Steward Your Words for God’s Glory

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In this episode of The Writers' Bloc Podcast, I sit down with author and Bible teacher Glenna Marshall to talk about her newest book, Praying in Pain, and the sixteen-year journey with chronic illness that shaped it. Glenna shares what it was like to go from running and full health to years of undiagnosed, agonizing nighttime pain — and how those long nights taught her to keep praying when healing didn't come.

We talk about why writers so often write the books they once needed, how Glenna wrote Praying in Pain for her twenty-nine-year-old self, and what it means to steward well your suffering so that it serves others.

Glenna Marshall is the author of six books, including Everyday Faithfulness, Memorizing Scripture, Known and Loved, and Praying in Pain. She is married to her pastor, William, and is a member of Grace Bible Fellowship in Sikeston, Missouri, where they have served for over twenty years. She teaches a weekly women's Bible study and leads a discipleship group for teen girls.

Get Praying in Pain wherever books are sold.

Connect with Glenna: https://www.glennamarshall.com/newsletter/

Join The Writers' Bloc community for Christian women writers: https://mywritersbloc.com/



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✅ Thanks for Watching 👆👆👆

Sending So Much Love
Cara Ray
The Writers' Bloc Podcast



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Chapters:
0:00 A lot of times we equate God hearing
6:37 breakthrough and flare up pain
12:05 faithfulness. And then they take a final
18:06 immediately began thinking of the lament
24:03 freezes and locks up and it hurts
30:07 And in a lot of ways
36:20 book and think there's more
42:04 got to pick my book, but walk us through
49:29 That's what we do a lot on on our morning





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Your manuscript could be flawless, and readers still might not give it a chance—because the cover never invited them in. This week on The Writer’s Bloc Podcast, I’m joined by graphic designer Kaycee Parker of KP Communications, who’s spent over a decade helping authors and churches communicate with clarity through design.

Kaycee brings a rare dual perspective to this conversation: she’s a working designer and a self-published author who’s hired out her own book covers, even though design is her day job. We talk about why so many writers pour thousands of hours into their manuscripts and then try to save a few hundred dollars on presentation—and why that trade-off rarely pays off. Kaycee makes the case that good design isn’t vanity; it’s stewardship. It removes barriers so a God-given message can actually reach the reader it’s meant for.

We dig into how author branding actually gets built, the most common (and avoidable) mistakes self-published authors make with their own covers, and where a tight budget should go first if you can’t do it all. Kaycee also gives us a preview of what she’ll be unpacking in much greater depth with our paid community on Thursday: five practical, no-design-degree-required ways to strengthen your book’s design.

If you’ve ever felt like the writing is the “real” work and design is just an afterthought, this episode will change how you think about that.

What’s in this episode:

* Why presentation can make or break a book—and why skimping on it to save money usually backfires

* A theology of design as stewardship: removing barriers so your message can be received

* The #1 mistake self-published authors make with their own cover design

* Why Kaycee, a professional designer, still hires out her own book covers

* Realistic pricing, timing, and what to invest in first on a limited budget

* A preview of Kaycee’s upcoming Writers’ Bloc teaching: five practical ways to improve your book design

Connect with Kaycee at:kpcommunications.net

🎙️ Subscribe to The Writers’ Bloc Podcast.

🖊️ To access Kaycee’s teaching, and many others, join our Premium community at mywritersbloc.com



🙏 Please subscribe and enable all push notifications to get more updates​ 🔔
✅ https://www.youtube.com/@Cara-Ray

🙏 Please like, comment on, and share videos too!

💥 Watch Next ⤵️⤵️⤵️
🌸 Ep 105: Songwriting, Worship, & The Words We Give The Church with Cara Ray
📓 https://youtu.be/vJ8xgvyO3Mo

🌸 Ep 101: Habits of a Prolific Writer with Cara Ray & Trevin Wax
📓 https://youtu.be/wKqqzYgWJJA

🌸 Ep 103: How Collaboration Can Change Your Life with Cara Ray & Becky Beresford
📓 https://youtu.be/b9tmYQabnNQ


✅ Thanks for Watching 👆👆👆

Sending So Much Love
Cara Ray
The Writers' Bloc Podcast



✅ Connect With Cara Ray Website
🚻 https://cara-ray.com/

💹 The Writers' Bloc
💠 https://mywritersbloc.com/


✅ Connect With my Social Media

📥 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pursuingotiumsanctum/

🧸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pursuingotiumsanctum

🌌 Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pursuingotiumsanctum/



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What does it look like to offer your words as an act of worship — not just to an audience, but to the church?

In this episode of The Writers' Bloc podcast, Cara sits down with her own worship leader and songwriter, Josh Sellers — Director of Worship at Christ Church in Mesa, Arizona — for a conversation that moves from Canadian Idol to a leper colony in India, from co-writing in Nashville to the four women who accidentally wrote "I Speak Jesus."

Josh shares how God redirected his hunger for fame into a calling to lead people into the weight and richness of God's presence through biblically rooted songs the church can actually sing. Along the way, he talks honestly about what it takes to write well — for the church, with a team, and from a place of theological conviction rather than platform ambition.

Whether you write words on a page or words set to music, this episode is a reminder that what you put your life to matters — and God will use it.

In this episode:

Josh's journey from Canadian Idol to full-time vocational ministry
How getting saved in India changed everything
The theology behind writing songs for the church (not just for yourself)
Practical wisdom on co-writing, publishing, and building a songwriting culture
Why you don't have to be famous — or even a good singer — to write something God uses
Connect with Josh: Vintage Worship on Spotify | Wings Music

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