“Jesus, if you want this book to happen, you’re going to have to blow open all the doors, because I am NOT going to push for this.”
That was the prayer when the inspiration first hit me. I had never WANTED to write a book because I never felt I had anything worthwhile to say. I wasn’t an “expert” in anything.
But as soon as I told Dave about the crazy idea to write a book for “tired parents,” we couldn’t ignore it anymore. And for months we TRIED to ignore the idea, but everything kept coming back to the book. It’s as though Jesus didn’t just BLOW OPEN the door – He was HOLDING IT OPEN as we were trying to slam it shut.
I didn’t want to write a book.
I didn’t WANT to write a book.
But we prayed, “Jesus, if you want this book to happen, you’d better help us out. We can’t do this on our own.”
And He did. He helped in more ways than Dave or I could have imagined.
He put the people in our life who would manage the administrative and legal aspects.
He had already given me the platform, the resources, and the relevant practice.
And, what we didn’t realize at the time was that He was preparing us for the honor of truly becoming TIRED PARENTS. Becoming like “experts,” so to speak.
You see, as we were in the process of signing the book contract, we found out a priest friend of ours was in an incredibly difficult situation and needed to take a leave of absence from his vocation as a diocesan priest.
Grieved, I told another priest friend of ours that I would offer all my sufferings for the good of our friend in need.
Two days later, our neighbor’s house burned down, nearly took ours with it, and left us displaced for six weeks. That was just the beginning of an awful time that rocked and wrecked us: the trauma of watching a fire threaten our home; my infant daughter and I going to the ER due to smoke inhalation; headaches of insurance claims and restoration contractors; uncertainty; incalculable loss; both of us trying to work full time while living in a hotel with three kids under the age of five; alllll the incredibly complicated fallout of the fire… and trying to write a book.
I never wanted to write a book.
And I certainly didn’t want to write a book while living in a hotel.
But God knew what He was doing – He was using us as a focus group for the principles we discussed in the book. We experienced the heartache, the suffering, and the exhaustion. We had to practice the concepts and stay faithful to the strategies we fleshed out. We had to pray the prayers we’re now sharing with you.
Tired parents, we get what you’re going through. We’ve been through it too.
And this book is not a memoir or a touting of our own holiness (Jesus, have mercy on us if it were!), but it’s a sharing in our cross as parents, so you can carry your cross too.
We didn’t want to write a book.
We didn’t WANT to write a book.
But I’m glad that God saw the process to its completion, and that He gave us everything we needed to do this for His glory.
