For those of you who have heard me tell the story of my first book sale, you’ll immediately recognize that selling Heartsong had God’s fingerprints all over it. Just a month earlier I’d received a devastating rejection from an editor I’d met at a writer’s conference. She’d reviewed my proposal and had nothing good to say about it. I asked if she would read it again if I rewrote the story. She looked me directly in the eye and told me that no amount of rewriting would ever make this book worthy of print and that the best thing I could do was toss it in the garbage.

I loved this story. Without question there was room for me to grow as a writer (there still is!) but the gift God gave me is that of a storyteller. I refused to believe her and so I sent off a query letter to a different publisher. Then every day I waited for a response. One day, I could not stand to wait any longer. I didn’t care if New York wanted to read that manuscript or not, I was mailing it off! I loaded the kids in the car and headed to the post office.

When we returned, I found the answer to my query letter in the mail. The editor had taken a Sharpie pen and written across the top in big black letters: DO NOT MAIL US YOUR MANUSCRIPT, WE ARE NOT BUYING AT THIS TIME. Three weeks later she called and purchased the book. If I had waited a half hour I would never have mailed off that manuscript.

I’ll always remember that day and am grateful every time I see God’s fingerprints on my life and the lives of others.