Book Crisis: Who am I writing to??

First of all, forgive me! I don’t even think I have told you guys officially that I’m working on a book. You guys. It’s an amazing book. God has anointed me to write this, so I don’t even feel guilty saying it’s amazing! Because I truly believe this is not my book. It belongs to Him! This is His message. My role is simply to write down the things He puts on my heart. And to steward it well.

Part of stewarding this message well is knowing who I’m writing to! He’s revealing things to me over time. He gave me a lot of the plan, but He keeps me tethered to Him by slowly revealing the details. A few months ago, after I had drafted the whole thing, I was really struggling with my subtitle. In that struggle, the Lord whispers to me, “You think this book is about prayer. But it’s not. It’s about faith.” Then He showed me how Hebrews 11 (all on faith) is a complete outline of chapters one and two! And I hadn’t even realized it! Because I was just typing along with what He gave me.

In the same way, I think today He is showing me that maybe I thought I knew who I’m writing to, but maybe I got that wrong too. You see, I thought I was writing it for women of faith. But why write a book on faith for a woman who already has it? I thought it was for believers to help them to deeper levels of belief. Now, it is. But there are primary audiences and secondary audiences. I thought this was primarily for Christians and secondarily, I would write it in language that someone whose never heard these deep truths before could pick it up and be led to that goal too. I believe that I have miraculously accomplished that in many ways.

But then I’m honing in on my opening paragraphs of my first chapter today, as the Lord led me to do. And I’m realizing that I have two really good options. And then I realized that one good option is for the believer and assumes they know a little and are a little more comfortable with God. But imagine telling someone who thinks God is out to get them to invite Him, a total stranger to them, into their living room. That’s not going to fly. So I told those readers that maybe first we should just go a walk together first. Get to know Him in a little less intimidating circumstances. So now I have Option A and Option B. I’m sitting here reading and rereading.

I just met the sweetest girl at a bakery in town. I kind of think I want to bring her page one of both options and see which book she’d be more interested in reading. It’s truly the same book. The content is all the same. It’s the same croissant. Just one is in a pearly bakery box and the other is in a classic parchment bag. The only difference is the wrapping.  

As I begin to realize that I’m going to have to do some soul searching and praying about this, these verses flood to my mind:

·         I did not come to heal the well but the sick.

·         I came to seek and save the lost.

·         I did not come for righteous but the sinner.

So, I will continue praying into this and seek the Lord. It is possible that I’m first to write to those who are looking. Now the problem is, our Christian culture in America has believed that addressing those who are seeking means it needs to be “seeker sensitive,” i.e. fluff. But I know Christians who have been believers for over 5 years and they still say they are “new believers” because they won’t eat faith for dinner. They’re filling up on other things. And I know Christians who have believed for less than 2 and are already giants of faith because they are starving. So, in my mind, just because you met Jesus last night, that doesn’t mean I need to feed you mashed up peas and carrots for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In our culture today, if someone is drawn to Jesus, that means they are desperately, voraciously HUNGRY. They want some REAL food. Some WHOLE food. They’re tired of additives, MSG, and corn syrup. Maybe this book is meant to nourish the blind and unlock the deaf ears… whether they are already believers or not!

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

And so can you! Whatever He’s calling you to, He will show you when, where, how and who that call is for! Be encouraged! And even if you think you already know, seek Him to show you the who and the why of your callings!

I’m just throwing a lot out there today. Penny for your thoughts?