Welcome to my blog―Bringing Life into Focus. Friday Friendly Focus will appear the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month and will feature a snapshot of someone’s life. I am privileged to bring into focus this week, Cindy Sproles. Cindy is a gifted writer and author living in the mountains of Kingsport, Tennessee. Many of us know her as co-founder of Writers Advance Boot Camp and the online devotional site, Christian Devotions. Cindy has been a pivotal person in my growth as a writer, so I am thrilled to feature her as my first Friendly Focus guest. Thank you, Cindy, for being so willing to continue to share your life with us.
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Careful What You Pray For
by Cindy Sproles
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you,
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
– John 15:7, NIV
– John 15:7, NIV
I learned to be careful what you pray for. God does answer prayers.
When I gained the courage to attend a writer's conference, I felt alone and lost. All I wanted was someone to look at my work and tell me the truth. “Yes you have talent” or “No, you should pursue fast food.” So when I ended up at the conference, clueless and lost, my prayer was simple. “God I have no clue what I’m doing here. One of these days, can I sit on the other side of the table with a gentle, compassionate heart and help new writers not feel this way?” God said, "Yes."
My first writers conference was the springboard to meeting my ministry partner, Eddie Jones. God had spoken to Eddie about beginning a new website for daily devotions and to me about writing them. He softened our hearts for good writers with raw talent, and thus Christian Devotions was born. We often laugh that God took two misfits and made one pretty decent ministry. All we did was say yes. God knew our gifts, as raw as they were, and He began to shape and teach us the skills we needed to manage a unique one-of-a-kind ministry.
Over the past seven years, God has guided us. We began www.ChristianDevotions.us, and began to search for writers with the right heart–willing to learn and willing to share. Eddie and I learned to craft devotions from Dennis Hensley and once we learned the skill, we began sharing. When I gained the courage to attend a writer's conference, I felt alone and lost. All I wanted was someone to look at my work and tell me the truth. “Yes you have talent” or “No, you should pursue fast food.” So when I ended up at the conference, clueless and lost, my prayer was simple. “God I have no clue what I’m doing here. One of these days, can I sit on the other side of the table with a gentle, compassionate heart and help new writers not feel this way?” God said, "Yes."
My first writers conference was the springboard to meeting my ministry partner, Eddie Jones. God had spoken to Eddie about beginning a new website for daily devotions and to me about writing them. He softened our hearts for good writers with raw talent, and thus Christian Devotions was born. We often laugh that God took two misfits and made one pretty decent ministry. All we did was say yes. God knew our gifts, as raw as they were, and He began to shape and teach us the skills we needed to manage a unique one-of-a-kind ministry.
John Riddle, Marlene Bagnull and Alton Gansky felt God’s nudge and allowed us to cut our teaching teeth on them. Since these, we’ve taught at over 50 conferences across the country.
The goal–to seek new writers with good talent, provide mentoring to help them step up to publishable and then publish them. And so, www.ChristianDevotions.us became the first devotional website whose goal was always to say yes to writers. God led us to editors and mentors willing to help us take those new writers and hone their skills. What we found was the more we gave to others, the more God blessed this ministry.
After seven years, Christian Devotions Ministries has grown to have multiple sites from children to adult, a syndicated Blog Talk Radio show (Christian Devotions Speak UP!) and we host our own conference, Writers Advance Boot Camp. Then came Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, a traditional indie publisher (not a self-publisher).
It’s not about us. It’s about what we can do for others. If we can guide new writers to pen the words God places on their hearts with confidence and joy, then we have been obedient.
In the midst of our work, God has blessed us into being published through major houses ourselves.
Careful what you pray for. Be ready . . . God does answer prayers.
Cindy K. Sproles is an author and speaker. She is the
cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries and serves as a conference teacher,
editor and life coach. She is the author of two books, He Said, She Said – A Devotional Guide for
Cultivating a Life of Passion and her newest release, New Sheets –
Thirty Days to Refine You into the Woman You can Be.
Links: 
New Sheetshttp://www.amazon.com/New-Sheets-Devotionals-Recovering-ebook/dp/B00A6DT3OK/ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&qid=1379964828&sr=8-1&keywords=New+Sheets
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