Momentum For Monday, December 19th 2022

"…make the most of every opportunity you have of doing good." (Ephesians 5:16) 

This year also brought about opportunity. It brought an opportunity that I was not expecting, but to my fortune, it was good. And there were more than one.

First, was a trip to Haiti. I had not been able to go for three years. Covid and Haiti's government instability closed several doors for me to visit and finally in June, I was able to go visit.

We normally fly to Port-Au-Prince (or what we call "Port") and then drive an hour and a half to our guest house, but Port hadn't been safe and we also needed to attend a graduation ceremony in North Haiti, so we fly into Cap Haitien. There was a five hour drive through the mountains to get from Cap Haitien to St. Marc. It's not an easy drive. Smooth, paved roads are a luxury and not available for most of the drive through the mountains. Thank God, for Dremamine.

It was awesome to see parts of Haiti I had never seen in twenty years of visiting and ministry. I even got to visit some of the most historical parts of Haiti. It was truly incredible. But my favorite part of that trip had nothing to do with travel or sightseeing.

The best part of that trip was connecting with one of the guys/kids that I've known for years. I heard his story, finally. We cried and I listened to him in depth. He's normally a guarded person (which I totally relate to), so for him to open up was unexpected. An opportunity to really spend time and truly connect with him and several of our people was incredible. 

Another opportunity was that of an appointment I made randomly to get some advice. I came across a guy who worked for a publisher that was doing free consulting. I made an appointment with him to get some advice figuring he'd tell me to work on the things I've previously learned to prioritize with writing. I was completely wrong.

In 2020, I wrote a second devotional after my first one (that one was written in 2019 and published in March of 2020). Having lost quite a bit of money on self-publishing during the pandemic, I had no plans of putting more money into publishing again. However, my discussion with this publisher lead to an offer, which took me completely by surprise. After praying about it and seeking advice from a few trusted people, I decided to move forward with it.

Publishing is not easy process. It's cumbersome from the editing process to marketing. If that's not enough, it's super vulnerable because you're putting your personal writing out there (rejection is one aspect of writing I never anticipated to deal with). Nerves aside, I'm excited about this book. It's something I'm very passionate about- mental health that is rooted in Scripture.

Those two events really marked my 2022. How about you? I'd love to hear some feedback!