What just happened?

I need to tell you a secret. Less than a year ago, I was ready to quit writing. I told everyone I was done. I told my agent. I told my friends. I was finally throwing in the towel.
I sold one book in 2016. It was published in 2017. It was the biggest thrill of my life and a dream come true. I was on top of the world. Then the idea for the second book was rejected. Then came another rejection. And another. At one point, an editor even told my agent that they didn't want to see anymore of my projects.
I was devastated. I loved to write. It was my outlet, my passion. But nothing I did seemed to be working. To make matters worse, all the time I spent on my writing caused a lot of tension in my family. My confidence was at an all time low, so in December of 2020, I made the decision to give up....well, not completely. Months earlier, I agreed to write a short story for the Christmas Anthology I do every year, so I still planned to honor that. But after that, I was done.

In January, I embarked on a new Bible study. I binge watched "The Chosen," a multi-season tv serious about the life of Christ through the eyes of the disciples and I started attended church again. Then, I started getting that desire to write again. Since I wasn't writing for anyone except myself, I pulled out a story I wrote years ago and started editing it. On a complete whim, I sent the first few chapters and a synopsis to my editor at Harlequin. Then I forgot about it. I worked on my Christmas story, but mostly, I worked on rebuilding my relationship with God.

Fast forward several more months. I had finished my Christmas story and still played with the story I sent to Harlequin, but on my own time. School started (I teach at a year round school) in July. I was sitting in a meeting on the first day back to school and randomly checked my email.
I was shocked to get an email from my Harlequin editor saying they wanted my book. After 4 years of rejections, someone else wanted my book!!!!
I reached out to some super close friends and told them the news. One of them asked if I wanted an agent. I told her that, yes, someday, but I wanted someone who was familiar with the CBA (Christian) market as well as the ABA (General) market. I felt like that since God opened the door for my book to sell, I better honor Him and write books from a Christian worldview. She reached out to her agent, told her about me and then introduced us via email. We set up a time to chat and I did a lot of praying about it. Still, I didn't have high hopes. I didn't think that she would actually want to represent me. After all, I didn't have much of a track record. But she did. And she has been a wonderful source of encouragement and advice.

I sold a book on a Friday and snagged a fabulous agent on Monday and I hadn't really expected or looked for either one. If that's not a God thing, I don't know what is.