Mike Paschall . com

I was very moved by Rohr’s statement, the one I included in my last blog post:

When you discover love, you want to thank somebody for it.

This has to be true.

When I first started thinking about doing a writing project, Patti was the main source of chatter that it needed to happen.  I had indeed gotten many words about books and writing throughout my ministry years, but none of it really excited me.  We were in a transition vacuum (2009) between Texas, Colorado, and Georgia and I had the time to start formulating a plan to write some devotionals.  It was an experiment.  In all honesty, I didn’t have a whole lot of direction or clarity about who I was writing to when I started the devo project.  It was a couple months after writing the January batch of devos that Jon Egan (my son by marriage) challenged me to find my target group.  That was easy to do, but I hadn’t really ever thought of it.  Once I fixated on my target group, it became easy to speak up and be real.  Religious pretending makes us so damn fake.  So once I got serious about the devos, I knew I was not writing to “church people” per say.  My target was another set of ears.  I was fine with “church people” having the stuff, but I wasn’t going to water it down to soothe their pallet.

My natural children and their spouses were reading the stuff and keeping me moving forward.  They know all of my nonsense.  Their feedback had enormous weight.  Patti didn’t say a whole lot, but enough to let me know that she liked what I was doing.  It made her nervous, but she liked it.  I like her like that.

Then another gift showed up.  I don’t remember all the details, but Kayla (Phillips) Hindes found out what I was doing and she asked to read the stuff.  Not only did she read every devo I wrote, she gave daily feedback from her own journal.  Every single day she shared the stuff she was processing.  I’m pretty sure I was more excited about what she was giving me than what I was giving her.  The source of encouragement from her literally sustained me through that long season.  Every time I thought about tossing in the towel, here she came with unquenchable encouragement.  What a gift she has been to me through this process.  Thanks babe.  I owe you.

I had another group of people, I called the Devo Club, who read my stuff.  I didn’t get all the feedback I wanted from them, but I did get a continuous plea that I keep sending the work.  They wanted the stuff… and that was good enough to keep me going.

One person in the Devo Club was periodically sending me edits that made my work read better.  I started thinking about an editor early in 2012.  It had to be the right person.  Someone who got me and wouldn’t be offended with the content.  Easier said than done.  I just watched and prayed and believed all along that Erika Baldwin needed to be the one who handled the edit.  A legit “Super Mom” with full days of chasing a toddler, caring for a baby (not Bradley), who had a few things on her plate.  I talked quite a bit with Bradley before I ever even approached her.  The last thing I wanted was to be an intrusion on their family flow.  He was adamant of his support.  So I asked.  Natural and spiritual daughters might possibly be some of the most beautiful creatures that have ever walked this planet.  There are so many facets to their diamond like quality!  Erika is no exception!  Thanks babe.  I owe you.

Pulling off this email project for the devos happened because of one person.  The one, the only, Allison Johnston.  How she crammed this extra work into her already crowded life is a supreme mystery to me.  But, she did it without my ever really touching the details.  As I said earlier, I’m blessed with spiritual sons and daughters who think beyond their own comfort.  I’m blown away this is really happening.  Honey… thank you so much!  I owe you.

And you…  yeah, you… thank you.  I owe you.

xo