We Pray With Her

                Before. Before I knew God’s love for me. Before I loved him back. Before I followed his call to pastoral ministry. Before all that, I wanted to be an author when I grew up. I loved books and the places they could take you. I loved how they could make you feel something. I loved how they could break the secrets of the world open. I wanted to be a creator of those worlds. I wanted to tell the secrets of the universe.

                I am blessed that each day I get to do a little of that in my job. I get to dive deep into not just a book, but The Book, and unlock its mysteries. I get to take those hidden treasures and share them through written language. Each week I get to write about an invisible God who wants us to see him. Each week I write. I write sermons and newsletters and Bible studies and devotions and even an occasional blogpost. And I share those words with my little bit of the world. I pray that they would take people places and make them feel something. I pray that through them the secrets of God would break open.  

                Every day I write. But I am not an author. There are no published works. I have never been recognized as worth reading. Other than a stray comment here or there, mostly, I’m not sure if I am even worth reading.

                Until now. Today I became an author. Today, I received a copy of my first ever published writing. It’s about one page in a book of over 200 pages. But it is my writing. In a published book.

I couldn’t be prouder to become an author through We Pray With Her. More than 70 United Methodist clergy women share these pages about leadership. We write about being called by God. We write about struggle. We write about courage, resistance, and persistence. While the title says it’s for women who lead, my husband said men could easily read it too. It is smart, strong, encouraging, and a little vulnerable. It is really well written.

As I hold this book in my hands, I thank God. I thank God that one of those things I gave up to follow him, he has given back. And I hear the words from Jesus in Luke anew:  

“Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.”

*To purchase your own copy follow this link:  We Pray With Her