Known Well or Well Known

 My question for today is do I want to be well known or known well? I am struggling with a decision of where my blog book goes from here. A self publishing company I contact can edit, promote and design a cover for my heart words for a price. They are in the business of encouraging bloggers like me to purchase their services and get their work out to a broader audience. On the other hand, I have shared a couple dozen books with those I trust just as the words were written. This trust is solid since I have only read the first two months of writing out of the ten years written. Some of you are reading it before I have. So do I get it into the hands of others who could benefit from my story or keep it closer and share only with those I personally give it to? The most important thing to me is not becoming well known but sharing my faith story with whoever needs to read it. This unedited version is certainly a way for my heart and faith to be known well~grammatical errors and all.

Yesterday I thought I was going to accept the offer to self publish then I was not so sure. Today I am thinking that the doubt is a sign that I may need to pray more and know that a definite answer will come. For now I am thankful that Susi is editing out my glaring mistakes so the next twenty four books I receive will be less messy and more reader friendly. Leona, Susi and I need to talk about just how to move forward. Perhaps God will use the three of us to accomplish this task.

I do know that my faith has allowed me to share my words with those I love and even a few new acquaintances that He led me to share. A third year med student who shares this airbnb with me and 6:00 am coffee asked me about losing my son. He told me a family member with a five year old daughter just took his own life. I told him more about Elissa and how we love her through the loss of her dad. Then I shared about my book. The truth is I prefaced it with the fact that it is a Christian walk through the pain simply because Christ is the center of my journey. He shared that his family is all agnostic but that he would read it and share it with at least his mom. I told him that if it wasn’t for him after reading a few pages then to just pass it on to someone else. We bonded over coffee and sharing life with each other for a month. I am pretty sure he will read it and hear my heart and faith through my words. God can use the smallest seed to bring us to Him. To this brilliant young man I am known well and will be even more so with the vulnerability of my story.

My heart is not to be well known but to be known well. My life motto is to Know Him and to make Him known. Whatever way I move forward with my words, I am confident He will use them in the way that is just right. For now I pray.

In Him,
Joyful
3-7-20