I didn’t read very much as a child or adolescent. Books intimidated me, were boring, and didn’t seem useful for the most part. My desire to read grew immensely at the age of seventeen when I realized God is real and that by reading Scripture and other books I could grow in my relationship with and to God and also describe Him to others. I read everything I could get my hands on.

The first book I read was a Concordance. In our digital age, if you don’t know what that is, it’s a six-inch-thick book you could use to anchor a ship in the harbor with that is packed with Scriptures. There were seasons in life where I read a book a day, four books per week, or a book a month. My eyes have walked across the pages of thousands of books. Some, candidly, I wish I never read, as it can be difficult to unlearn things. Others, well, they have become an annual tradition, and the well-worn pages speak to such.

I developed a love for writing. In high school. I wrote short stories and poems and used the page to describe my experiences with the spiritual world before I knew Christ. After meeting Jesus, however, writing just seemed to be a passion I developed and never fully understood why.

I remember submitting a manuscript to a publisher around the age of twenty-two. I waited and waited for the envelope to arrive in the mail with the news. Well, I received the news, but it wasn’t what I hoped for. My manuscript was rejected and I’m sure for good reason.

Eighteen years later, I found myself staring at an opportunity from another publisher asking if I would write some books with them. I called a friend of ours who is an amazing writer and even more so a one-of-a-kind person who knows Jesus in a way we all should. I was looking for advice on what to do as this was a new endeavor for me and my family. I am a fairly private person and we are not in to self-promotion. Someone once said, “if you perform for the promise you must perform to keep it.” God extends the invitation to come and we certainly don’t need to try and be God. The world has enough impersonators anyway. Just. Be. You. After all, God does not anoint and bless who we pretend to be or who people perceive us to be. He anoints and blesses who He created us to be.

I also know if you believe enough in a message and know for certain it can impact lives for the glory of God, you are eager to share it. To say I was excited to write is a gross understatement. I was ready to share my ideas and books with the world! I wasn’t expecting what my friend said next to me.

“Heath, the world is full of books. We don’t need any more books. What we need is the writing process to do something in you and, from that place, you write. Even if you never sell a book, write and only write if you are being changed from within what you share.”

Ouch. I didn’t want to hear that. I needed to hear that.

By now you are probably aware that Grace in the Valley, a book representing years of study, prayer, encounter, and life in God, is about to release. There is a chapter I didn’t write in the book, however, because it is still being written. Since I started work on the manuscript, followed by copious amounts of editing, then the details surrounding a book launch, I have had to revisit Psalm 23 over and over again. I have experienced situations that at times were frustrating, discouraging, or mysterious. Watching my family do the same is not easy. I know you can relate. Life is, well, unpredictable, mysterious and even clandestine. What I know to be true is that Grace in the Valley is a result of a generous God who gave me a love for reading and writing years ago that I might know Him more.

Grace in the Valley, for me, for you, and for US, is not a book. It is an invitation to dare to traverse through the valley of the shadow of death and sit at the table, a table only God can prepare, and feast. The chapter I didn’t include in the book is the one we must live out beyond the page where we refuse to tell the story of God’s goodness without consciously inserting ourselves into the story of His goodness. Day. After. Day.