I was discouraged. I’d spend thousands to publish The Cross Donkey with no promise of making my money back. It would take a miracle. Why continue to drain our finances and work to publish without financial success? Then we had a printing error, which took two weeks to fix. The time frame to sell was shortened. Anxiety ensued, but I pressed onward. I’m working part-time to save for future projects, which is tiring while caring for Mom. But God says I must trust, do good, dwell, delight, commit, rest, and wait. These instructions are given in Psalm 37:3-7. 

I received some encouragement when I met Taiana Kochan, who illustrated The Cross Donkey. She agreed to attend my launch party and cosign books together. We share a desire to spread the gospel through our work, so our connection to God is ordained. Our conversation solidified continued collaborations. But there’s more to this union.

I received an email the day after we signed books together. She and her husband Alexey serve international students through their ministry organization located in East Tennessee. They’d shared the gospel with two Asian students who’d never heard about Jesus. Alexey took the students to their room in Tatiana’s car. She’d left the books I’d given her the day before, and one of the students was intrigued by her illustration of Jesus on the cross. They asked for a copy of The Cross Donkey to study it. God inspired me to add back matter, with scripture references, to share the gospel message in more detail.

I’ve prayed for international outreach, and God answered.  Whose Manger is This?, The Cross Donkey, and all future projects are committed to my Lord’s care. I’m striving to dwell and delight in Him. I’ll keep writing, publishing, resting, and waiting. 

Publishing isn’t about the money invested or earned but about reaching souls with the gospel message. I got a miracle. Reaching souls is success. I’m thankful for this unexpected international outreach.

God will do this for me and you…

….give thee the desires of thine heart.….bring it to pass…..

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgement as the noonday.

Psalm 37:4b,5b, and 6