The email came at 2:30am. I didn’t read it until 7:30, after waking up from a dream in which people were looking through the “For You Love” devotional, and a dear friend said “Oh, this is much better than I thought. Honestly, when you first told me about your idea, I wasn’t that impressed.” I looked at her and said, “Why would you not have been honest with me when I shared the idea with you?” “Because I know how much it means to you. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” she responded.
The agent I had met on a speed-date at a writing conference was pleasant enough in her rejection note. She said that, while she personally liked my words, she didn’t see a demand in the marketplace for them. Unless she felt 80% sure she could sell an idea to a traditional publisher, she refused to sign someone. She wished me well.
Her words, “there’s not a demand,” along with the dream, colored the morning soaking-rain blue.
My mom taught me about soaking rains. “Soaking rains go deep,” she’d say. “They may make for messy days now, but they’ll make future days better.” Such truth. Soaking rains make for better days.
I texted four people, and all responded within minutes—Elora gave permission to ponder, Courtney gave permission to grieve, Kristy gave permission to wrestle and to stand firm. And Melissa said, “You want someone who delights in you and challenges you and walks with you and encourages you.” In that rain-soaked moment, I could smell the sweet fragrance of future days.
Two years later, I found that someone—an agent who believed in me. Karen has been faithful and focused, determined and most encouraging.
That day, I said I’d likely tell others about the note one day—I know so many of your stories, friends, and so that day is this day. I’ve watched you grow hopeful as the clouds begin to break, only to watch the skies darken again. I believe in future days for you. And I pray God plants good people in your life. Because on the soaking rain days, those people will hold you.
The soaking rain rejection note and encouragement from good people became the very thing that propelled a book proposal—a book that Revell is publishing. Lovely future days.
This is day six of my #hopewriterlife, and the them is #NOTE.