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The Ultimate Guide to Launching a Book for Indie Authors – AskALLi Team

Launching a book is an exciting moment in an indie author’s life–but there’s so much to do. What order should you do it in and how much time do you need in advance of your launch to complete it? Today’s post is the Alliance of Independent Authors’ Ultimate Guide to Launching a Book (including timeline). A few caveats before we begin this post. No two indie authors launch books in the same way.…

It’s more than okay for you to come to me with questions! I love helping out. I also get this question all the time, so don’t think it’s uncommon! Unfortunately it’s very, very easy to get caught up in our lives on Earth instead of looking ahead to our time in Heaven and what it will be like then. It’s so important to make that relationship with God now so that we can have security in heaven, as well as security on Earth, knowing that God is guiding us everywhere we go and comforting us, loving us and forgiving us of our sins. 

Here are some things I like to do to strengthen my relationship with God:

Read the Bible. Psalms is very full of uplifting passages, and I’ve even memorized a few psalms so I can repeat them to myself when I’m worried or upset. There’s an app (Bible.is) that reads the Bible out loud. Sometimes I fall asleep listening to it and sometimes I read along in my own Bible. Listening helps me to slow down and fully comprehend what I am reading.

Pray. This is something I admittedly should do more of! The Bible says to pray constantly, but I would at least make the effort to pray a few times a day to start with. Pray when you are upset, when you are happy, when you feel blessed, when you are worried. Talk to God like you would talk to a friend! You must talk to your friends to develop better friendships with them, right? :)

Listen to worship music. I made a playlist on Spotify of my favorite worship songs. If you do not know of many I can tell you some I love. It’s uplifting to just listen at school with my headphones or at home where I can sing along. It also causes those songs to be stuck in my head, so I will think about them even after I’ve stopped listening.

Go to church. I joined my church’s youth group two years ago, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It really helps strengthen your relationship with God when you are surrounded by believers who are strengthening their relationships, too. Church is also a way to learn more about Christ and the Bible. If you have the opportunity to go on a mission trip, to church camp, to a Christian conference, or to a retreat of some sorts, I would definitely say to take that opportunity! These things offer what my youth group calls a “Jesus high” where you are full of Jesus for a while after attending.

Help others. Spread the love of God and it will also be spread to you. Helping others and volunteering is so rewarding and a great way to grow stronger with Christ.

More than anything, though, it is so important to just surrender your life to God in your actions and speech, keeping in mind throughout everything you do that He is #1 and all you do should be to glorify Him. With that mindset, your relationship could not possibly grow weak!

Hi there lovely. It sounds like you have a lot going on and were probably struggling with some emotions and thoughts that were hindering you from having a relationship with God. So you gave up that relationship entirely and began to pursue one of your own, without Him. And I’m so sorry to hear that. 

I don’t recall saying that you’re not happy without God. I’m sure you are happy, in a sense. You are happy by the definition that you know of the word, compared to other happiness in the world or perhaps happiness that you have experienced in the past. But guess what! There is a happiness even greater than what you are experiencing. It’s a thousand times greater. A million. It’s a happiness with God. You might be thinking, “Well, I was with God, but I’m happier now!” But perhaps that relationship with God wasn’t what God intended for it to be. Maybe it wasn’t sincere. Or, maybe the happiness you are feeling now seems better because it is a worldly happiness. We have worldly desires that we sometimes think are more important than spiritual ones, but in the end, they aren’t!

God loves you now as much as He did, as much as He always will. He loves you with an infinite, everlasting love that will never fade or go away, no matter what you do. You can still have a relationship with God while struggling with sin, because guess what! We are all struggling with sin. I struggle with the similar sins every day, and I am trying to conquer them, and it’s really difficult sometimes. But I know that God loves me the same today as He did yesterday, as He will if I ever become a ‘perfect’ Christian (which seems highly unlikely). He loves you the same as He loves me, with all of our sins and brokenness. You are His precious, beautiful Creation whom He loves and adores whole-heatedly.

I hope that you consider this and consider coming back to God. A lifetime of pleasure in sin without repentance is nowhere near worth an eternity without God because of that sin. But a lifetime living in comfort, forgiveness, and guidance with God (the Christian life) is 100% worth an eternity in Heaven with Him! It’s a win-win situation, if you ask me haha. Christianity isn’t about following rules or commandments or being perfect in any way. It’s about knowing that God loves us dearly, that He has a plan for each and every one of us to walk with Him. It’s about feeling a sense of peace and comfort always because you are with God, and knowing that you can place your faith in Him when times get rough. When you’re stressed about school or work, you can say, “God, take this stress from me. I trust in you,” and He will. He will guide you and help you ALWAYS. And it’s about always having someone to talk to, 24/7, someone who is eager to listen and has the power to answer any one of your prayers. Romans 8:28 tells us that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him. That means that whatever happens in our life, whether we think it is good or bad, we can have the assurance that it is for our good, that something good will come from it to help us learn or grow or strengthen our faith. And, best of all, it’s having the knowledge that when we die, which we will!, we will get to spend an ETERNITY in Heaven with God. Heaven is perfect and we will get to spend forever there with the Creator of the Universe. It’s awesome, it’s so much more than we, broken sinners, deserve, but He offers it to us anyway at no cost. Salvation is a free gift. Confess of your sins and repent and believe in God with all of your heart, and you can have that salvation and that peace and everything above and so much more. A Christian life isn’t always perfect, and it’s rocky a lot of times, but it’s so worth it. I’m so much happier now than I ever was before I was saved. It’s indescribable, what God has done in my life. And even though you have turned away from Him, you can go back to Him anytime. There are so many parables throughout the Gospels that describe how wonderful it is for someone to come back to Christ after turning away. Take the Parable of the Lost Sheep, for instance. It describes how a shepherd with 100 sheep, after 1 runs away, will be more pleased to find the one than to have the 99. You are the lost sheep, darling. God will be so pleased for your return. The angels in Heaven will rejoice when you go back to God.

Please know that I am praying desperately for your salvation. If you want to talk about this more, please don’t hesitate to shoot me another message! If you ask me off anon I’d be happy to answer privately and we can have a more personal conversation. God is waiting with open arms for you to come back to Him. Please consider it. xx

By ‘it’ do you mean depression? Or by ‘it’ do you mean life? Because think about it. If your depression were gone, you would be much happier and have a higher quality of life. So I think you should focus more on getting rid of the depression than ending your life! Your life has SO much value, lovely. God created you with a purpose, a plan in mind. He wrote all of your days in His book before one of them came to be, and He crafted you like a poem, knitting you together in your mother’s womb. He made you, special, because He wanted you to be here. You need to believe that. It’s true. It’s written in the Bible multiple times, how much He loves us and how much worth we have in His eyes, the plans He has for us. 

I have a few suggestions for you. First, I think that you should consider seeing a therapist or getting some sort of professional health. Your life is on the line here, if what you’re telling me is right. And at this moment your mental health and your life is more important than anything else. Talk to your parents if you’re underage about seeing a counselor. Or, I’ve heard that if you are underage, you can see a counselor up to 6 times without telling your parents. If that scares you, there are also online options that you could do. Either way, I really encourage you to get help. Take care of yourself by seeing to it that you get better. At least tell someone you trust how you feel, so they can be aware and get you help. 

After you have done this, I suggest you pray and ask God to guide you and help you to get over this depression. I KNOW you can do it with His help. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! Please try, lovely. Please try to get through this with His help. He has created this world for us to enjoy and be happy and worship Him through His creations (among other reasons). And He doesn’t want you to be doing this to yourself.

(continued) fifteen girls), and we’re a lot more open with each other (even though most of the time it’s one of the leaders talking at us instead of with us). I think the leaders do care about us but I don’t feel like what they’re doing is benefitting the group. I’m still starving for a small group experience - a few girls and one leader who I can look to and tell all of the crazy stuff that’s happening in my life (my summer was a storm of spiritual growth that opened up some great opportunities for sharing the Gospel in the coming year) and ask for advice from. I’ve never had a mentor and I’m so afraid I never will. My parents are sick of hearing me complain about it, and quite frankly I’m tired of complaining. I’m so tired. I really feel like there’s absolutely nothing left for me to do and no one to go to. I’ve never had trouble with God’s providence - I know that He’s using this to pull me deeper in my dependence on Him and it’s a beautiful and fulfilling thing when I experience that, but at the same time I so desperately want a mentor. I don’t know what to do.

Hi there! What a rough situation :( just let me tell you that I know how frustrating it is to have a youth group or small group that isn’t cooperating how you’d like it to. I have a few suggestions:

1. Pray about it. Tell God what you told me, and ask Him to provide you with a solution. I’m sure He wants you to have this experience as much as you want to have it, and it should help you grow spiritually. Continue praying as you move on to the next steps!

2. Sit down and talk with the leaders. Ask them what their plans are for the group. Do they plan for it to stay combined? Do they plan for it to become more intimate? After, give them some suggestions, if it seems appropriate. Tell them what you told me, even, that you feel like it isn’t what a small group should feel like and that you would benefit more if the groups were split up. Maybe you even want to try being a leader yourself, to run things your way and see how it goes. Or, set up a game plan to give to them and ask them to try running it that way a few times. Just talking to them and getting some conversation flowing is a good start! Nothing is going to change unless you let them know that you want it to change. 

3. If, after you have tried #2 for a while and it doesn’t seem to be working, it might be time to try to find a new small group. If a situation isn’t going how you want it to, sometimes it’s best to just go somewhere different. Talk to some Christians you know who maybe don’t go to your church and ask around. Starting fresh may be just what you need to get the experience you want.

Hi :) Thanks for messaging me. Since you seem generally interested in this, I encourage you to keep an open mind through what I’m saying so that your view isn’t skewed by your current bias against Christianity.

God gave us free will. Simple as that. As humans, we have the freedom to do and say whatever we want. Not to say that there aren’t consequences for our actions, but at least we always have the option to do whatever our heart desires. We can murder people. We can starve babies. We can do horrible, terrible things, because God does not control our every action or make us act a certain way. And thus, people choose to do horrible things. It’s inevitable, really. And when something bad does happen to you at the hand of another person, it’s not God doing it. It’s the person, using their free will. God has a will that He has planned for every one of us, but it’s our choice whether to try to live out that will or not. And when we stray from His will, that’s when bad things tend to happen. 

To add on to that concept, listen to this: God can’t just get rid of the “bad people” in the world to make the earth a peaceful, happy place. Because guess what! We are ALL “bad people”. We all sin. Not to the same degree sometimes, but yes, we all sin, we all do bad things, we all fall short of God’s glory. So it would be impossible to get rid of the “bad people” without getting rid of everyone!

I also want to remind you that no one lives pain free. Have you ever heard the saying about if everyone put all their issues in a pile, you would take your own back? Maybe people don’t experience the same pain as others, or to the same extent, but we all experience pain. There are hardships in everyone’s lives. Thankfully, though, we can have hope in the strength that God gives us to get through every situation and trial that life may throw at us, and hopefully use it to glorify Him. I can tell that you are hurting, and maybe you’re angry at God. But remember that God is the only one who can give us peace. God is the only one who can settle our hearts. We can cast ALL our anxieties on Him because He cares for us. That’s a literal Bible verse right there! And listen to this one:

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.“ John 16:33b

Jesus tells us that, yes, we will struggle in this lifetime. But He has overcome the world. We can count on Him to help us through all of our earthly troubles, and when the time comes for us to die, we, as Christians, can know that we will have eternal life with Him in Heaven. All of our earthly troubles will seem SO insignificant then. Paul says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Yes! Our struggles cannot compare to what we will experience later on, and even our most joyous moments here on Earth cannot even compare to the joy that we will experience in Heaven. If we stay faithful to Him, we can experience that joy.