One person makes a difference

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Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/freedigitalphotos.net

When was the last time you heard a message and thought the speaker was directing it specifically to you? It’s like you’re the only person in the auditorium, an audience of one.

I had that sensation last week at church when a visiting pastor from the UK, Paul Scanlon, spoke. His message didn’t really have a title but it was about encouraging us all to know that we are useful to God.

When God wants to do something He always finds someone who He can use. Whether it was to wipe out all living creatures (he used Noah), to building the temple (Solomon), or to evangelize to the Gentiles (Paul).

David and the Temple

Scanlon anchored his message around David. David was chosen to be king when he was a teenage shepherd boy who wrestled lions and bears if they dared go after his sheep and wrote poetry to God as he tended the flock through the lonely nights.

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Puffed up

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Photo courtesy of “Dino De Luca”/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing my first ever “Blog Tour” this past week. 30 readers with blogs requested a copy of Angelguard from Kregel on the premise they would commit to read it and write a review on their blog. I’ve enjoyed interacting with readers in providing additional information as well as reading their reviews.

In this review cycle it’s hard not to get too “me focused”. Last week I wrote about discouragement when reading reviews so that it doesn’t create hardness in our heart. Recently, I’ve read a few articles from other authors about gaining their affirmation from sales figures, glowing reviews and such like.

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Dealing with Discouragement

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Photo courtesy of “Grant Cochrane”/freedigitalphotos.net

Jenny* was running late. She grabbed the first seat inside the door, and acknowledged the teacher standing on the opposite side of the room. He welcomed her, unfazed by being interrupted.

We were sharing our homework. A 250-word piece on “Daring to Kick the Universe”.

We soon got around to Jenny. She prefaced her work by sharing that she’d experienced her first troll on her blog that afternoon. We invited her to tell us more about how she felt.

Shock, anger, and frustration reflected in Jenny’s response. I could relate having only the day before read a very unflattering review of Angelguard. It didn’t matter that I had a bunch of other really flattering ones; this one review had bugged me for a day or so.

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Be a Barnabas

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Photo courtesy of “chrisroll”/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I woke one morning last week thoroughly discouraged. I was struggling to understand how Angelguard was ever going to sell many copies when it appeared to only be carried by three retailers, all online ones.

I was excited having been advised ten days or so ago that stock had finally landed in the US after a month’s delay due to a bungle at the printers. This had been the second delay as the original launch date was November last year. However, my UK publisher were planning a big splash for the launch of their new fiction imprint, Lion Fiction, in March this year and decided to include Angelguard as part of the celebrations.

So to find out that none of the physical retails stores in the US were currently stocking it was disheartening.

Out of the Blue

I popped over to a blog I regularly visit and happened to notice a reply to a comment I had written a few days earlier.

BAM

I almost fell off my chair. This virtual friend shared some encouragement that blew my mind. Her words were confirmation of something I had pondered over for a while, but had never shared it with anyone else.

“Thank you, Lord,” I spoke out aloud to no one, bar Beanie our 15-week-old puppy.

He just has a way of doing that, I find. Words from out of nowhere arrive just at the moment you can do with them the most.

I stopped worrying about sluggish book sales.

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