Your Story for God's Glory with CJ Hitz

This is episode 30 of Author Audience.

Welcome to the Author Audience show, the podcast that helps you reach more people with your message. Create a book, connect with your audience, change lives. Here's your host, Shelly Hitz.

Welcome to Author Audience, where I'm on a mission to help you reach more people with your message. It's time to let your light shine. Today I'm rolling out the red carpet and introducing you to my husband, C.J. hitz. Hey, C.J.

Hey there.

I am so excited he agreed to come on to this episode and share a message that he opened our writing seminar this last weekend with.

We hosted and helped lead a writing seminar at our church this last weekend, Calvary Worship Center. We are so thankful to Norma Pittman and the women's ministry for sponsoring the event. There was over 50 people that came and it was just an amazing time. And so I really wanted CJ to share the message that he opened with your story for God's glory with you in this podcast. I believe you have a God given message to share with the world. The question is, are you ready to shine?

All right, C.J. so I'll let you take over for this week's Center Stage Spotlight training.

All right, thanks, Shelly. Well, many of us are familiar with the Washington Monument, and many of us have even visited there. The Washington Monument was actually completed in December of 1884. Many doubted it would actually ever be completed. Construction began in 1848 and continued until 1856, when efforts ground to a halt due to finances and an unstable future. The unfinished obelisk stood for two decades as an eyesore. Even Mark Twain mocked it, saying it was a factory chimney with the top broken off. In 1876, the Army Corps of Engineers picked up the project and continued work for about eight years. The country had just turned 100 years old, and President Ulysses S. Grant freed federal funds to finish what had been started decades earlier. When finished, this disgrace of a monument became a 555 foot gleaming beacon of American pride and ingenuity. This backstory is largely forgotten, but a reminder exists for all to see. The stone at the base and up, about one third of the structure is a different color. Visitors can see a line that distinguishes the earlier work from the later construction. And I encourage you to actually Google Washington Monument and take a look at some pictures and you'll notice very distinctly the different colored stones that are in the construction.

And I actually didn't know that that was part of the story. And when you showed the picture was like, oh, yeah, no, now I see it.

Yeah, I think we can all agree that 20 years is a long time to leave business unfinished. Many of us writers can draw a comparison to our own creative construction. Many authors, maybe most authors, have unfinished manuscripts sitting around a project that started off with great intentions but has been put into a drawer like old socks. And some of the reasons, well, maybe one might be the initial enthusiasm's been lost, life getting in the way, getting cold feet. Sometimes an idea just doesn't fit anymore. Sort of like the jeans hanging in the corner of our closet. Well, guess what? And we need to all realize that this is all normal. It's not unusual for creative folks to start but not finish a project. Even Leonardo da Vinci had a few works he gave up on. And just as a side note, I'm really thankful that our Creator isn't finished with us. Philippians 1:6 says, he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it to the day of Christ Jesus.

And in Matthew 25:14 30 and I won't read the whole story, but many of us are familiar with the Parable of the Talents, or as some translations render it, the three servants. This is a serious story that really brings conviction to me. You know, many times I can relate to the third servant who basically hid what he was given instead of going out and making the most with what the owner actually gave him. And in verse 25 we actually read specifically that that third servant said, I was afraid, so I hid it. Essentially, he was afraid of his Master and he hid it. And how many of us can relate at times sometimes? You know, I don't know about you, but I just want to hide under the covers. And as in the parable, we're not to hide but be a light and shine the gifts we've been given.

So why do we write as Christians? Well, some of the reasons might be to glorify God, to use our gifts and talents to reach more people with this life changing message. There's a myriad of reasons that we would write, but Matthew 5:14 16 says, Are the 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. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see.

So that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. So why do we let our good deeds shine? Well.

To praise our heavenly Father and also to be able to use and glorify God with what we've been given. That Word, deeds or works is the Greek word ergon, which translates to. And I'll give you a couple different renderings of the translation, but one of those is business, employment, that which anyone is occupied. Another is that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking. And another is an act, deed, thing done. The idea of working is emphasized in opposite to that which is less than work. But it's this fourth rendering that I really want to highlight. And it says any product whatever, anything accomplished by hand, art, industry or mind. And guess what folks, that includes your writing and my writing.

Now back to our Washington Monument illustration. What unfinished business do you have that God's placed on your heart? Is it time for you to revisit an idea you had? Perhaps dust off those sample chapters you wrote and take another look. With time, you may be able to see some things you couldn't before. And many of us realize that timing really is everything. A mediocre idea can age into a great concept with God's help. Don't let the idea sit for 20 years like the Washington Monument did. An idea like wine can age to perfection. Of course, like wine, it can also turn to vinegar. A bad idea is just a bad idea. And many of us have had those. But you won't know until you give it another look. And so I encourage you to ask the Lord to give you fresh eyes to see your ideas through his lens. He'll give you wisdom on what to finish for his glory. There will be obstacles, there will be fear, and possibly a spiritual battle or two.

So find a group of people who might be willing to pray for you on a regular basis.

Because this is going to be a team of people that have your back during those spiritual battles. And so prepare yourselves to go from procrastination.

To publication.

I love that. And I always like to end with a take action tip. And I think it's a really good tip. I mean, what do you think the take action tip can be? That they find someone to be praying for them?

Oh, definitely a person or two. Someone that would. Even if they don't pray for you every single day, they're willing to be right there in your corner when you call upon them. If you're going to go and do some writing, say in a coffee shop or, or somewhere else, you specifically ask them, hey, can you be praying for me during this stretch here? I'm going to actually be writing and I know there's going to be a spiritual battle.

Yeah. And I think that's key. I like what you said there about when you know, you're going to be writing or, you know, you're going to be working on the book to ask for prayer during that time. There is a person in our church that she actually talks. She has, you know, traveled around the world. You know, Ruth, about, you know, telling people and encouraging them to form prayer teams for their ministries. But I think as a Christian author, it's just as important because.

You, I mean, you're putting the gospel out there. You're putting things out there that the enemy would want to stop. And so I think that's a great take action tip. And those of you that are listening, I also encourage you to go and get the transcript and all the show notes from today. You can get those at authoraudience.

That's the number 30. And I'm so excited that you've had a chance to meet my husband, C.J. and he's going to start becoming just more a part of the things that we're doing in our business. And his zone of genius, he is a genius with words. So almost all of the really good titles and branding and things that come out of our business are his genius. But. But he's going to be just doing things in his strengths. And I hope that you'll come back on more often.

I think you'll be able to talk me into it.

And so I just want to end now with the Godly gain segment.

I want to give you a backstage pass in this week's godly gain segment, which is all about keeping Christ at the center of all we do, because in the end, I believe it's not about us, it's about him. So I'm gonna have CJ share the verse that he shared again earlier and share just.

This as our godly gain segment.

So again, Matthew 5, 14:16 says, you are the light of the world. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden, no one lights a lamp, then puts it under a basket instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Last year I felt like God had given us these verses to be kind of like the theme of our business, letting your light shine. And you hear that. I talk about it on this podcast a lot, but it's worth repeating, it's worth encouraging you again to step out and let your light shine.

So, you know, we're so excited to hear from you ways that God's working in you and ways that you're sharing your story for his glory.

It's my hope and my goal that these episodes are bringing you one step closer to being able to shine and reach more people with your message. And if you've enjoyed the podcast and gotten any value, would you just take 30 seconds and rate and review it on itunes? It helps us reach even more people and to really just spread this message of publishing, writing and marketing and just growing your business and ministry. So we appreciate you. Thank you so much for joining us. We know that your time is valuable and we just appreciate you so much. And thanks CJ for joining me.

You bet. My pleasure.

And I'll see you next time.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Author Audience Show. Connect with us online@authoraudience.com where you'll find all the resources mentioned in today's episode. While you're there, grab Shelley's free video training on how to write and publish your book using her Six Step Ascent method. Join us again next week to learn how to reach your audience with your message.