A Teachable Spirit

Starry Eyed

I recently took a trip to North Carolina. I went there for a Christian Writers Conference. To be honest, it was amazing. It was at that conference I was able to find the one and only Katrina Glover with kikaDESIGN, https://www.kikawebdesign.com/ who helped me rebuild my entire site. She did amazing work.

However, one of the greatest takeaways for me while I was there was that I need to have a teachable spirit. I need to be willing to listen to what it is God is telling me and be okay with pruning and leading. 

One of my goals in going to the conference was to learn as much as I could about publishing my next book. But if I am being honest, I also hoped that I would share my book idea with a literary agent and they would be immediately in love with it and want to sign me into a book deal right away. 

Have you ever wanted to do something, but didn’t know how? Or have you ever wanted something and just kind of hoped it would fall right into your lap without any work on your part?

If you are someone who has the luck of things falling right into your lap, then I want to be your friend so you can teach me how too!!

The Golden Unicorn

Almost immediately when I arrived at this conference, I just so happened to have a chance meeting with what some would say the golden unicorn in Christian Literary Agents. He was super kind and even invited me share my pitch with him. 

To be clear, this in my mind was the chance of a lifetime. I was in awe, but I had never pitched to an agent before so I had zero idea what I was doing. But I did it anyway. I stumbled over every single word, I was so nervous, and to be honest made a complete fool of myself and the book I had just written. 

And you know what this golden unicorn did? He told me what a mess it all was, gave me a few pointers, and walked away leaving me blindsided by having my hope pulled right out from under me. 

I called my husband and told him I clearly had no business being there and I wanted to come home. I was devastated. I didn’t even know what to do. 

Do I Stay or Do I Go?

So the next morning I got up super early and headed to a CrossFit gym to lift some heavy weights and run my disappointment away. 

While I was doing the workout (if any of you are into CrossFit, the workout was Murph), I was exhausted. I wanted to quit working out too. Then it dawned on me. 

I realized as I was working out that God didn’t need me to be perfect, He just needed me to show up. 

He needed me to allow Him to guide me and teach me all the things I needed to know in order to begin my journey towards becoming published.

Humble Beginnings

When I finished the workout, I went back to the conference renewed in my right to be there. I knew God had things for me to learn so instead of trying to show off and act like I had it all together, I decided to just simply show up and learn. And boy oh boy did I learn. 

But not only did I learn, I also realized just how detail oriented He truly is. Later in the day, the golden unicorn happened to see me and he told me that he was thinking about my topic that I had pitched to him and wanted to give me some more of his thoughts. So instead of allowing it to add insult to injury, I humbly leaned in and took notes. 

Agent after agent that I met with gave me so much feedback and I honestly felt like I had been drinking from a fire hydrant by the end of the week. But I learned so much. 

I even had several more interactions with the golden unicorn and every single time, I learned so much from him.

Honored to Read It

The evening before the conference was over, I again had another chance meeting with the golden unicorn. I decided to share a little vulnerability with him and I told him how I had contemplated going home after he shot my idea down. Then I went on to tell him about all the things I had learned and how I realized that I was most definitely at the bottom of the mountain that needed climbed, but how willing I was to climb it. I told him how I knew now more than ever that God was working in the details and He will carry me to the top when I can’t make it on my own. I then told him that I would send him my proposal for my book once it was where it really needed to me. 

And you know what the unicorn said? He looked right at me and said, “Katie, I would be honored to read it.” 

Mic drop. Okay, so I recognize that he didn’t say he would represent me or anything, but he is kind of like Simon Cowell, he knows the business/industry and for his heartstrings to be pulled, it felt like a win. 

To be honest, I am so thankful that I decided to stay and claim my spot at that writers conference. I learned so much, but even more so, I saw God at work in my life and very strategically placed all the right people in all the right places so that I could gain insight into a world I have been chasing for years. 

And a Cherry on Top

On the very last day of the conference, I had one more meeting with an agent. I wasn’t exactly sure how it would go, but I had a feeling that I needed to stay for it. I am so glad I did too! After I had finished pitching my book idea to her (given all the changes and things I had learned from the conference) she was blown away by my book idea. She loved it. She said it is exactly what she would represent. Now, this doesn’t mean it is a done deal; not at all. I still have that huge mountain to climb, but it does mean that there is hope.

Since I was in the mountains of North Carolina, I had kept an eye out for bears the entire time I was there. I wanted to see one since I had never seen one outside the walls of a zoo before. As I was getting into my car to leave, I felt like God nudged me to drive to the top of the mountain so I could see the bear I had been looking for. 

When I got to the top there was no bear. I had to laugh. I even said to God that I don’t think I always hear His voice right. So I got back into my car and headed back down the mountain. 

While I was driving down the mountain, I was talking to God. I said, “I don’t care if I don’t always hear You right. I know You are with me and I am going to keep leaning into it and trusting You. I trust You completely.” 

Right in that very moment as I said I trust You completely, a mama bear and her three cubs appeared just to the right of my car. 

It was the icing on the cake with a cherry on top. I was blown away by it. But this is what I know to be true, nothing from that week would have been possible had I decided to leave after the first interaction. Had I not put on a teachable spirit and allowed the pruning to take place I wouldn’t have felt the power of God’s timing, or His attentiveness to the details. He is such a good God and wants only the best. 

But I also think it’s fair to say, He wants us to just keep trusting Him with it all; trust Him completely.

Building Community:

In the comments below, feel free to answer any of the following questions.

• Is trusting God difficult for you? Why?
• Is God asking you to trust Him in a certain area of your life? What could your next step be in demonstrating your trust in Him?
• What is one area of your life that you feel like you could trust God a little more with?

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Have a prayer request? Comment below or send an email to katie@katiefrankey.com