Today's Heartlift with Janell
Sometimes the story we tell ourselves is not really true. Sometimes the story others tell about us is not really true. On "Today's Heartlift with Janell," Author, Trauma-informed, board-certified marriage and family specialist, and Professional Heartlifter, Janell Rardon, opens conversations about how emotional health and mental fitness effects absolutely every area of our lives. When we possess and practice healthy, strong, resilient emotional health practices, life is so much better. Read Janell's newest book, "Stronger Every Day: 9 Tools for an Emotionally Healthy You."
Today's Heartlift with Janell
310. When Your World Ends: Seven Creative Strategies for Rebuilding Your Life with Dawn Mann Sanders
"At the heart of every why question beats a desire for healing and rebuilding, a yearning to find purpose and fulfillment once again" (Sanders).
In When Your World Ends, author Dawn Mann Sanders digs deep into the creation story and unearths a seven-step process by which God brings us out of the void of grief and loss and invites us into creativity and new beginnings. With her hard-earned unique perspective, authenticity, and courage, Dawn explores the transformative power of life’s unexpected invitations through the lens of grief and creativity.
Learn more about Dawn's book and work: When Your World Ends.
For more information on the Writing Conference, Dawn mentions: She Speaks 2025
Begin Your Heartlifter's Journey:
- Visit and subscribe to Heartlift Central on Substack. This is our new online coaching center and meeting place for Heartlifters worldwide.
- Download the "Overcoming Hurtful Words" Study Guide PDF: BECOMING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY
- Meet me on Instagram: @janellrardon
- Leave a review and rate the podcast: WRITE A REVIEW
- Learn more about my books and work: Janell Rardon
- Make a tax-deductible donation through Heartlift International
As I've listened to the stories of thousands of women of all ages in all kinds of stages through the years, I've kept their stories locked in the vault of my heart. I feel as if they've been walking around with me all through these years. They've bothered me, they've prodded me and sometimes kept me up at night. Ultimately, they've increased my passion to reframe and reimagine the powerful positions of mother and matriarch within the family system. I'm a problem solver, so I set out to find a way to perhaps change the trajectory of this silent and sad scenario about a dynamic yet untapped source of potential and purpose sitting in our homes and churches. It is time to come to the table, heartlifters, and unleash the power of maternal presence into the world. Welcome to Mothering for the Ages, our 2025 theme. Here on today's Heartlift. I'm Janelle. I am your guide here on this heartlifting journey. I invite you to grab a pen, a journal and a cup of something really delicious. May today's conversation Give you clarity, courage and a revived sense Of camaraderie. You see, you're not on this journey alone. We are unified as heartlifters and committed to bringing change Into the world One, one heart at a time. Hello, heartlifters, I am so happy to be with you today. I have finally recovered, I think, from the flu that has swept our nation. Well, it decided to sweep me off my feet and it has put me behind, but if you look at it from a God perspective which I have tried to do I think it arrived at just the right time. I'll be talking more about it later and over on Substack, but for today I want to bring a conversation to you that I had, oh, a few months ago. You know, life has a way of taking over our schedule and I have tried to go with the flow of that and not kick against it. Sometimes I scratch my head and sometimes I just think, lord, I'm disappointing people, but he is the God of all and I really trust the God who watches over my life. Watches over my life. Today I bring to you this very rich invitational conversation with author Dawn Mann Sanders. She penned when your World Ends God's Creative Process for Rebuilding a Life.
Speaker 1:Dawn writes in chapter one, right at the beginning. It's about the invitation. What was the last invitation you received? If you can't remember off the top of your head, consider these An advertisement is an invitation to buy something, a phone call is an invitation to talk, listen or both. Hunger is an invitation to eat, possibly to savor, and breathing well, breathing is an invitation to live. Basically, our lives are sequences of invitations and our responses to them. But not all invitations are desired or pleasurable. I add, as I have just experienced with this tyrannical flu. A sink full of dirty dishes is an invitation to clean. A long line is an invitation to wait. A yard covered in dead leaves is an invitation to rake. Those are mild examples of less desirable biddings. Invitations can get much worse. She writes Living through the end of the world as I knew it.
Speaker 1:On June 10, 2011,. God woke me up in the morning after my husband, reggie's death. To say his death wasn't a desired or pleasurable invitation is the understatement of my life, the loss of my husband equated to the end of the world as I knew it. The last thing I wanted to do that morning was to live in a world without him in it. In the words of Michelle Obama, it hurts to live after someone has died. When God woke me up that morning, he invited me into what felt, felt key, like an impossible situation. As far as I was concerned, it simply couldn't be done. I couldn't do it. I didn't want to do it. My husband had just died and I was powerless to change it.
Speaker 1:Yet in moments of despair, invitations hold immense power. They have the ability to transform lives and shape destinies. How we respond to these invitations determines the course of our journey. They can create the possible and the impossible. That morning, amid my grief, god invited me into the impossible.
Speaker 1:For the next several nights I dripped to sleep, begging God to allow me. To wake up the next morning and realize my husband's death was a terrible dream. I even implored God to take me to. Don't get me wrong I wasn't suicidal. I didn't want to die, nor did I do anything other than pray to end my time here on earth. You see, as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, as we say here, I believe and fully embrace that I have everlasting life. Therefore, I'll see my husband again in heaven. Everlasting life. Therefore, I'll see my husband again in heaven. Why stay here when my partner in this life, the person I valued most and who gave me a reason to get up in the morning, wasn't here? I was simply letting God know I was ready to join my husband whenever he was ready to let me. In other words, I didn't want to wait for our reunion. If I didn't have to, I prayed because the events unfolding in my life were beyond my control. If they'd been within my power, my husband wouldn't have died in the first place.
Speaker 1:There are several keys, heartlifters, as to why I wanted to bring this conversation here. It's still the beginnings of a new year. Sure, we're almost at the end of February, but I feel like we have a lot of year left to live, and there will be many, many invitations coming our way that might really be amazing, remarkable, fantastic. I love those kind of invitations but there also might be some invitations to walk into a period of sorrow or grief, or perhaps unearth some things in our lives that need to be addressed, like unforgiveness, holding grudges, anger, maybe some shadow sides that God is inviting us. Now's the time, now is the Kairos time to unearth these things. You're ready. Unearth these things. You're ready. You're ready.
Speaker 1:And, as I just said, I mean how can the flu be invitational? Well, I have to say it was so invitational to me. It came out of nowhere, out of the blue, as they say, and knocked me down for the count. It felt very much like COVID that I had two years ago in exactly the same month, and yet I tested positive for the flu not COVID but the impact it had on me by slaying me, putting me down and out, really awakened me to some deeper truths in my life that I needed to face. That's for another conversation, but it was invitational, and so there might be some invitations this year that I wanted you to be prepared for, because a huge part of the work that we do here is to be emotionally whole, to be emotionally intelligent, to have healthy sense of self and behavior patterns and communication skills that all lead us to a remarkable spiritual resilience in life.
Speaker 1:And that is what we need in this day and in this age in which we live, especially as mothers, as the maternal presence in the world, in our spheres, and so, in light of that, I want to be a woman, a maternal presence, who is well-equipped to receive any and all invitations that my God, that I love and and serve, might send my way. So let's really take heed to Dawn's words. She has lived through the impossible and has come forth from this dark valley of the darkest night of her soul with incredible wisdom to share with us, so that we too will be able to face the insurmountable Welcome Dawn to the show. Welcome Dawn, welcome to the show, and thank you for persevering. And thank you for helping us already create order in the face of disorder. I cannot wait to hear how you have done this in your own life. Welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, Janelle, for inviting me. I thank your listeners for listening to me. It is a real honor to be here today.
Speaker 1:Your story. So, before we dive in, because there's a lot to dive into how has this process of authoring? Is this your first book? It is my first book, oh my gosh, and it's with Ivy Press Girl.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, what on earth? And it's with IP Press Girl. Yes, ma'am, the Lord has really been gracious. He has opened up doors all along the way of my journey and it's just been a real joy to walk alongside him, to join him in the creation of my life, as I share in the book and in the creation of this aspect of my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Did you just for my aspiring authors, because there are many that listen did you go to a writer's conference? Did you just pitch this, send it?
Speaker 2:in. Well, if I may have a minute or two to just briefly share the whole journey.
Speaker 2:God actually put writing and speaking on my heart over 25 years ago and I want to share that because I'm sure that I'm not the only person that the Lord spoke to a while ago, a while ago. I like that and I want to encourage them that the seed that God planted years ago may still be germinating and that you know to persevere in that. If you heard the Lord, then you know his word will not return to you void, just stand on his promises. So yeah, 25 years ago I was listening to Joyce Meyer. Love it you write about her, I love it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, 25 years ago I was listening to Joyce Meyer speak. You write about her, I love it.
Speaker 2:And she was sharing about one of her books and I just felt in my spirit that I could do that. It was even before Janelle. I knew that God had gifted me to teach, yes. But then, yeah, he did, he gifted me. Well, he had already gifted me to teach, but I started, you know, taking classes at my church, ultimately transitioned to seminary because God, you know, he told me that I was a teacher and he told me to go get equipped to teach. And I take that very, that responsibility very seriously, because the Bible says that teachers will be held to a higher standard.
Speaker 2:And so I did. I was like oh no, don't let me get caught. So I did that and then, you know, like a lot of people, I, you know, was like David, where I was out in the field, in the pasture, just working along, taking, you know, preparing in various ways, working in different ministries, and met A man who became my first husband, got divorced, not least of which I believe, because he was a Muslim.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I was unequally yoked and came to understand later that with the mantle God had on my life, I could not be yoked to someone of a different faith. And so that gentleman divorced me because as a Christian I didn't feel that I could do it. But God placed it on his heart to divorce me and our struggles were around religious differences.
Speaker 1:That was the crux of our problem and didn't really think beforehand that it would be a problem. I think that yeah.
Speaker 2:You know I was crazy in love number one and number two. I was actually drawn to his conviction, his strong convictions. I didn't realize we both thought once we shared with the other one about our faith, that we would, one of us would convert, Would choose and convert Right, and it just did not happen. It really for me, finding answers to all of his questions and challenges just strengthened my faith and we ultimately divorced. Wow, Then God brought another man into my life. Over 10 years later. I was nearing the age of 40. So was he. But because we had had each of us, a series of unproductive and unhealthy relationships, we were just really happy and excited. We understood what we had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:And now you know it entered into a courtship, ultimately a marriage, was, you know, now equally yoked with a godly man who is moving forward in not only ministry, but felt that part of the anointing God had placed on his life was to cover me and my ministry.
Speaker 1:Yes, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful of the anointing God had placed on his life was to cover me and my ministry.
Speaker 2:Yes, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And so, like I said, we entered into this marriage. He was a youth minister and, even though I was nearing the age of 40 and had given up on the idea of children, I thought I would marry again, but did not know whether or not the Lord would allow me to have children. What's basically like? Okay, lord, if it's just going to be me and him, I'm okay with that and so. But because he was a youth minister and very much wanted to have children, found myself dreaming again about having not only a husband, but children.
Speaker 1:Wow, oh, that's going to really hit home to several, several, many.
Speaker 2:I asked him, though. I said, you know, I know, you know, you know we're over 40 at this point, but can I have a year by my you know, just us, Just with you, Just with you, to have that foundation before we try to have children? And he gave me that. And then, you know, a year into our marriage, we decided, okay, we're going to try to have children. And I was actually amazed, Janelle, that at 42, I could get pregnant. That's fantastic. Three months later found myself pregnant, shared that with him. Of course, he was overjoyed Over the moon we lost the baby, I know.
Speaker 2:And it was a devastating time, not just for the obvious reason, but I had asked him if we could keep it just between us for a couple of weeks, and not because I was afraid, but just because I just liked, you know, having this thing that was ours, I love that, this thought that you know this, this blossoming life that was ours for a moment, before you know, like a wedding gets shared with everyone else, right? And he said, you know, yes, of course we could do that, but before we could share it with anyone else, we lost it. And I share that because we walk that grief alone.
Speaker 2:Because, it's one thing to invite people into the joy of a new life forming and all of that. It's quite another to invite people into your pain and your suffering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:And to do that without allowing them the joy.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:And so we chose to keep that the whole pregnancy a secret for a long time. Until we got pregnant again, we didn't share it with anyone. Until we got pregnant again, we didn't share it with anyone. But we, instead of keeping it a secret, I said you know what, let's just tell people. And not because I was concerned lot more prevalent than I ever imagined, 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage and I decided that I wanted to share that journey, the whole journey, and trust the Lord with this whole journey. So we shared it with people. And then several more weeks, we made it to about 10 weeks of pregnancy before we lost this child. And then, six weeks after the loss of our second child, I lost my husband.
Speaker 1:I know, dawn, I have the privilege of having read and reread and pre-read, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I just realized your question was actually about my book journey.
Speaker 1:This is your book.
Speaker 2:journey though it is yeah, it is my book journey this is your book journey though? It is, yeah, it is my book journey, and so, all of a sudden, reggie is his name Yep Reggie is his name and six months before, while we're trying to have children right, I left my job, my corporate job, to go into full-time ministry, Because when we lost the first child, as I said, though, we were hurt, and I don't- want to minimize that pain.
Speaker 2:I was overjoyed, like I said, that I could even get pregnant, and so we were believing that this was going to happen, that having a miscarriage Exactly, though I didn't know how common it was. It wasn't uncommon to have a miscarriage. The second one, though, was completely devastating, because I had no idea how common double miscarriages were, or infertility and all of that, I was believing we were going to get pregnant. Even after the second miscarriage I was believing we were going to get pregnant. I just was in so much confusion and pain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you talk a fog. Darkening of the fog? Yeah, a fog, because.
Speaker 2:I couldn't understand. I was like God. I thought this was the kind of family you would want to have your children to train up your children. He's a youth pastor right, I just very much was confused, and so was my husband. He was floored.
Speaker 1:Floored. Have you ever been floored? I know that I have and I have no doubt you probably have been as well. So I want to do something a little different with my conversation with Dawn and pause it intermittently during our time and inject here God's creative process as Dawn lived it. She gives us seven profound steps to move through God's creative process during these very difficult times when there is something that stops our life. And then how do we start our life again? She tells us. The Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth in six days, setting the stage for the first lives he created.
Speaker 1:As we look back on our own profound journey of understanding God's creative process, we are invited to re-examine seven transformative steps. Each step represents a pivotal moment in our creative partnership with God. You see, I'm interjecting here. We are in partnership. I'm not sure where you are on your spiritual journey, heartlifter, maybe you're seeking, maybe you are deconstructing. You know that word that's being thrown around about figuring out your journey of faith, figuring out church systems, just figuring out, in this time of life, where you are on your faith journey. So she says, you know, each step represents a pivotal moment, offering profound insights and inspiring stories. So let's dive in, she says, and review these steps. So step one is to remain connected. So here Dawn and her husband are floored. She writes after God removes the confusion Now there's no timetable on that, we discover that God didn't immediately bring something into existence when he was creating the world.
Speaker 1:Instead, the first action God took was to hover. This concept gives us pause, because when we wait with God, we find ourselves in limbo, poised between two realms. We could call that a liminal state. In this state, we learn to follow God's lead as he hovers, staying close at hand and awaiting his guidance. By hovering, we reconnect with God and remain connected, marking the initial step in God's magnificent creative process. Step two is to seize the moment. While God has a plan for creation and invites us to follow his example, we can often, if not always, be uncertain about what steps to take next. But then we discovered that the darkness mentioned in Genesis 1-2 symbolizes our lack of knowledge or understanding of God's will. This darkness indicates that we have yet to comprehend God's intended process. This is where we will pick up with Dawn, because she had no idea after these two miscarriages, because she had no idea after these two miscarriages that a very dark invitation was about to come into her life, and that is with the death of her beloved Reggie.
Speaker 2:He passed away six weeks later, suddenly, suddenly.
Speaker 1:He was out jogging.
Speaker 2:Which he had been doing for 18 months. He had been diagnosed with diabetes and went out jogging, which he had been doing for 18 months.
Speaker 2:He had been diagnosed with diabetes and went out jogging and had a massive coronary. They believe he died before he hit the ground. It was the hottest day of the year up until that moment, and it was lunchtime when he went, and so I wonder how much that contributed to it. But you know, the Bible says that we all have an appointed time, and so it was this time it is appointed. Yeah, In an instant he was gone and, like I said, I had left my corporate job and so and I was home alone, basically, and was very, very lost.
Speaker 1:Yes, very very lost.
Speaker 2:I wound up going back to work three years later to support myself, and a few years after that, in 2015, he passed away. In 2011, I started a blog. I felt God calling me back to the writing and the speaking. Here we go, but this time my husband and I. Our ministry was for couples navigating primarily relationships. Yep, it was named A Court of Blue.
Speaker 1:Why I want to take a deep breath and know why I kept thinking okay, what court is blue in the scriptures but a cord of blue?
Speaker 2:Yes, in Numbers, god tells the Israelites to sew a cord of blue into the tassels of their garment. And so you know the story where you hear about the woman with the issue of blood grab the hem of his garment. It was one of those tassels, most likely, that she grabbed, and blue is the color of deity, and so God asked them to sew a blue cord to remind them of him, to help them be obedient. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not their power, it's not, it's his power, it's his of his doing, his doing, wow. So here you are in this marital couple, you know ministry and Reggie decides. Well, he didn't decide. God said it's time, your time.
Speaker 1:You're only six weeks out in grief of the loss of a second baby. So, yeah, yeah. So Dawn began living here into step three and step four of God's creative process. Here her and Reggie had this ministry, a Court of Blue, to premarital and marital counseling and coaching of couples. And now she is finding herself grieving over the loss of her husband, and God invites her. Finding herself grieving over the loss of her husband, and God invites her. Here is another beautiful invitation to start a blog, but, as you will hear, it wasn't a blog about marriage or premarital.
Speaker 1:Step three is create space to breathe and a source of light. This is what this blog invited Dawn into. After receiving a vision from God, write this blog. We learn how to sustain our relationship with him over the long haul, even while we still ache from our loss, the blocker, our emotions. The path to sustainability, our spiritual lives require a constant flow of the breath of life the Holy Spirit, as we identify this breath and living water the Holy Spirit. Thus we learn to create pipelines for this continuous flow through the practice of spiritual disciplines. We talk about these a lot here silence, solitude, simplicity, service and Sabbath. By embracing these disciplines, we can experience a life of abundance.
Speaker 1:Step four, she moved into sow productive seeds in fertile soil. This is what Dawn did under the guidance, under the love, the lavish love, of our Heavenly Father. Once we discover the sustainable practices that nourish our spiritual well-being and vitality, we eagerly anticipate a fresh start. We can witness the genesis of life in the creation narrative, as God commanded the fertile soil to yield bountiful fruits. This revelation enlightens us to the importance of sowing productive seeds in fertile soil. So Dawn is beginning to sow productive seeds, as she is implementing these contemplative practices in her spiritual soul, and she starts to plant them in fertile soil. And let's just see what God does.
Speaker 2:God told me to write about adversity, overcoming adversity, because that's where I was. I was, I had some serious adversity especially around relationships.
Speaker 2:Right, my divorce and now widowhood. And so I started right. So I still had a high relationship bent, but I was writing about overcoming adversity. I wrote that blog for a while and then the enemy creeped in in the form of overtime on this job that I had taken on, and so the blog kind of lapsed. Yes, and then God placed it on my heart a few years later to study the creation story.
Speaker 1:And when I started studying.
Speaker 2:Oh, one other thing. Well, let me say this about the creation story, and then I'll go back. So I started studying the creation story and I thought it was for me Janelle, I didn't think it was for everyone, I was doing it out of obedience for me. And I got as far as the second verse into the creation story where, if I may for your listeners, in the New King James reads In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. Being without form, unproductive, being void, empty and dark, uncertain very much described the life that I had in the days following my husband's death and what I was writing about when I was talking about overcoming adversity, and so I made immediate connection between this passage of scripture and my life.
Speaker 1:Yes, I can see.
Speaker 2:And then I, of course, being a good Bible student, read the whole passage of scripture and saw. Because when I went, when God told me to study this passage, I was asking him how do I create this new life? You've told me to create a new life, one without my husband. How do I do this? Yeah, that's quite the void Right. And he sent me to this passage. As I'm reading through this passage, normally we don't think about creating a new life until we get to chapter two, but I immediately made a second connection. But I immediately made a second connection because in verse 26, right, the Lord said let us make man in our image, male and female, let us make them. And I said, it clicked for me immediately that he created the first two lives in this passage we didn't have to wait until chapter two with Adam and Eve that the first two lives were created here and that the next thing he did was bless them to be fruitful and multiply, at a time when I felt fruitless and minimal.
Speaker 2:In division Right I am divided into a million parts. Right. He put us in a position of power. We entered into his rest and I said, Lord, how do I get more of that? He said dig deeper, and so I did.
Speaker 2:And so talking about this, my writing journey. So I'm I'm doing this. So I wanted to go back a minute because six months before Reggie passed away, right as I was leaving my corporate job, six months before Reggie passed away, right as I was leaving my corporate job, a writer's conference, the she Speaks conference came up on my radar.
Speaker 1:I'll put that in the show notes.
Speaker 2:It had been on my radar for years, to be honest with you, but I was now in a position. I'm in full-time ministry, I'm going to go to this writer's conference. So I signed up to go to this writer's conference.
Speaker 1:You go, go girl.
Speaker 2:Three months later I published my first freelance article After the conference. No, three months before, after I signed up for the conference, so you hadn't even been to the conference, yet Hadn't been to the conference yet, and you're already selling your freelance writing Wow.
Speaker 2:God was. You know God was opening up doors. I felt, I felt like you know I was on the right path. Um a week before reggie dies, we get our first um paid speaking engagement. It was a six-week teaching um six session teaching for six weeks um. And then a week later, oh, Dawn that's like triple, quadruple grief.
Speaker 1:That was your ministry together. Six weeks after his passing Layers and layers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, layers and layers. Six weeks after his passing is the conference. Oh God, I've already paid for it. A dear friend agrees to go with me Six weeks. I was totally unprepared. You know, when I registered for this, I had, I had hired a writing coach.
Speaker 1:I was going to put together a proposal.
Speaker 2:I was going to go to this.
Speaker 1:I'm on it. You were completely unprepared. In fact, it took all of my emotional energy just to show up and that to show up in that I've been there and and the electric energy of positivity and here you're walking in. Just grief is on the right side, loss is on the left side and you're just like let's try to walk a little bit. Yeah, that's an overwhelming atmosphere to walk into, exactly If you're grieving.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly so. Needless to say, I met with a agent during this. Nothing came of that. I had no one sheet, I had no right.
Speaker 1:I didn't have any of the right tools.
Speaker 2:Abc you know, and she was like she gave me some tips and everything that basically went in one ear and out the other and I came home and several more years went by. Okay, I'm listening to God about what's next, yeah, and God says, you know, he brings up on my radar the she Speaks conference again, because I had been studying this passage I saw that it was a rich passage A girlfriend of mine, right after I started studying it, inviting me to be a speaker at her conference and I went and spoke on this topic and the theme of the conference was living through the end of the world, as you know it, because it was COVID, and I said I know just the passage.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, yes, I am ready.
Speaker 2:That became my mantra. I was like I'm living through the world, the end of the world as we know as I knew it as you knew it.
Speaker 1:You say that a lot as I knew it.
Speaker 2:As I knew it. Yeah, this passage is so rich and I realized that, as I'm doing this speaking engagement, I only spoke on the first two verses.
Speaker 1:You didn't need to do any more.
Speaker 2:God says to me this is your book. Yeah, this is a rich passage. It is enough for a book, not just a blog post. You've been writing blog posts. This is a book, okay, not just a blog post. You've been writing blog posts. This is a book. So I hire a writing coach. The first thing the writing coach says to me after she reads my passage, my first couple of chapters of the book, she says to me Dawn, I think you can get a traditional book contract. You can be traditionally published. I was like you think so. I was thinking I'd be self-published, right. She was like no, I think you can get a book contract. You know you can't be traditionally published. I was like you think so. I was thinking I'd be self-published, right. She was like no, I think you can get a book deal. So she planted that seed.
Speaker 1:I love encouragement.
Speaker 2:Right, so that was in November. The next January I get an email about the she Speaks conference and in my spirit I'm like, should I go? But before I sign up I want to talk to my writing coach about which agents to make appointments with, which publishers to talk to.
Speaker 1:Just to let the audience know those of you who are listening, because I have had several people reach out lately about writing a book, that kind of thing, and I'm always like, of course, follow God's directives, right, but go to a conference and one of the things you do you just dropped out, you do a one sheet which is just a beautiful description of the book that you're writing, and you go and have 15 minute usually meetings with editors, agents yeah, different publishing houses are there, so that's what you were preparing. This time You're going to walk through the doors a different woman.
Speaker 2:This time I was going to be prepared right, that's right. Right, and so I met with her two days after I saw the email Right. As soon as I finished my conversation with her, I log on. All of the appointments are full. I can still go to the conference, but there are no appointments. So now I'm like God say this is your season. That is not your opportunity, and so I said I got to write that down, right? All right, god, it's not my season.
Speaker 1:I mean, this is my season, this is my season.
Speaker 2:But that was not my opportunity, but that was not.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 2:And so I'm like okay, that was not, I like that and so I'm like okay. So a week later, or two weeks later, one or two weeks later, I get another email right From same organization compel about the book proposal bootcamp yes, and.
Speaker 2:God says I feel it in my spirit this is your season and this is your opportunity. I love that. Those of you who know Lisa Turkhurst and her COMPEL training program know that she gives great training and it usually comes with some sort of contest. I like to say carrot right and of course I wanted to win. I did not win, but I went in it hoping I would win Right, and so I was-.
Speaker 1:Because that involves a book contract right?
Speaker 2:Yes, Because that involves a book contract and it was with Thomas Nelson.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's great I was like I want to do my best effort, but she also said, as part of the marketing material, only one person's going to get a book contract. We're going to take a hundred or so people, only one person's going to get a book contract, but the rest of you, if you do the work, will have a book proposal, an awesome book proposal, that you can take to an agent and or a publisher and get your book contract. Yeah, so I did the work and I took my book proposal to an agent the number one agent that I wanted to see if I had gone to the she Speaks conference though I took it to other agents as well, but I took it to all the ones who were on my list. Actually, I got to know them and so I did that, but the number one one on my list offered to represent me.
Speaker 1:So, heartlifter, this is the perfect time to bring to us step five and step six of God's creative process. Now, maybe you do not have a desire in your life to write a book or to become a public speaker, but I do know. I know you well enough. I believe that you have desires. I know you well enough. I believe that you have desires, that you're seeking purpose, that you might have a deep passion, that you think well, god has passed me by. Maybe I'm too old. Well, I have four children under my feet. There's no way that I am going to have any opportunities outside of this time of taking care of my children.
Speaker 1:I've been there, believe me, but in every season of my own life I have had deep desires to do things for God. Yes, for me it includes writing content, writing books, teaching, podcasting, et cetera. But what might your passion be? I share this part of Dawn's story and her journey through grief while holding her passion in the other hand. You know we hold things in two hands here, and so step five is shine your light at the right time. Boy, if you can't trace timing in Dawn's story chronos time and Kairos time she wants to go to this conference and everything is filled. So what does she do now? She just continued to seek, and at the right time, it was time to shine her light, and so she writes we need energy to sow seeds, but where do we find it? From sunlight, both literally and figuratively, by placing light sources in the sky. God established days, years and seasonal signs that promote consistent access for abundant growth. That is a promise. Likewise, we shine when we engage in regular activities that equip and empower us to use our spiritual gifts.
Speaker 1:I was recently watching a show on Netflix Sweet Magnolias. There are so many profound, beautiful words in that series, and one of them was. God doesn't give us talents to hide them right, and we know that in our head, but I want it to make it all the way down to your heart. There is no time frame on our gifts. One of my heroes is the beautiful Caleb in the book of Numbers, and Caleb, it says, is stronger at 80 than he was at 40. Well, that is my promise. Is stronger at 80 than he was at 40. Well, that is my promise.
Speaker 1:And then, in step six, we embody and engage with the help. This creative activity awakens new hope and possibility within us for a life of abundance. You see, here Dawn is in a season of deep grief, a grief I do not know at this point she is in such deep grief, but there's a stirring in her soul to continue to want to do something with her suffering. She has this passion to share, to teach and to write. What is it that's stirring in your soul?
Speaker 1:If we try to move forward on our own, though, we collapse, just as the earth's ecosystem would collapse if it lacked biodiversity. No worry, though. Again, again, god provides, as biodiversity relies on team players. Our progress depends on collaboration within the diverse body of Christ, christ's provision, seen in the abundant creatures on earth invites us to use our gifts for the benefits of others and to glorify God Together. Together that's teamwork we achieve great things and experience abundance. Well, this writing coach, this agent, these friends, all of these people came around Dawn and led her into this next season of productivity. Let's continue and learn about step seven as we hear Dawn's story.
Speaker 2:And the last step is play your role. And that corresponds to us being created in the likeness and image of God. And so, with the likeness and the image, we are to be like Jesus, right To both draw people to Jesus, right, and to so we bring people closer, right. But we're also supposed to be becoming closer ourselves.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:As representatives. Most critical, so we're representatives in spirit more so than in physical likeness.
Speaker 1:Yes, I would agree.
Speaker 2:Yes, but we are representatives of him. We are so we're supposed to be growing closer to Jesus and as we grow closer to Jesus, draw people closer to Jesus Dawn, before we bid ourselves adieu.
Speaker 1:what is one practice, one way, something you learned in the dark, in that very dark place that helps you draw closer to Jesus? Is there a practice in your life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's being creative.
Speaker 1:I love it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because this is the creation story right.
Speaker 1:Look at your face You're radiant.
Speaker 2:This is the creation story.
Speaker 1:It is the creation story. It is the creation story.
Speaker 2:One of the overarching things that I think is just so powerful, that I learned is that courage isn't just facing my fears, but it's expressing my creativity or walking in my purpose despite them. Because many of us, because of the fears, because of the challenges that we have encountered, allow our creativity to dampen, we stop walking in our purpose and when God invites us, because that's what he's doing right.
Speaker 1:It's an invitation. The whole book is an invitation, yeah.
Speaker 2:To join Him in creating our lives, our communities, our environments, our families, our world. Right, he's asking us to. You know, be more like Him, Be more creative.
Speaker 1:To be creative. Yes, what does that mean? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:I am all in, exactly Because it can look a hundred different ways, may not feel that they're like oh, I'm not an artist, I'm not a writer, I'm not a painter. Hey, you can be a bridge builder, you can be a website designer, you can be a sales person.
Speaker 1:I mean just make beautiful loaves of bread and give them to people or a cup of tea. Exactly All of those take creativity. Yes.
Speaker 2:Exactly when you think about it. You cannot do it without creativity.
Speaker 1:You can't, and I love that. So we will explore more of how we can expand our understanding of that word creativity, because it really just means to make something out of nothing. That's really what create means make something out of nothing.
Speaker 2:And that's exactly what Use your imagination.
Speaker 1:Use the God-given imagination. It's vivid, it's bright. Look at how God created the world. Settle into the Genesis one and read it again. I have a lovely audio meditation that goes with Genesis two, but it's just read it. Put yourself there, close your eyes. I just close. I'm going to close in prayer. I don't normally do this, that's okay. Or, if you would want to pray, as you like, either way.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll just. I just really want everyone to take a breath and receive. Open your hands Now. If you're driving, you need to wait, but open your hands and receive. I just see an explosion. I just see like an explosion of creativity exploding over everyone listening. And what's falling out of that explosion? Into your hands? What aspect of creative imagination is God speaking to you? What is one creative act that you can do in response to the seeds that Dawn has planted? Just one, one creative act creative act yeah.
Speaker 1:Are you sensing or feeling anything, Dawn Just?
Speaker 2:Yeah, god has a number of things that he's been downloading to me as my book has launched that are going to be the next things that I work on, and so, yeah, I'm hearing him on those things and trying not to get ahead of him, though, just letting him download, because I tend to, you know, when he tells me the vision, I tend to start working immediately sometimes. And, yeah, I got to rest from the last thing, that's right.
Speaker 1:First Enjoy the fruit of your labor and what we do is we source short circuits.
Speaker 2:sometimes we do His download right. We only get the first few images, or the first few pages, or the first few, and we get so excited. But the picture would be much richer, I believe, if we, you know, waited until he was done.
Speaker 1:That's right. Don't rush the process. Exactly, yeah. In Jesus name.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, and thank you for allowing me to just share my story. Love it, that's what we're all about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that many seeds were planted and thrown out into the listening community. Thank you so much. Thank you, heartlifter. Do you sense a new beginning? What did you capture in your hands when the explosion of creativity came through our closing prayer? Be sure to meet me at heart lip central on substack. All the connecting points are on our show notes and, if you would be so kind, please make a tax-deductible donation to Heart Lift International, our 5013C sponsor for our podcast. Heartlifter, remember as you go forth and express your creativity in the world, as you go forth and express your creativity in the world, that you have value, worth and dignity.
