#239: Stand Strong as a Courageous Writer (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, C.J. 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 ChristianBookAcademy.com I hope this episode encourages you today. Hey everyone, it's so great to be here with you live in the writing week group and my name is Shelley.

Hitz and I'm her other half, CJ Hitz.

And we are so excited to be here with you today and to have finished our seven day challenge. Congratulations to all of you who finished. So excited for you and so excited to see what God is going to continue to do in and through your writing as you keep going. And so. Hey Deborah. Hey Peggy. As you're coming in, introduce yourself in the comments. If you're on the replay, let us know. We just love seeing you here. Hey Pam. And we're excited to dive into this topic with you today. Stand strong as a courageous writer. So this week many of you took huge steps forward in your writing as you have been just applying some new things, some new techniques. And yeah, Peggy says this week was a blessing. Amen. You know, we've been praying for you and praying for God to work in and through you. So we just want to share a few just testimonies of what God has been doing this week because it's been incredible. We could share so many more. Hey Elaine, great to see you here. But from Lisa Taylor, she says thank you for the tools and techniques. By far, the Pomodoro technique is the one for me. Wow. You made me a believer or you made a believer out of me. I tried it and wrote an entire chapter, 850 words in four 25 minute sessions. I will continue to use it for Writing and other focus intensive tasks. And she says during writing week, I completed my first children's book. Congratulations. Ages 8 to 12. And sent it to a beta reader. And she says this weekend I will begin researching for the sequel to this first book. God bless you guys. I look forward to staying focused and productive as a result of this week. And we are so thrilled for you, Lisa.

Yeah. Congratulations, Lisa. And next we have Joyce. Joyce says thank you so much. Shelly Hits and CJ Hits for all the tips, help, encouragement, support and prayers during the seven day writing week. I have finished revising five chapters of my book awesome. Called Stay Calm and Embrace Grace. Discover the seven key benefits of walking in God's unmerited favor. And I am almost done. Yay. So blessed to be a part of this amazing group of writers once again. I am grateful. Wow. Congratulations, Joyce. May you just continue that momentum.

Amen.

Even as writing week comes to a close. And then Yak yak Louis says, I am so happy I joined you these seven days. It has been challenging, yet fun too. Amazing as I took my very first steps to writing a book. I had the idea in mind for years, but the timing wasn't right. I must say I am surprised at what I have accomplished. Five days writing. Many heartfelt thanks to you, Shelly and CJ for all the videotapes, teachings, your team for responding to my emails promptly. And last but not least, all you members who wrote in daily on your journey helped me through mine. God bless you all abundantly. So congratulations. Yak yak. That's just fantastic. Just to be able to see that progress and what can happen in just a few days.

Yeah. And on your first book, that's so exciting. And we are community. We are here with you. We're in this with you. And so we're so excited for all of you. And you know, as I've been saying in the emails this week, this is not the end, it's just the beginning. And whether you continue and use the techniques and tips you've learned in Writing Week on your own, or you join us at ChristianBookAcademy.com join our community of Christian writers. Continue the process with us. We are praying God's blessings over you. And so today's theme, like I said, is all about standing strong as a courageous writer. So those of you who are here live or watching the replay, what does that mean to you? What does it mean to you to stand strong as a courageous writer? You know, God has given each of us different assignments, different callings, and today we want you to encourage you to move forward as a courageous writer, even when you don't feel like it. And if you ever feel that moment of fear or doubt or. And you're feeling anything but courageous. And I had a friend that once shared with me that. She was like, Shelley, fear is what we feel. Brave is what we do. So it doesn't mean that as you walk forward in this journey of writing, that. That you will never feel fear or doubt or discouragement or any of those things, but you can still move forward as a courageous writer. You can still be moved forward in those braves, taking those brave steps even when you don't feel it. And how many of you know that when we are weak, he is strong?

Amen.

And so in those moments of weakness, hold on even tighter to him, because he can be strong through you. And, you know, I just want to ask you today, are you sharing your work with others? So are you publishing social media posts, blog posts? Are you. Have you published a book yet? If you have published books, are you marketing that book? Are you letting people know that it's out there? You know, are you sharing your words, your writing in some way? I want to encourage you today. It is scary. I know it's hard, but I want to encourage you to put yourself out there. I want you to picture yourself. And this is kind of, you know, I'm very visual, and I just see this picture of, you know, you. You being in the shadows, almost like a dark alley, and you're just kind of, you know, hovering and staying to the side, and, you know, you see the light out in the main road, and you see all the people, and you see all. But you're just kind of hovering and holding back. And I feel like God is encouraging each one of us today to step out of the shadows into the light. Do you ever feel like you're hovering in the shadows, C.J.

Absolutely. You know, I think it's easy in this season to even want to hover in the shadows. It's. It almost could provide more of an excuse to just kind of weather this storm kind of in our own little, you know, cocoon. And yet, if you think about it, that's what the general population is doing right now. And so as a result.

I think they're tuning in more to social media, they're tuning in more to what is out there online. They're looking for hope. And so I think there's actually a greater chance that people that need your words, need my words, are going to stumble across those as the Lord leads them and so I think now is just a great time. You know, I've been hearing other quotes too about.

Running into the battle, not away from it.

Right. Yeah. Because it's easy, you know, like when we feel that fear or when we feel overwhelmed. And I will admit to you, I was feeling very overwhelmed on Monday. Just a bunch of things hit me with just, just a lot of stuff. And I had listened to a message from our governor and I try to not take in too much the news, but it was an important message. You know, we're going to begin, you know, lifting some restrictions. I wanted to know what's coming. But a bunch of stuff hit me on Monday and I have to tell you, like, it took me some time but I had to process that overwhelm. I had a counseling appointment yesterday, tele session. It's so interesting how we're doing things these days. Right. And you know, I just, I had some other things that I was doing. And finally today it felt like something broke loose and could break off of me so that I don't get stuck back in the shadows so that I can run towards the battle instead of retreating away from it because I am so overwhelmed or whatever it is for you.

We want to just encourage you today that it's time to release your words to the world and let them fly. We can get stuck in paralyzing fear. And to be honest, I have published and written and published over 40 books and I still get nervous when releasing a new book into the world. You know, it's easy to be filled with doubt and second guessing, but you know, fear is what we feel, brave is what we do. And so I continue to press that publish button.

Yeah. So, you know, I wanted to share just a little bit with you regarding.

Just how the Lord's been speaking to me. But I think, you know, this is a message of encouragement for all of us during this season. Again, we. It's good to.

Not ignore the season that we're in. It's very unique and we're not through it yet. And we don't know exactly when we're going to finish this season of this so called pandemic.

You know, that this virus has created. But I want you just to imagine, you know, having several groups of enemies seeking to kill you at every turn. I want you just to think about that your name is being slandered as people make up lie after lie in an attempt to ruin you. Before long, even your friends and family start believing the lies. Let those things soak in for a second.

Fewer and fewer people want to be associated with you because they want to preserve their own names, their own reputations. And you fully understand the concept of social distancing because as you walk down the street, people turn and run the other direction.

We've seen that ourselves here.

Quick question. Are you feeling stressed yet? As you take in all of those.

Scenarios.

Adding to the above, you slip into a deep depression. I think some of us can relate to some depression in our lives when you realize that some of your troubles are actually a result of your own sin. So let that sink in for a second. Wave after wave, shame hits you, sapping your strength and motivation to keep going.

Finally, as if that wasn't enough, all this emotional turmoil begins taking a toll on your physical health. You feel aches and pains all the way down to your bones. You're not even motivated to get out of bed.

Hmm.

I've been there before.

That's how we find David in Psalm 31.

Stress and anxiety would be an understatement.

Yeah.

As we read all of his raw and unedited words. This is precisely why I think, so many of us have found ourselves clinging to to the Psalms throughout the ages. We can identify with David's anguish.

Because life isn't always full of rosy.

Flowers and rainbows. Right. We deal with anguish on a regular basis.

Yeah.

We're hit hard with different things. We also love David's words because they offer us hope in the same God that he cried out to.

And he cried out over and over again. Because we live in the same broken world that David did, we also encounter the same kinds of problems that David encountered. And I just want to say that I'm really grateful that David chose to write down his words and share them with the world. I want you just to think about that. We read.

All kinds of words from David in the Psalms and we relate to the anguish. We relate to the emotions. You can just see it dripping all over the Psalms that he wrote. And like David, we find ourselves crying out to God with similar emotions.

Don't let me be disgraced. Listen to me. Rescue me. Have mercy on me.

You are my God. As he repeats that over and over again, I call out to you for help.

And then finally, praise the Lord. I'm sure David uttered those words many times when he didn't even feel like it.

Right?

But he said, praise the Lord. And I just want to say today, along with this topic, this theme that we're looking at in Standing in Courage, regardless of what we face in life, like David, we can choose to stand in strength and courage as we place our hope completely in the Lord. Because I want to read you the last verse of that Psalm 31. This is how he closes after uttering all of those things that would seem negative and seem hard and seem full of anguish, but he closes with this. So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord.

Amen.

All of you. He's talking about his brothers and sisters that call on that same God, whether it's. And he had no idea the full extent of how his words would travel through the ages. You and I have no idea how far the Lord will take our words across seas, across land. Who knows? Those words can get into the right hands at the right time and bring such encouragement, perhaps even during a time of extreme anguish and depression. And I want to encourage all of us to, as Shelley said, step out of those shadows, because this is a time to shine. Christians, those who call on the name of the Lord are built for these times. Now, we don't always admit it. Sometimes we sit there and we say, man, I'm suffering as much as the next guy.

And we all have our days and.

Our moments, but I believe you and I were built with the Lord's help, of course, not on our own, but we were built to handle these times. And I'm excited for what's ahead, not only for us. I'm excited for all of our members and many of you in Writing Week who will choose to join us as CBA members and ride this wave of wherever God wants to take it.

Yes.

And so let that bring you encouragement from a man who was obedient to write down his words that God put on his heart and to see those words bless in whatever ways God wants to use them.

Yeah. And that's powerful. And one of the things that can block us sometimes from stepping out of those shadows into the light is. Is how we see ourselves, our identity. And our identity is so key to be rooted in Christ as a daughter, as a son of God. But also, guess what? As writers.

Yeah.

Do you tell people I'm a writer? Or if you have already published books, I'm an author. Are you saying that on a regular basis? Is that part of your Facebook bio? Is it something that. Do people know that you're a writer? Let me know in the comments if you're here live or on the replay. You know, is that something that you say? Or is it something that you're still sometimes shrink back about? Because I noticed that as I started really being able to Think of myself as a writer. Because I will admit, it was years when, you know, I'd published books and sold, you know, many books, and I still didn't consider myself a writer because I didn't feel like I had the gift that many of you have. You know, I have a gift of teaching, I have a gift of encouragement, and God uses that in my writing. But I didn't feel like I had the gift of writing. And so I didn't call myself a writer for years. And yet when I began to embrace that identity, when I began to embrace that calling that God had given to me, my courage began to grow and the way others responded to me began to change.

And so it's amazing sometimes how that subtle shift in attitude and how we see ourselves can make all the difference. And so sometimes it's by taking those next steps and moving forward that great things can happen. The world needs your words.

Yeah. And that means that it is time to hit publish.

Yes.

And again, we don't just mean books, obviously. It's a huge finish line when you cross, when you're able to hit the publish button for a book.

Right.

But we're talking those social media posts. Utilize your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, utilize your blog posts. And by the way, you got a lot of lurkers out in the world today. You don't know who's looking at your stuff. And you may never know until you get to the other side. You and I both.

Oh, yeah, we won't know. I mean, it's like an iceberg, you know, you only see a little piece. And God brought that picture back to my mind this morning about something about myself that I was processing. But even with the stuff that we put out into the world, we only see a little piece of how it's impacting lives. There is a whole other depth that we will never know until we reach heaven.

Yeah. So we're at that point now where we're going to go ahead and take a one minute reflection. And we really just want you to ask the question, what is God saying to you? You know, in silence, as a little bit of music's playing during this minute, just meditate upon that question. What is God saying to me through this theme of standing in courage, you know, as a writer. Yeah.

Right. If you feel comfortable, go ahead and share in the comments. Anything you sensed God saying to you during that time, it could be related to this topic of stepping out of the shadows into the light, being a courageous writer. It could mean it could be something else. But earlier this Week I was on a run and, you know, I was just praying and I was praying for someone specifically and God gave me a picture. He often speaks to me in pictures. And I felt like it was a picture for many people, even related to everything going on with COVID 19 and the pandemic. But then I also felt like it's a picture for each one of you today too. And the picture I got was this box. It's kind of like, you know, we, we're Amazon prime members, so we get a lot of boxes and I'm constantly opening up boxes, right? And I got a pict, like, you know, an Amazon prime box. I'm opening up the box and the lid comes open and all of a sudden all of these birds fly out and they just fly up and it's just like this beautiful vision of these birds flying away. And at the moment I felt like there was a lot of, a lot of people just burdened and at a breaking point, you know, with all of these things going on and that we need to release those burdens to God. But today, as I was praying for each one of you, I felt like the picture was that we need to open the box and release our words to the world. We need to be willing to press publish on a text message to a specific person God's put on our heart. Click Publish on an email, click Publish on social media posts, click Publish on.

Books that we're writing. But to release those words to the world, that. And then as that one minute when we were praying, during that minute, I also felt like the Lord said it's time to release the fear in that. You know, just release it and let it go. But also that he's going to release courage to you. And as you take that step of opening the box, that God's going to do the work, he's going to do the work in you as you take the courageous step of faith. And so we are so thrilled that you've joined us for this writing week challenge. And some of you are already members of our community of Christian writers Inside Christian Book Academy. Some of you have just joined. So congratulations. So excited. I see some new members here joining us today. Today as well. But we want to invite you, if you're not yet a member, this is a great time to join. We are hosting our two day virtual writing retreat this week, Friday and Saturday. And when you join today or tomorrow, you get a free ticket to that event. It's $199 value and it's yours for free as a Bonus. When you sign up today, those of you that are already members, I really encourage you to join us Friday and Saturday. These two day events are life changing and I'm not just saying that because I post them. It's because God moves, right, CJ?

Yeah.

We have page after page after page after page of testimonials of breakthroughs of things that God does during these two day writing retreats. We've been hosting them for years and so we would love for you to join us. If you have not joined us yet, go to ChristianBookAcademy.com sign up today or Thursday, tomorrow at the latest, April 23rd so that you can join us for this two day virtual writing retreat. And we really felt led by the Lord to move it up. We were going to do it in May, but because of everything going on with the pandemic, with COVID 19, with people at home, you know, this is a great opportunity to capitalize on that. So we moved it up. It's going to be this weekend. We are excited to spend that time with you. We open with encouragement and prayer and then we spend a good chunk of the day writing. And then at the end is a chance to have a coaching session with me where you can ask questions. We're on Zoom together. We're seeing each other's faces. It's a great sense of community. In a time when most Christian writers conferences are canceling for this month and even potentially this month, summer, and who knows, for the rest of the year. This is a great opportunity to attend a virtual writing retreat with us. And so we are so excited and hope that you will join us. And cj, why don't you close us in prayer?

Yeah. Just on that note as well.

Those of you that have been a part of those writing those virtual writing retreats, if you could please, please join us in preparing the way in prayer. Because we know that God does something supernatural with those that join, whether it's giving them a thought they had no idea they were going to get or receiving some creativity or inspiration for a chapter or a theme or a title, whatever it might be. God just does supernatural things during this time. But we really believe it's a result of prayer. And so would you, any of you who have experienced that, would you join us in sort of watering the soil between now and then?

Yeah. And a lot of, you know, I recommend every Christian writer have a prayer team. And so I have my own prayer team. And our prayer team has also been praying for you for this weekend. I love this Dhar Myers is a new member and says, I believe God has been pushing me to become accountable for my writing as well as overcoming my fear of Facebook. So after much prayer and thought, I took a huge step last night and sent a message to CBA to see if I could join. And she joined today. So awesome. We're so excited to have you and I hope that you can join us this weekend. It'll be so fun. So much fun. Friday and Saturday, you can come and go whenever works for you. You know, if you have a few hours, you can jump in. If you can join us for the entire two days, do that as well. We just love. This is a really special space, special time that we will all spend together.

Yeah, well, let's pray together. Yes, Father, we just thank you so much for this time together. Once again, we ask, Lord, that you would speak to each of us in whatever ways you desire.

Whether it's those that have been on live or those that are watching the replay or listening to a podcast. We ask, Lord, that your words would go forth and impact people in ways that we will never know or see. We ask, Lord, that you'd fill each of us with your courage, with your strength, with your faith as we rely on you, Lord, you are our courage and strength. And we ask, Lord, that you would give us boldness to step out of the shadows and into your light. And not so that people can see us, but so that people can see your glory shining through us. And that we'll be able to point to you as the one who gave us the courage to step out of the shadows. And so would you bring inspiration? Would you bring motivation? Would you give us creativity in ways that we never even imagined? And would you be glorified through all of the words that we're able to write, both the rest of this week and into the weekend as we go into the virtual writing retreat, I pray it'd be a fruitful time for every single person that joins and takes part in that. And we thank you, Lord. You are good. No matter what we're going through, no matter what the circumstance, you are always good. And we will utter with.

With David.

Praise be to the Lord. We will proclaim that no matter what we're going through, and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. And something CJ was praying about reminded me really like the theme verses for our business have been Matthew 5, 14, 16. You are a light of the world. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under A basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. Now this is the key. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see. So that what? So that everyone can praise you? No, so. So that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. And it just gives me chills because when we step out of the shadows and into the light, it's not about us. It's not about us building our platform and our thing. It's about giving God the glory of people being able to praise him, of being able to lift him up on high. And so, as you take this courageous step of faith to press forward published, whether it's a social media post, an email, a text or book blog post, God will be glorified. And we just pray these blessings over each one of you. And we look forward to spending this weekend with all of you that will be on the virtual writing retreat and we will see you next time.

Love you guys.

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@trainingauthors.com publishing map 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 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. 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.