Kimberly Russell's appearance on the Circle 31 Podcast exposed our audience to some intriguing topics; the meaninging of the word ChiYah, understanding a journey of restoration and pickleball! Kimberly explains how her book, Journey of ChiYah is her personal story written in fiction form. Kimberly began writing in 2009. She shares the details of how emotional experiences and a notepad during church service, fueled her to begin write. She credits a Facebook group called FaithWriters as a good place to learn her craft. Kimberly talks about how her participation in the National Novel Writing Month gave birth to her next book; Photo Finish. She says that her purpose is, "sharing hope through words." Kimberly said that she hopes that the book, Journey to ChiYah will help someone who is dealing with same struggles that she has gone through.
Kimberly explains that she felt that she could, "never be good enough for God." She shares how she went from feeling like an outsider to being in partnership with God. She went from trying to be perfect to trusting God with the outcome. She went from feeling like she had no identity to God healing her in her emotions. Kimberly calls her healing experience miraculous.
In addition to being an author, Kimberly is a pickleball player. Pickleball is ping pong, badminton and tennis all in one. She shares with us how God teaches her about herself through this competitive game. Kimberly uses her love for pickleball to share the love of Christ. She encourages us to get out of the four walls of the church and share the gospel with the world.
She ends the episode giving us a quote from Oswald Chambers, "I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me." The scripture that guides her writing is Habakkuk 2:2 NLT Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.”
