy the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy john ten ten but god can use he can do anything you know and he can use it for good but what if he uses it to bring our nations and our nation the united states in particular more unified to come together for a common cause and so you know that is what i've begun to you know to be praying for but i encourage you to ask god how do you want me to pray for this and ask him because it might surprise you but i saw this one of my friends shared that she had heard like you know how we're supposed to be you know washing our hands in twenty seconds and you know i think we're all washing our hands more often at least i know i am and this is a good practice i mean i was in the healthcare field for years i mean it's the most basic way to stay healthy but as you're washing your hands then pray those prayers that god has given you to pray pray as god has led you to pray as you're washing your hands which you're going to be doing multiple times a day begin praying those prayers pray for spiritual healing pray for unity pray for the scientists that are coming up with these vaccinations pray for wisdom for our leaders pray for those that are home and you know the families that are all together right now and those that are losing their jobs you know pray as you wash your hands as you're doing that it's just a reminder every time just to begin praying as god has led you to pray yeah and another.

Thing we can ask is lord what's my role in all of this do you have a specific assignment for me personally right now for such a time as this when you think of that phrase you think of esther and the crisis that was going on there with you know haman putting out this order to kill all the jews and you know we're in such a time as this this is a crisis we haven't seen anything like this and modern history i mean the closest thing we have to compare is nine eleven and even with nine eleven the flights which did shut down it only lasted six days.

And none of the grocery stores were really affected that much i'm sure some people were going and stocking up around y two k some of you might remember that that phrase worried that planes were going to fall out of the sky and things like that but we've never had had in our history those of us that are living on the planet right now we've never had something that was quite like this and that created such panic and i just want.

To say that i believe this one thing is probably you know the most important part that i believe god wanted us to share today you know the question is ask god what is my role in this do you have a specific assignment for me right now for such a time as this and so each one of you has been prepared for you know to you know in some way whether it's small or you know bigger to you know be a light for god to use during this time and he may have a specific assignment for you right now so i've been pressing in and asking god god what is it that you have for us how can we be a voice right now or what resources do we have you know you may as a writer as a business owner or whatever you know whatever you have at your disposal you may have resources that can be of help in this time you may have time you know you might you know be able to go to the grocery store for some elderly neighbors or you might be able to have some you might have written a book that could really bring encouragement during this time there are things and resources and already god is beginning to give me personally for us for cj and i for the business we have some resources we have some things we can do and i still don't have a complete plan but he's starting to show me.

What role we can play in this and so i want to ask you to really seek god on this if you don't take anything away else away from this training ask god what do you have for me what is my assignment right now in the kingdom of heaven and something he's been reminding me about from several different people over the last few weeks is that as followers of jesus filled with the holy spirit we have the ability to change the atmosphere wherever we go so you may just be changing the atmosphere in your family and instead of having anxiety and panic or uncertainty you have peace and you know people or people around you are like how are you not freaking out right now you may have joy and so even recently when i was in the store i just was praying i was like lord help me to bring in your spirit of your holy spirit and be able to change the atmosphere in walmart so we were in walmart last week with my sister and i was just walking down the aisles and i would just look people in the eyes and i would smile at them and i would just pray silently for them and just you know asking god to help me change the atmosphere it's something so simple but it's something we all can do and there was one guy we were in the bread aisle and i remember very specifically i just i don't know i just had a special like sense of like just you know i was smiling at him and praying over him and he was like do i know you.

I'M like no i just wanted to to say hello and you know we start talking and you know you just never know how god might use you in this moment as you take the presence of the holy spirit with you and speaking.

Of the atmosphere you know when you go into the store.

Man make sure you thank those workers those employees they are there working longer hours.

Many of them have to pull some really really long shifts because they have to then right when the store closes and we've all seen the adjusted hours in the stores or your banks or whatever it might be they have to spend those extra hours stocking the shelves again and i just want to encourage all of us to go out of our way to compliment the service people in our.

Culture or our medical professionals if you do come in contact with them for some reason i mean hopefully you know you're you're you know healthy and not you know doing that but if you do come in contact or on social media you know or send a text or call someone say i was just thinking of you i know you're a nurse and i just want to let you know i've been praying for you is there anything specific that i can pray for you and maybe just pray for them even on the phone right there you know you never know how you can just encourage and impact the people around you yeah and so you want to share this quote yeah i.

Love this it says long before zacchaeus needed to see jesus the tree was already planted to meet his need and the author is unknown but isn't that so true yeah and you could actually look at so many in scripture where there was a provision before that specific man or woman that god called was there it was there already i mean.

On and on we could name examples but god.

Knows our needs ahead of time this coronavirus does not shock god he's not taken by surprise he's not looking and holding emergency meetings like what are we gonna do now i didn't plan for this.

Does god allow evil to occur on the planet yes he does is he still in control yes he is and that is what we can take comfort in is that he is squeezing the maximum amount of good that whatever the enemy is meaning for evil here and we don't know how the coronavirus started of course there's a bunch of conspiracy theories we won't even go there but what we do know is that some for some reason god allowed it to to begin spreading and we don't know his purposes we know he's sovereign we shouldn't question god i don't think christians asking the question why is very helpful anyway the question we should be asking is who who not why but who's in control and our god is still in control he's still on the throne and he is bringing about a tapestry here that we can't even see see right now we see confusion and we see a lot of scurrying we see a lot of people moving on the fly making things up as we go we as followers of jesus we know we can trust the one who holds our future as we said earlier and so this isn't taking him by surprise he's got a plan for all of us and he's using all of us that's the cool thing is we're all part of this as.

Kingdom right yeah and it's okay to question god like he can handle it you know i think sometimes you know we're not honest enough with god you know and we do need to pour out our hearts to god and be free to do that but right now we want to really encourage you like how is god speaking to you today about your role in the midst of this crisis you may be homebound but god still has a purpose and he has ways that you can be used in your sphere of influence and those that he's put in your path and what resources has he already created through you so just like that tree was already there for zacchaeus there might be resources that he has already created through you that you can now share today to be a blessing to others and so just be asking god or you can be creating new resources you know to help people and to you know just to be a light and it's just it can be little small small things one on one or it can be bigger things you know don't limit god but yet don't think that those things are too small either so the two questions to ask yourself what emotions am i feeling where is my attention and then the two questions to ask god is ask god how to pray about this crisis and then ask him what is my role in this do you have a specific assignment for me right now for such a time as.

This yeah a few great quotes here.

This one by dl moody a scared world needs a fearless church i love that this is the time for the church to shine amen the church shines in times of darkness.

And it's important to note that fearless is not the same as careless and so we don't need to be careless in all this we're still being smart and wise but we're not fearful because we know again that whether we live tomorrow or not we are in the hands of our.

Father yeah and you know i believe each one of us is going to be different so we have to pray and ask god you know what is it he wants us to do and yes i agree and i really believe in taking the precautions as they've been recommending and yet for me and my situation with my family last week i my knee jerk reaction was just either to come home early or just to stay completely away from my sister's home and just meet her and her kids you know her daughters somewhere else for the rest of my vacation and i felt like the lord specifically spoke to me and he said shelly fearless does not mean careless and yet in this specific situation you know i want you to pray for my protection for my healing power for you know for for for me my spirit to be in that situation and he gave me the green light to go into their home but it doesn't mean that i i mean i didn't even hug my brother in law so we did the little you know the elbow bump so i mean i was still using precautions washing my hands all the time you know not rubbing my eyes or my nose or my mouth still doing those things but we had an incredible last few days of the vacation and the time together and we made memories that if i would have just reacted out of my flesh out of what shelley thought was being.

Wise that those things would have never happened.

God can direct your steps whatever situation you personally are in and that's why it's so important to be able to hear god's voice and.

In these situations another quote by cs lewis god whispers in our pleasures but shouts in our pain and that's so true and just another note is that this life's not about our comfort i know sometimes we as americans that's hard for us to hear yeah it's about him we must never forget that god is the main character not our pleasures and so there are going to be times in life and i think this is one of them where we as a privileged people are going to experience harder times trials things that refine us things that really show our true colors was just actually mentioning to shelly the other day that there are a lot of people around the world in very underdeveloped countries that have struggled in extreme poverty for years wondering where they're going to get their next meal and i told shell i said in many ways a lot of those folks have thicker skin and thicker calluses from the trials they've endured than we as americans or any country that might be considered a developed nation with all of our luxuries this is a time where i think you and i are going to be tested with kind of building some calluses in terms of our faith and finding out what we're made of but not to dismiss or diminish that there are very real trials happening in many of your families in terms of jobs direct effect from the economy so we're not diminishing any of that but i think all of us are going to grow no matter whether we want to or not we are going to grow through some fire here in the coming weeks and yet again it's just a reminder to keep our eyes fixed on jesus.

Yeah and so in the description of this video or if you're listening to the podcast you can swipe up it's in the show notes we have included some resources for you and one is a resource i recently found out actually from my counselor and cj had already heard about it but it's called the paws app and it was created by john eldredge he's a writer that actually lives in our town of colorado springs and you can just go to pauseapp dot com and i really like the three minute pause he has you take some deep breaths and then he leads you in some prayers of just giving you know everything people and things over to god and it's just a really great way he said that there are healthcare workers right now using this app just to sustain sanity in the midst of all of this so share that free resource it's completely free it's he does you know advertise his book inside the app but it's also an interesting thing for you to see as a as a writer and as an author of how you can maybe provide supplemental resources to a book that are unique but very helpful and he said you know god had just put it on their heart so strongly to finish that app now and he you know he just released that new book last yeah last month in february and so i really encourage you to download that app and share it with anyone that that you know that might be just struggling a little bit right now i mean and i think it's just good for all of us just to take that breath i've been doing a lot more of meditation and it's been really helping me and yeah i was just going.

To say i've been really encouraged by his new book and i can't think of the title right off the bat but his new book you'll see in that app the pause app and it's it's fantastic it's very timely i just really believe that for some reason.

God had him write that book and then it's been released here in the last month or two man the timing of it is just incredible in terms of what's happening now and i think the message in that book is so needed by the world today and even as we as believers but i think it's a message that hopefully will draw men and women outside the church to himself.

As well yeah so that's a free resource and again one of the biggest things i really really want to encourage you is to be praying and asking god how can i pray but then you know what is my role what is my assignment and if and if you're struggling to hear god's voice in prayer or listening prayer we have a free training for you if you're a christian book academy member you have the entire workshop for free in the kingdom foundations module but i'm opening up the first initial lesson this was something god had showed me that we can do cj and i can do that we can do to help we're opening up that very first introduction lesson and the handout that goes with that for free to anyone who signs up and we have a link it's trainingauthors dot com howtoheargod so please share that as well with anyone that you think could really benefit from that then i created a video with my broken crayons still color book and it talks about trusting god when bad things happen i think it's really relevant for this time in our history and you can find that video at shellyhits dot com video five and then finally my mom has written a book called peace in anxious times and it's a book that really helps you to learn how to do what's a type of prayer called lectio divina this is a center it really helps you to to be in the moment to really hear from god from scripture revelation from the holy spirit from scripture and it's really powerful and she's done this type of prayer for oh like ten or fifteen years and just has so much has learned so much about it but this is a great book it also has other resources in it and that link is in the description but you can also just search for it on amazon it's peace and ancient i can't say i want to say ancient peace and anxious times by gwen ebner.

So we are going to go ahead and take one minute as has been our custom to be able to give you a chance to ask what are you saying to me today god what is it you want me to take away from from this video this time together maybe there was a rabbit trail god had you go down that he reminded you of something totally different but what is it that he's calling you to do what is he saying to you and we're going to give you one minute just with some music to meditate on that.

Right so if you feel comfortable please share in the comments what god is speaking to you or what is he saying like how to pray for this or what is your role are there certain things that that you can do what is your assignment and debbie says the book is called getting the life you want in a world gone mad it's by john eldridge definitely i have not read it yet but i definitely want to and it sounds like all of the things that god has been speaking to me about in the last few years so i'm excited to to read that and judson says a wake up call for many as we adjust to what the holy spirit is speaking to us yes this is not about every single one of us having a blanket assignment and you know god saying the same thing to every single one of us yes there is scripture that says peace be still you know there are scriptures that are for all of us but i also believe that god through the holy spirit is going to prompt each one of us in different ways of how to respond of how to you know how he wants to use us and like i said one of the things cj and i are doing is we are going to make that introduction video to how to hear god's voice free to anyone and that will be available at trainingauthors dot com howtoheargod the other thing i really believe god is asking us to do is to open the academy early so we were not planning to open enrollment and registration to christian book academy until.

Later in april but i just really feel like god was saying to me shelly there are certain people that are off work or that have the time right now they're homebound or you know they're older and they're in this self isolation and they have time this is a time that they can be writing their book this is a time such a time as this and i don't want to be a barrier for someone to do what god is calling them to do so we are going to be opening back up the academy as soon as i can get all the logistics done and so if you know someone who is in that situation where you know they have a chunk of time right now and they could be spending that writing please let them know send them to christianbookacademy dot com we'd be happy to answer any questions for them but as i was asking god for a picture he often speaks to me in pictures i just got this picture picture just seeing each one of us in the future because i think what this kind of crisis does is it is it produces anxiety of what's going to happen right it's more about the future than the past it's more about what's going to happen you know are we going to have this and i don't even want to say all the things because i don't even want to say them right now but.

I will admit my mind has started to go there too you know all the things of like how this you know could affect us but it's like i just felt like the picture god had today is of us in the future with him holding his hand that we don't have to be afraid whatever happens he is with us he is holding our hand and it reminded me of the picture of cj's on cj's book cover a heart for prayer of the father and the child and i just feel like that's a picture for each one of us today that you know anytime you start having an anxious thought of oh what about my retirement you know or what about you know my business or what about this or what about that or you know whatever it might be pause you might even want to go to the pause app listen to it they have a one minute one they have a three minute one and a ten minute one get you know take a pause but then say okay god you are in my future with me and i can trust an unknown future to a god who knows everything he is with you kingdom writers he is with you you you do not need to fear you know more than three i was at three hundred sixty five times it says do not fear in the bible and so that was the picture that god had given to me susan says to trust him more was the message she got and pamela says not a new message but my words for twenty twenty from the spirit simplify and be yeah.

Like that so we're going to close in prayer and as as i am praying i just want to encourage all of you just to just to raise your voices as well wherever you're at just join me not just in agreement with what i'm lifting up but just whatever god's word prompting you as well to do and let's go to the father in prayer so father we we just come to you first of all thanking you for breath of life yes jesus thanking you that we can actually utilize this medium of technology to still deliver a message of encouragement and to have.

Kingdom writers that we're able to.

Hear from and also encourage be encouraged by we thank you lord for christian book academy i just want to pray that you would just fill with your holy spirit every member of our academy i pray that you'd give them kingdom words that you would allow them to write words that do change the atmosphere that you'd give them encouragement to be able to share in person whenever they're in public places ways creative ways that they can bless others i pray that you would just give us what we need lord and i pray that you would take our panic and give us peace take our fear and give us faith i pray you give us trust give us strength give us the ability to press into you to take your hand abba and to walk hand in hand with you wherever we go and i pray that you would just just calm our storm inside lord calm our storm and i pray that there would just be peace be still in all of us that each of us would rest in your peace and we are praying as shelley mentioned earlier we pray specifically lord for the scientists that are working around the clock even as we speak to try to come up with a vaccination for this coronavirus we ask that you would give them wisdom we asked you give them strength we ask that you give them supernatural ability to persevere we ask that you'd speak to them in their dreams give them visions give them those aha moments oh i missed this or oh i could try this i just ask lord that your holy spirit would give every single person actively working to find a vaccine for this give them your clarity and give them your answer and your timing lord we also.

Want to pray for all of our medical teams around the world we pray you give them strength right now give them peace that they would be able to.

Rise up in these these harder times and be people of peace especially those that are christians working in these environments lord i pray that they would literally change atmospheres on hospital wards change atmospheres in laboratories change atmospheres in grocery stores you know we're praying for all of our brothers and sisters who work in the grocery industry and we ask that you'd give them them a supernatural strength to persevere and we are trusting you lord we know you are still the great physician yes jesus we know that yes we have doctors we have specialists we have scientists but you created all of us and you have the answer lord and so we are asking that you would give the answer.

To this coronavirus but we also ask for a deeper faith we ask that you use all of this turmoil all of this trial all of this refining to draw men and women and children to yourself from all over the world so would you squeeze the maximum amount of good lord out of this bleak situation would you squeeze it out would you turn into good what the enemy meant for evil and we are going to trust you lord day by day you are our source and everything else is a resource and so we we give this all to you we lay it at the foot of the cross and we just say thank you lord for another day and for being able to take part in your kingdom work and we ask this in jesus.

Wonderful name amen amen and i don't i mean i don't want to assume that all of you are followers of jesus we don't know each of your paths but this is an opportunity if you have not received jesus as your lord and savior you can do that right now and and so you know i was thinking back i committed recommitted my life to christ when i was a junior in high school and at that time i remember i was lying to my parents manipulating i was a thief i actually got caught stealing something in a store and thankfully i got caught the first time because it changed me around but i was going to parties and getting drunk and i mean there was i was just on a path of destruction and jesus came in and rescued me and then later on you know i got into an addiction with pornography and jesus rescued me and he wants to do that for each one of you and i don't want to ever say that you know we miss the opportunity and so if you have not yet given your life and your heart completely to christ i mean you might go to church every week you might know god in your mind but maybe you've never surrendered your life to him in your heart we want to give you the opportunity to do that right now and so cj would you just say a prayer and if you want to do that just say a prayer repeat after cj and let us know email us contact us let us know and we can send you resources and support for you yeah so.

This is not a magical prayer this is just something that you can utter as well so you can repeat after me.

Lord jesus would you rescue me i am reaching out my hand right now.

Would you pull me out of the pit in the mire of sin that i've been in yes i admit that i need you i admit there's no other hope out of this planet than through jesus and so i call upon you as romans says all who call upon the name of the lord jesus will be saved and so i call upon the name of the lord jesus right now i give you my life i surrender completely yes i give you permission to do whatever you want my life so take my life from this point forward and rearrange it however you desire and i'll give you the glory and the honor all the days of my life and it's in jesus.

Wonderful name amen amen i mean this is a time you know this is a time for us to to to to to do the things that god is leading us to do not to just force something i i i always had that picture in my mind of previously of like when you try to force a spiritual conversation on someone that's not ready it's like trying to play catch with someone who's on the inside of a house and you're on the outside and they have not opened a door or a window if you try to force it you know and it goes through the window you know it's just going to cause damage so it has to be at the right time it has to be as god is leading but i want to encourage you kingdom writers to shine your light ask god ask god who is it this week that you are to contact that you are to encourage that you are to pray for what is it that he has called you to do to be a light and to share the gospel to share the good news that we have a hope and if you prayed that prayer with us for the first time you now have a hope beyond this world you have a hope of heaven and so like i said definitely connect with us we would love to talk with you more about that but this has been you know a longer training than normal but we just wanted to encourage you we wanted to share some things that god had put on our our hearts and you know not ignore the elephant in the room right.

So keep sharing your breakthroughs in the facebook group share what god is is leading you to do for such a time as this what is your role what is your assignment in this crisis in this moment share with us those divine appointments those texts that you send out and and i've had many of them lately where god just will just set up you'll tell me you know text this person and then it's just the right person at the right time or send this to this person this link or you know and so just be open and listening and god will lead you yeah and he will provide you know there this is uncertain times but uncertainty is the beginning of both fear and trust let's trust him.

We love you guys all right bye.

Bye thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the finisher series it really means the world to us that you would invest time and be here with us today so thank you we have a free gift for you we recently just made this available to the public previously was only available to the paid members in christian book academy but it's a copy of my publishing map i hand drew and lettered this map out for you and it literally takes you through the steps of publishing your book and our members love this resource some have said they print it out and they use it every single time they publish a book you'll also get access to a video of me explaining the publishing map to you and so i really hope that this also helps you overcome any confusion or overwhelm regarding independent publishing and you can download this for free at trainingauthors dot com.

Or just swipe up and the link will be in your show notes thank you again for joining us we love you all so much see you next time.

Thank you for listening to this episode of kingdom writers we believe that you as a christian writer have a specific role to play in the case kingdom of heaven to impact lives.

For eternity and because of this we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy this podcast is sponsored by christian book academy where we help you give birth to your books we invite you to join our community of kingdom writers.