In my mid-twenties I had a dream of writing my autobiography. I know i hadn't lived a super long life by that point, but I had so much to look back upon and so many life experiences to tell due to living with a chronic disease since age three. If for anything, I wanted to write it so that I, myself, could look back and remember the faithfulness of the Lord. However, writing an autobiography is no small feat. I felt like I couldn't find the time to commit to writing a whole autobiography, but knew I wanted to share my story in some capacity. Fast forward to January 2015. I sat down to make goals for the year. Again, I wanted to complete my goal of sharing my story in written form, somehow, someway.
I felt led by the Lord to write a devotional/journal that told parts of my story but was also an encouragement to others going through medical conditions. I had so many fears and doubts and was believing some lies from the enemy, so I drug my feet for a few weeks to get started. I attended the IF:Gathering in February 2015 and was challenged at the end of the conference to think of something that I needed to step out in faith to do; something that I knew I was hesitating on. Well... immediately this little devotional journal came to mind. We were asked to write our "faith step" on a stone. On that day in February I wrote "SSP" on my stone. It stood for, "Super Secret Project." At that time I had no idea what the title would be, what the content would be, but I knew the Lord was telling me I had to do this, to stop dragging my feet and tell my story so that He may be glorified.
I worked on my "SSP" for a year. Most of my writing was done while my daughter was napping, which is part of the reason it took so long. If you are a mom, you know that nap times can be unpredictable in length. I also took some breaks because I would start to feel inadequate and not worthy of writing something like this. (There were so many fears during the whole process that I can share in a different post.) Yet, there was still an excitement I felt, knowing that the Lord was using me to share what I have learned through the different seasons of my life. I am so thankful for the encouragement I got from friends and family during this whole process. Everyone has been sweet cheerleaders for me!
And here I am.... about to launch my very first self-published devotional journal. To God be the glory... My prayer is that everyone that reads Patiently Endure is able to gain some kind of encouragement and it helps them to fix their eyes on Jesus.... the author and perfector of our faith.