Letter from the Editor
Greetings to each of you and thank you for joining this incredible God journey with us ! My team and I are so excited about all that God is going to do within this year . We ’ re even more excited that you are here to experience the relaunch of our newsletter . As you can see , God is stretching the vision so we are now publishing a mini-magazine . It ’ s both an exciting and scary time simultaneously .
I want you to know that we are going to put our very best effort into producing an excellent product for you . We are looking forward to presenting you with insightful articles , new resources and encouragement for your daily life .
One of our visions for this part of the ministry is to expand to a full print magazine . Woohoo !!! We are in a place of celebration now and expectation of how God will bring this vision to pass . In the meantime , we will continue to work diligently to present you with an excellent digital mini magazine .
We also want to present you real life testimonies that will encourage you and point you to Jesus Christ . Our hope is that with each edition , your relationship with Christ is deepened and your hope in Him is built up .
My personal testimony about the newsletters is that it was challenging . I had this great vision from God that started out with a one page letter of encouragement and began to grow . The mailing list continued to grow and I was encouraged . By year two of publishing the newsletter , I was completely discouraged and literally pressing each month to share . The more discouragement set in , the more depressed I got .
When it was time to start the newsletter for year three , which would have been 2016 , it never got off the ground . I went into shut down . I had no desire to write . I felt a sense of no support or help in this area . In my mind , I figured it wasn ’ t working and it was just time for that season to end .
Even more , I couldn ’ t understand why the offers that were extended to promote other people ’ s work , books , ministries etc ., was not accepted . There was no charge and it came from a pure place of simply wanting to sow seeds of help .
What have I learned ? Rejection will help you in all areas ! Yes it will ! Over the course of the year , the Lord began to show me that it simply wasn ’ t for everybody . It didn ’ t mean that it wasn ’ t a great newsletter . It didn ’ t mean that it wasn ’ t effective . It simply meant that it was time to re-evaluate the target of this product and realign with the vision that God gave for it .
So after a year off from this portion of the ministry , the Lord brought me back to it . He stirred me up when I subscribed for another Pastor ’ s newsletter , Pastor Clarissa Johnson , and eventually wrote an article for her . He simply would not allow this to die ! I hope that encourages you today . When God has something for you to do and it ’ s ordained by Him , He will not let it die ! He may allow delays but not death !
So along with this renewed fire , he rekindled the desire to publish a magazine . I believe that was another reason that I succumbed to discouragement by the end of 2015 . I actually attempted to start a print magazine . I spent money having a cover designed , paid writers to write articles for it but it fell to the ground .
What did I learn ? That wasn ’ t the process the Lord wanted ME to follow . That design may have worked for others but He had different instructions for me . First , before this goes to the “ world ,” I ’ ve been instructed to feed it for free to the many faithful readers that have connected with this ministry .
So , I picked up the abandoned issue from January 2016 and I asked the Lord -what should be in this mini magazine / newsletter ? I asked Him who should be on the covers , what should we focus on and who should be contributors . He has answered and I ’ m excited about what this year will hold ! He has given me the instructions on how to proceed and as I move forward , my prayer is that we will be able to serve even more beyond our current mailing list .
My testimony is that even though I abandoned the idea initially to expand the newsletter to a mini magazine , God has brought it back again . While I am grateful for this opportunity to make impact in the lives of God ’ s people from this platform , I truly hope that you learn from my testimony that God can rekindle your fire and passion for your vision . He can bring it back to you and will instruct you so that this time around , it won ’ t fall to the ground . This time , I will see it through to the end ! I ’ ll need your help , support and feedback to do it but it will be done .
Now , what can you do to help us ? We ’ d love to have your feedback ! Actually , we need it . We ’ d love to know what topics you ’ d like to see discussed in the magazine . What do you have need of ? We want to serve you and hearing from you will help us to do so more effectively . Talk to us ! We really do want to know ! Email us today at latricespeaks @ latricewilliams . com
Blessings & Peace LaTrice