Kingdom Winds exists to change lives by advancing the Kingdom of God through the words and works of His people. One such person, Madison Brinson, is a member of the Kingdom Winds Collective and one of our published authors.
When Madison first felt God calling her to write, she felt unqualified, as so many writers do. She had a story to tell, and God wanted her to share it. But who was she to speak Life into the lives of the hurting? Who was she to speak for Him? Writing had always been a bit of a passion project, but prayer led her to pursue writing in a more formal capacity: it was time to share her story in a book, and through that effort, she has one desire: to lead people to the feet of Jesus, to connect them with the true Source of abundant life.
Madison titled her book Abound for this reason. In her words, to abound is to be filled to the brim, to have more than your need, to be overflowing, to teem with life. We all search and hope for the abundant life Christ promises in John 10:10, but for many of us, such abundance seems elusive. What Madison learned in her journey, and what she shares in her book Abound, is that abundance and abundant living have nothing to do with circumstances and everything to do with our position in Jesus.
You see, Madison and her husband Zach have been in what felt to be a barren wasteland of circumstances. For them, this looked like struggling with infertility and struggling with delayed fulfillment of their deep desire and God’s promise: a child of their own. Their journey was long and painful, riddled with much grief. But in it, they found the truth of abundant living in Jesus, and Abound contains their journey.
In the midst of their struggle, Madison realized that when it comes to Christian worldview writing on infertility, there is a conspicuous absence of God-focused, hope-giving writing on the subject. You see, getting stuck in grief is never the Lord’s heart for His people; it’s the result of processing your pain with man’s wisdom rather than the Lord’s. The pain of infertility is real. The loss of a child, whether inside or outside of the womb, before or after birth, is never anything less than absolutely heartbreaking. The Brinsons understand this from their own experience. But their experience has led them to the truth: the only path to true healing is Jesus.
In Abound, Madison shares what the Lord taught her through her own journey of grief and infertility. In her own words, Abound is “not a pep rally or a wishful thought. It is the truth. You can walk through the most barren season of your life, and you can live abundantly while you do it. Because Jesus is right there with you in the barrenness, and He is better. You can and will find precious intimacy with Jesus in the barrenness that would be difficult to develop in other places. It will change your life forever.”
The message that we should keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, no matter the circumstances, resonates throughout Abound. And while it may sound insensitive when in the throes of your own grief, that doesn’t change the truth of the message. Barrenness is so very heavy, and Madison understands better than most how true this can be. But she knows this to be true, too: even in the midst of barrenness, wilderness, pain, or grief, the primary, foundational truth remains that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus and never turn away, no matter what your circumstances may be (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus is the only lifeline that lasts. All other things will be added to you when you fix your eyes on Jesus (Matthew 6:33).
That is Madison’s heart for her reader. To choose Jesus. To walk away from reading Abound saying, “I was blind, but now I see; there is abundance in this desert for me.” Whatever your own spiritual desert may be, there is hope for you, abundant life for you, in Jesus. Let Madison’s Abound help you on your journey to find it. She uses the truth of Scripture and her own experiences to lead you right to Jesus, and it is her hope, along with that of Kingdom Winds, that when you end up in front of Jesus, you’ll choose Him. You’ll fix your eyes on Him and not turn away, no matter what your own barren circumstances may be. You’ll find abundant life in Jesus because it’s right there waiting for you. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7, NIV).
Madison and her husband, Zach, live in Greeneville, Carolina. Both work in the area, Zach as a real estate agent and Madison as a healthcare business consultant. In addition to serving the Lord through their employment, the couple serves as the youth and young adult pastors for their church.
Madison blogs with Kingdom Winds Collective, and you can find more of her writing here. She also has published Abound: Discovering Abundance in Barren Places with Kingdom Winds. Purchase your copy here.
Do you feel you have a message to share as Madison does? Reach out to us here at Kingdom Winds. We’d love to see how we can partner with you to share the message the Lord has given you.
Madison, along with many of our writers, will gladly tell you that writing isn’t for the faint of heart, but Kingdom Winds will be by your side in the publishing process. For Madison, the hardest part of the process was the unpredictability of the publishing timeline, but for her, the healing that came as a result of crafting and preparing her message to share was worth the uncertainty of the process.
For all writers, once their work is published, the question becomes, “What’s next?” Here at Kingdom Winds, we encourage you to seek that answer in prayer, and we’ll pray alongside you. What does God have next for you? For Madison, God is reaffirming that she is indeed the one He has called to share this particular message. God truly does equip those whom He calls. For Madison, that looks like preparing herself for the spiritual conversations that will (God-willing) result from readers’ engagement with her work. We at Kingdom Winds believe God has good things in store for Madison and Abound. Our question for you is this: What does God have next for you?
Written by Codi Ribitzki
PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD A SAMPLE OF MADISON BRINSON’S NEW BOOK!
