I always wanted to have quiet strength. I wanted to be the woman who stood in humility. I wanted to be the woman to whom others listened when she spoke, because her words cut through the heart of man. I wanted to be the woman who thought before speaking and spoke so seldomly that when she did, others knew she had spoken the very heart of God.
I think God has grown me to sometimes represent that woman. But a lot of the time I don’t. And I’m realizing that’s not only acceptable, but it’s who I am. I am a woman who seeks the heart of God, but I don’t share what I have found quietly. I shout His riches from the rooftop and I have fun doing it!
I was born to speak. I was born to write. I was born to make manifest the glory of God through the power of the written and spoken word.
Loud strength.
No one ever talks about loud strength. It is seen as boastful, prideful, and a mask to hide the true weakness within. But I have discovered maybe our definition could use some editing.
You won’t find Jesus screaming in the Scriptures to gain attention. You see Him rebuke with authority, draw in the dirt to free the condemned, and simply speak to calm the waves. I would venture to bet the disciples couldn’t even hear Him over the roaring of the storm as He commanded its obedience.
And yet in His quietness, He is loud. Loud enough to withstand generations. Loud enough to claim He was the Son of God. Loud enough to bring sight to the blind, to set the captives free, and to proclaim the year of favor of the LORD our God. He was probably the loudest figure in the history of the world.
He was humble, and He was meek, but in thus acting His volume resounds through eternity.
Maybe we should redefine quiet strength and loud strength. Maybe, like all things in the kingdom of God, a paradox of beauty exists between loudness and quietness which cannot be grasped within the confines of a simple written language.
I want to be like my Savior. And He was loud. He spoke the truth in love. And He commands me to do the same.
I don’t spend my days unafraid to say what I think. I chase down the heart of the Father, imploring Him to show me more of who He is, I pursue the lost as I would want to be pursued, and I roar as a lioness arising in the Kingdom of the Lion of Judah.
Sometimes my strength is quiet. But sometimes it is loud. You don’t have to be quiet all the time. The power is found in knowing when you need to roar.
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To all of my faithful supporters who have followed me for the past year, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for sending me on the adventure of a lifetime that changed my life more than any other, thank you for hugging me through your comments on blogs and pictures, and thank you for helping me reacclimate to my life in the US.
I owe you a deep apology for asking for your prayer when I went to Nashville last month, only to not tell you what happened!
One of my favorite quotes is, “work like it depends on you and pray like it depends on God.” While I was on a boat on the Amazon, God told me I had abandoned what He told me to do, and there was no reason I couldn’t start writing a book while I was on the World Race.
So, I set out to do my part. I bought books and taught myself how to write a nonfiction book proposal, finishing it a little after I got home. That was how I worked like it depended on me.
In the meantime, I prayed like it depended on God, because it did. And when you do what you can do, God will do what only He can do. After attending the Tennessee Writing Workshop at the end of July, agent Julie Gwinn of the Seymour agency offered me a contract on the spot, and I signed with her a couple weeks later.
I’m not sure you understand the publishing industry, but that is downright impossible!! Julie Gwinn has worked with numerous authors, and was the agent for Tony Dungy’s New York Times Bestsellers.
So, here I am, a week away from travelling back to Nashville to present my book proposal to publishers, editors, and a Christian film company. Julie and I are working to not only publish a book, but she believes my story could be turned into a movie, as well! We have plans to publish Swimming for Freedom in August of 2018.
Abundantly more than you could ever ask or imagine.
I have kept this news to myself and close friends, but it will be public very soon, as I am going to make an author page and start a lot of marketing.
For now, I hope that you will join me in an exciting new phase of my life where I will get to loudly use the voice God predestined me to have before the beginning of time: the journey of being an author. As you join me, I hope you will find the quiet humility of our Savior alongside the roaring power of our King.
Please pray as I travel to Nashville this week that God would pave the way to the right publisher, just as He paved the way to the right agent. Please pray that if He would be glorified in the production of a movie, that He would provide the means to that becoming a reality, as well.
I hope this news fills you with joy, and THANK YOU for praying!! Prayer is more powerful than anything in the world!!
I will let you know how things progress, and I will transition from this World Race blog to a new author page and blog. More details to come soon.
For, “his Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” –Jeremiah 20:9
I cannot hold it in and I will not hold it in!! Whether it is loud strength or quiet strength you find within the pages I write, I pray it is all from the one and only source of true strength: Jesus Christ.
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A couple pics from the last few weeks:
Normal life continues, and now that I live only a couple hours from College Station, I can go back every now and then to see things like my teammates getting their Aggie Rings!! A WHOOP!
I thought you might appreciate seeing one of the walls in my classroom. The World Race and all you invested in continues its legacy each and every day at Meridian World School! I will finish my first nine weeks as a teacher this week. Please continue to pray for the next generation, for my students, and for all teachers, that we will impact these wonderful students for the glory of Christ each day.
God still paints pretty pictures in the continental US. Who knew? Austin has been a different city, living here this side of college and traveling the world. The transition is difficult, to say the least, but God meets me where I am every day, and that’s all I could ask for.
Thank you for reading and for your constant love.
God bless you para siempre y siempre,
Tera
