#400: Mentoring Moment: Refreshed

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.

Today's training that CJ is going to share is on this topic of refreshment. So, cj, why don't you share the encouragement you have for us today?

You bet. Well, all of those were just fantastic.

Things that the Lord put on your heart regarding refreshment. You know, I think when we think of refreshment.

Many times we might think of, of ice cream, maybe popsicles, snow cones, you know, during the summer heat here in the US we are.

Or in the Northern hemisphere, we're, we're in the summer. And maybe some of you are thinking, you know, some, some iced tea or lemonade on a sweltering day, whatever you're cool, refreshing drink of choice is. But this morning I'd really like us to think of our writing in our books that we publish as another form of refreshment. And I want to look at a little verse that's tucked away in Proverbs that really will help add to this concept. And it's Proverbs 25:13. And I'm going to actually read from a few different translations because I think it's neat to get the, the different flavor that the translations bring out. And so I'm going to start off with the new living translation. And again, that's Proverbs 25:13 if you want to look at your own Bible as well. But it says trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer. They revive the spirit of their employer. And I love that.

The NIV says this.

Like a snow cooled drink at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to the one who sends him. He refreshes the spirit of, of his master. And then the English Standard Version, the ESV says, like the cold of snow in the time of harvest, is a faithful messenger to those who send him. He refreshes the soul of his masters. And then just for fun, Eugene Peterson in his message translation says this reliable friends who do what they say are like cool drinks in sweltering heat. And then he says refreshing.

And that's really the image here.

Now we know it doesn't snow in the summertime. And the writer of Proverbs would have been writing from, from over in Israel and in the Middle east there. So we, we know it doesn't Snow in the harvest time, that would actually be disastrous. But snow would actually be brought down by people.

From the mountains. And they actually had these things called snow caves that they would actually keep this stuff as cold as possible. Snow and ice that they would get from the higher elevations. I think of even just Mount Hermon in the northern part of Isra, a 9,000 plus foot peak. And they actually do some skiing on that mountain. You may not realize that they ski in Israel and so it's on the, the border of Lebanon there and they get plenty of snow. And so the image that we're getting here is can you just imagine somebody sweltering during the harvest, during the summer, out, working hard and someone brings a shipment of snow in to put in their drinks. Just neat, refreshing image. I was in the country of Belize this last March. Shelley and I spent two years there, short term missionaries back in the from 02 to 4. But I made a trip back there and I stayed with our friend Marcel who was down there as well. And Marcel's a businessman and so he was building some little buildings that are going to be used for an Airbnb business that he's doing. And he has a work crew down there that's doing these. So they were laying the foundation, getting everything cleared, building a fence, a wall. And these were some hot days. This was beginning the dry season in February, March. And one of the, the mornings I accompanied him to the work site and he says, hey cj, let's, let's stop at the store and get some cold drinks for our crew. And so we did and we, we actually got each of their requests and we brought them a big old Coke or whatever it might be. Some of them just wanted a big ice water. But I'll tell you, when you give that to them, to men or women that are working in the heat like that, it's just a refreshing delivery. It's fun to deliver it. It's fun, fun for them to light up and receive that because their bodies are crying out for it. So I want you just to have this image of refreshment. Refreshment. Now think of our words, think of our words and how refreshing they can be. I want you to pull out.

A few sayings here, a few of the ways that each translation describes it. Trustworthy messengers, faithful messengers, as one translation says. And then as Eugene Peterson says in the message, reliable friends, I want you to ask yourself, do you desire to be trustworthy with your words? Do you desire to be faithful with your words? Do you desire to be a Reliable friend with your words, I think we would all agree that the more valuable an item or message is that's being sent, the more refreshing the delivery. And so the main crux here is the messenger bringing a message. Now, each of these says a faithful messenger is like, so the snow. And the refreshment, in that way isn't the main point. The main point is the faithfulness of that messenger. That's the crux here. And so there's a difference between, say, waiting for an order of stickers that you placed on Amazon compared to, let's say, a $10,000 cashier's check that you're expecting in the mail. There's a difference there. And there's a, There's a different kind of gratitude or a refreshment that happens when you receive the cashier's check as opposed to that little package of stickers that you got in the mail. And so what I want to really begin to help you think is that your words, my words are valuable. They're things that God's putting on our hearts. And those. Those are going to be shared eventually with people that are going to receive them and be refreshed by them. I want you just to think of how powerful your words can be. In both examples, between these stickers and a cashier's check, we're hoping for a trustworthy, faithful, and reliable delivery. So, you know, we, we want the delivery to be safe either way. But there's a greater refreshment or gratefulness that takes place with a weightier, more valuable item. And you can just imagine, if you're the sender, how refreshed you are to know that the recipient received it. You know, that's why you might get a guarantee or they have to sign for that cashier's check, something very valuable in the mail.

But notice who else in these verses is refreshed and, and that's the master or the employer. And in this instance, we're going to refer to that master employer as our. As our wonderful God.

You and I have been given a valuable message to carry to a world that's sweltering under a heavy burden. And not only will our words be a refreshment to those who read them, but they're also going to be a refreshment to our master upon their delivery.

What a sigh of relief. I can even just imagine how happy the Lord is when our words that he's put in our hands, put on our minds, get to their proper destination or destinations. I'm telling you, we have no idea who's going to read our books, our writings, our blog posts, whatever form of writing you're endeavoring to do, Those words are like refreshment to those who are receiving them, and they're refreshing our God. And I think we have to have this attitude of, my words aren't just a little package of stickers. My words are a valuable cashier's check that the Lord's going to use to bless someone in a powerful way. If we'll see our words in that way, I believe we'll have a little greater urgency to see those words written and delivered. The Lord will get those words into the right hands at the right time. There is an element of all of our marketing and all of the things we do which we're being faithful to, but there's an element that we also leave in the Lord's hands to say, lord, I have no idea. There are ways you can get these words into somebody's Kindle or. Or in a hard copy, into their hands in ways that I have no idea. And there's. Isn't there something exciting about that? That's the element of prayer. That's where we come to the Lord and say, lord only, you know, but I'm going to pray for my readers even well ahead of time, that this book gets into the right hands at the right time, that they're delivered and a package of refreshment. And so if you'll think about that today and into tomorrow.

I think it also adds a seriousness to the words that we write and that we're faithful and we're reliable, we're trustworthy to be those messengers that God's calling us to be. So I'm excited for all of you as you endeavor to write those words.

In the. The days and the weeks and the months to come.

Yes. And we, you know, C.J. often says we're priestly pens in the hands of the author of life. And God use uses each of us in a different way. You know, before we started this, this meeting, we were talking with some of our members, and it's just like sometimes our expectations of what our writing needs to be or what it should look like or should be doing, you know, all these shoulds may be different than what God has for us. And just being faithful and obedient in the little things. Do not despise small beginnings. And, you know, sometimes we're sending out that cashier's check thinking it's a buck.

Yeah.

You know, you think it's a dollar. You're like, oh, put out this social media post. Oh, I'll send this email. Oh, I'll publish this blog post. Oh, you know, this book, whatever. And you think you're imagining it being valued at like a dollar and actually, like CJ says, it's like $10,000 and it's going to offer refreshment. And the thing is, as writers, how many of you know, we very rarely get the feedback. We very rarely know, like, how it actually landed, how it actually impacted someone's life. And I get these chills because some of you think you're. You're sending out dollar bills and you're sending out thousands and thousands of dollars. God just needs to reframe your mind of what he's doing through even just the little things that you're doing, like when he prompts you to reach out through text to somebody and share a scripture or to just pray. And, you know, there's just all sorts of things that I think we discount. So know that what you're doing makes a difference in the kingdom of heaven and in and for eternity, and that God sees your obedience, he sees what you're doing, and he will continue to lead and guide and direct. And I was preaching to myself as well. You know, it's like sometimes it's easy to get discouraged and say, oh, my goodness, oh, is any of this making a difference? And yet we know that God is using it. And so, cj, why don't you pray for all of us as we send out words of refreshment that even refresh our heavenly Father as he sees us doing the things we were created to do.

Father, we thank you so much for this privilege of being messengers.

Of the King. We are Kingdom writers. In other words, we endeavor to write words that outlast us. We endeavor to write words that impact people in ways that.

Typically wouldn't we. We want to see eternal impact and fruit. And I pray, Lord, that you would download these God ideas, these God messages. Message messages that only you can download into our minds and our hearts. We seek you fervently, Lord. We're asking for something that is weighty in its delivery. And we want to be faithful. We want to be trustworthy to carry that message for you, Lord. And so we thank you. And I'm praying that you would give some weighty messages to each and every person here, whatever that looks like. I just pray that each person would be alert and excited, anticipating, expectant, Lord, of what you're going to do today and into tomorrow. And.

I pray that you would increase our, our faithfulness that we would be people that follow through with what you've given us. And our call, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. And like, I was just reminded as CJ Was praying, I talked about in my right now master class, if you guys listen to that, is that, you know, in the Gospels it says, you know, that the disciples were unschooled ordinary men, but they saw that they had been with Jesus, right? And so all of that $10,000, you know, that all that treasure, all that refreshment, it comes from the Lord. But C.J. and I are reading through the Bible this year, and we just read Amos yesterday. And in Amos 7:14, it says, Amos replied, I'm not a professional prophet. I was never trained to be one. I'm just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore fig trees. But he was the messenger that God chose. And he God is choosing some of you. And you're like, I'm not a writer. I'm not a professional writer. I don't know what I'm doing. But he's chosen you to be a messenger. Will you give him your yes. Will you give him your yes. I pray that you do.

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 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.