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How I Wrote an Award-Winning Novel by CLU Grad Brenda Savella

Mark Virkler's picture

I am proud of Brenda's award-winning book, Chaff on the Wind. She has used divine flow to write it, and it made it to the top of the list. Read her testimony below and realize you can do similar things as you tune to the Holy Spirit's flow within!


Some years ago, I was waiting to have tea with a friend in the food court of a local mall. An elderly woman came up to me and said emphatically, “You need to go fishing!” I smiled and replied that I’m a vegetarian so I wouldn’t likely go fishing. She continued, “I’m a fisherman. I’ve always known I’m a fisherman. When I was six years old my father took me deep sea fishing. No one caught anything so I told the captain to let me fish. For a joke the crew strapped me into a chair, and I cast the line into the sea. Within minutes I caught the biggest Marlin they had ever seen. They told me to keep fishing, but I knew I was only supposed to catch one fish. The captain and I split the proceeds. My share was $10,000 U.S.D. I’ve gone fishing every year since, and I’ve caught one each year. You need to go fishing!”

My friend arrived, and I said farewell to the lady. I didn’t know what the encounter meant. Two years later, I was at the same mall waiting to pay for a purchase at the grocery store. The person in front of me turned around and said, “You need to go fishing!” It was the same lady! She paid for her purchase and left. I asked God what it meant. There was a faint impression in my heart that it was related to writing, but again I did not pursue the meaning.

I began CLU’s doctoral program and took the first course on how to use the four steps to hear God’s voice and how God uses vision and the six pillars to confirm what He is saying. My ability to hear God’s voice deepened. In December 2022 I was praying and pondering what my goal should be for 2023. I set only one goal each year. I clearly heard the Lord tell me to complete a novel I had begun and abandoned years earlier. 

Although I loved writing, I didn’t really know how to write a novel, but I told the Lord I would do it. Several weeks later a friend asked if I wanted to visit a church online I used to attend. I didn’t have the internet but she did so I listened to the service over my phone. There was a visiting speaker. The first thing she said was, “I’m a fisherman. It’s time to go fishing.” I knew in my spirit that God was confirming that writing was my ‘Go fishing’ as I had agreed to finish the book.

The draft was 14,000 words but I needed 45,000 words for it to be considered a novel. How would I do it? I used the four keys to hearing God’s voice. I got into a quiet and comfortable place and focused on Jesus. As I began to write God showed me visions like a movie in my mind. I saw characters and heard them interacting. I wrote what I saw and heard. I described the setting He showed me. And over the next few months the novel took shape in ways that were totally unexpected to me!

When the draft was finished, God introduced me to a national book award and directed me to enter my manuscript. I said to Him that I had never written a novel before and this might be humiliating. He showed me that I could ask for feedback. How else would I get my book in the hands of an editor/judge to know how I was doing? I obeyed.

I heard nothing for a few months, but the Lord kept giving me little signs of encouragement. The word ‘fishing’ or other things that related to the book would appear in unexpected places. Otherwise, God was silent about it. Then in June 2023 I heard that my book, Chaff on the Wind, was a finalist in the national Braun Book Awards for excellence in Christian writing! I was stunned but I could feel the Lord’s pleasure. The editor gave me great positive feedback.

Chaff on the Wind is now published and went live on August 31, 2024. It’s for sale on about 40 sites in various parts of the world and is coming to various bookstores. The editor called it a great story that he couldn’t wait to get off the press. This is all God.

Here are links to purchase the book, Chaff on the Wind: Amazon US or Amazon Canada

 

I tell you, readers, “Go fishing!” It is time. Don’t let unimportant things hinder you from starting. God has made you for a purpose. Find out what it is. Nothing is impossible with Him!

Journaling application

Lord, what would You like to say to me in light of this story?

 


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Hearing God Through Your Dreams CDs

by Mark Virkler and Charity Virkler Kayembe | 10 Sessions on 4 Discs

Learn How to Hear God’s Voice, Even When You Are Sleeping

Receive divine counsel nightly. Increase emotional health, wisdom and creativity.

Recorded live at Catch the Fire in Toronto!

Price: $39.95

River of Life and New Creation Celebration CD Set

3 CDs containing 5 devotionals set to music

This series contains five Interactive meditations set to music. Each devotional guides you into an encounter with the Wonderful Counselor. Each one contains 1) a spoken prayer, 2) with a musical background and 3) draws you into two-way journaling

River of Life where you are immersed in the River of the Holy Spirit. Don’t worry, as in a dream, you can breathe underwater! Drift off to sleep listening to this devotional. (12 minutes)

Price: $19.95

Unleashing Healing Power Through Spirit-Born Emotions CDs

by Mark Virkler and Charity Kayembe | 14 Sessions | 6 discs | 6.5 hours

Build a theology and experience the role of Kingdom emotions to engage and release Kingdom power! Jesus, moved by compassion, healed (Matt. 14:14). You can, too! Discover how Kingdom emotions can be born in your heart to carry the Holy Spirit's power to perform healing, as well as turn on healing genes while turning off inflammatory genes. Experience God's Kingdom which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17)!

Price: $59.95
Lamad Syllabi CD

120+ Bible College Level Course Syllabi on CD-ROM

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 1 Disc

You don't need to re-invent the wheel. We have spent 30 years developing and improving college-level curricula that is revelation-based. These 100+ course syllabi are available for you to purchase and utilize in your church-centered Bible school, School of Ministry, college or university. A "Lamad Curriculum License Agreement" (available at the end of this filemust be signed and submitted before  this CD is shipped.

Price: $900.00

49 Lies CDs – 49 Religious Lies Jesus Told Me to Stop Believing

by Mark Virkler | 7 Discs

49 Audio Sessions are included 

This package includes 49 professionally taped sessions, each 5-12 minutes long which is my testimony of breaking free from each lie. I discuss what the lie is, its impact on my life, what Jesus spoke, my prayer of repentance and the new freedom I experienced which allows me to step into a new life in Christ.

If you have ever believed any of the following lies, then this book is for you: "Emotions are soulish;" "Money is evil or secular;" "It is wrong to seek vision;" "Don’t trust experiences;" "God gave me a mind and expects me to use it;" "Politics are evil;" God is always beating on me;" or one of 43 more such detestable lies...

Price: $49.00
Appropriating Covenant Blessings Audio CD

Appropriating Covenant Blessings Audio CD

by Mark Virkler | 1 Disc

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 is one of the most complete lists recording the blessings which God wants to bestow upon His children. He wants us to be the head and not the tail, to be above and not underneath, and to lend and not borrow. This CD helps you capture a vision for this divinely-ordained lifestyle, and gives you steps to take so that you may begin to walk in these blessings.

Price: $6.00
Fulfill Your Financial Destiny CDs

Fulfill Your Financial Destiny Audio CDs

by Mark Virkler | 22 Sessions

Newly recorded for 2023! Though the economic system (mammon) of this world is under a curse, we have received instructions for how to move out from that dominion and into the blessing of the Kingdom of God. God’s promises to His children have not changed with the whims of government or Wall Street, nor have His directions for how to walk in those promises. We can “choose not to participate” in the economic recession that is around us if we instead choose to obey the logos and rhema of the Lord and enjoy the blessings that result.

Price: $59.95

How Do YOU Know? CDs

by Mark Virkler | 12 Sessions on 4 CDs

How do you know? What is the process you use to discover truth? I did not ask that question during the first 25 years of my life. I used eleven different methods for discovering truth including: if my parents said so, then it was so. If my teacher said it was so, then it was so. If my pastor said it was so, then it was so. If my theology said it was so, then it was so. I have discarded them all and adopted a twelfth method, which is in harmony with what the Bible teaches. We teach you this method in this series. 

This is a 12-session audio series on 4 CDs.

Price: $59.95
How to Receive Revelation Knowledge Audio CD

How to Receive Revelation Knowledge Audio CD

by Mark Virkler | 1 Disc

Knowing God's thoughts! It is possible. His thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways are not our ways. However, we can learn how to "reason together with God" (Isa. 1:18), and receive His insights and His revelations on each and every area of our lives. The process really is quite simple.

Price: $6.00
How to Walk by the Spirit Audio CDs

How to Walk by the Spirit Audio CDs

by Mark Virkler | 6 Discs

Are you like many western Christians who have been taught little about how to sense their spirits? Do you have trouble even defining what spirit sensations feel like within you, much less recognizing them? This training was birthed from Mark’s passion to live out of his spirit, and thus release the anointing of God. The problem he faced was lack of clear biblical definition as to what his spirit felt like. So Mark looked up every verse in the Bible on heart and spirit.

Revised & Expanded 15th Anniversary Edition

Price: $59.95

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