Isaiah 55:11 (NIV), "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
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I was deeply impacted when reading this verse. I held onto it, trusting that God would use me, the talents and skills He's given me, and all that I am to expand His kingdom and bring glory to His Name. The thing is, I did not know how He would change my life and do great things by using words that would come from me, with the help of many people.
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"No man is an island." I can testify to that. As much I love doing things on my own and spending time on projects with me, myself, and I, God, designed humankind to be surrounded by other people. Everything I have accomplished, the places I have been to, the things I have experienced, and the lessons I have learned have all been due to the work of God through people.
This book, "Puzzled Without You," is only the start to a new journey in my life, and it would not have been possible without the help, care, support, and love I have received from those around me.
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Before I thank anyone, I thank God for gifting me with these talents and skills fueled by my passion for writing and sharing His Words. I'm also really thankful that my best, best friend is Jesus and that He always knows what I'm going through and meets me where I am to help me. (There were many challenges along the writing journey, and I could not have gone through them without Him) And of course, I am ever-grateful to the Holy Spirit for working in, around, and through me, bringing life to every word written, spoken, or sung.
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Now, a big round of applause to my parents. My parents are just - I can't even find all the right words to express or describe everything. Before I was born to the present moment, they have always been praying for me, supporting me, caring for me, providing for me, teaching me, and loving me (and my sisters, of course). This first book was self-published with the three of us working together, after all. No thank you-s is ever enough for what my parents do.
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To Chelsea Crockett Hurst, McCall Mitchell, and Pastor Rufino Lagat, thank you for taking the time to read through the book and share your reviews and insights! You all inspire and encourage me, and I am blessed to have you in my life.
Q: Who inspired you to become a writer?
A: Writing has always been a part of my life. With my parents encouraging me and my imagination, with amazing authors' books filling my bookshelves, and with the best book ever told, the Bible, all being a part of my life, I guess you could say it is not just one person who inspired me but my entire life.
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Q: How do you get your ideas?
A: When it comes to Christian fiction stories, ideas come from real-life stories or experiences I see in people from my generation or common struggles and challenges people face. These ideas then get confirmation or are followed up by Bible verses or devotional time with God where He brings fresh ideas or added ideas to the stories.
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For blogs or posts, the ideas flow from what I'm experiencing to what I feel needs to be addressed in our generation.
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Q: How many hours a day do you write?
A: I cannot say that I am consistent in "writing" every day in a way that I'd write blogs, stories, or posts every single day. There are certain days where I assign writing days, and if ever it was a day that I feel like writing, I suppose an hour would be the average for me to write a blog or share some posts. When it comes to my fictional stories, I can also get carried away, writing for two hours or so.
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Q: What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?
A: I'm the kind of person who has a tough time choosing favorites or one thing over the other. My life is full of accomplishments in different life areas, and I cannot choose one over the other! When it comes to choosing my best accomplishment, what I can say is, God has been and is so good that He has blessed me with many blessings and opportunities to live in His grace and share His love. I guess I can say that I am most glad to be raised in my family with God at the center of it all.
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Q: What books have influenced you the most?
A: I've read so many books in my lifetime, and I can say that they have all impacted me. Since I loved reading ever since I could read, I also loved writing ever since I could write. Growing up, my favorites to read were the Magic Treehouse Series, the Boxcar Children, Narnia, the Lord of the Rings series, the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy series, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, the Percy Jackson series, the Sisters in Time series, and many more.
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Later on in High School, a few to name are the Hunger Games trilogy, the Divergent trilogy, the Door Within Trilogy, the Selection series, Rick Riordan's mythology series, Sudden Impact, and more. These kinds of books widened my imagination and moved me. Since I was introduced to Wattpad, these books also helped me shape out the kind of Christian Fiction or fantasy stories I came to write.
Aside from these fictional books, there is much real life, empowering books that I've read from Christian authors. Reading about the lives of missionaries like that of Gladys Aylward, changed my life. I was also empowered through the books of John Mason, Christine Caine, Sadie Robertson, Chelsea Crockett, and so many more!
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Q: What was your life like before becoming an author?
A: As mentioned previously, I have basically been writing ever since I could write. But before I could learn to compose my thoughts and imagination, I had to read. I loved reading, and it widened my vocabulary and thoughts. Before writing, I was definitely reading or playing. I remember being in the elementary level, and my teacher in fifth grade would tell about how I've grown in writing, commending me for the way I wrote. I remember writing little stories and poems in Atlanta (USA) based on school and life and then even more when we moved to Davao City (Philippines), writing about moving countries and new experiences.
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Q: What is your life like outside of writing?
A: Aside from writing, I love reading, singing, dancing, playing games, or watching movies with my family. If I have extra time (quarantine helped with that), I try to do some scrapbooking, and recently, trying to make videos for my channel (note the word trying, haha!). If not doing personal things, I'm doing schoolwork or church activities.
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Q: Are there any competitions or events that you've done concerning writing?
A: I have actually done quite a few competitions in my life, all of which are related to the English course but not limited to writing alone. My first competition was in first grade, and I was proud to be in a spelling bee. I did not win, but I was determined to do better next time. I ended up representing our county in the county spelling bee in Atlanta four years later.
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I did some other arts-related competitions in elementary that inspired me in writing, such as choir competitions, a calligraphy contest, and a Read-A-Thon. In sixth grade, I competed in my first essay writing contest, not placing it anywhere.
In high school, I discovered my love for public speaking. I may have been in the Philippines at this time, but being in an international school (PRECIOUS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF DAVAO), English was mostly used, and it was my forte. I joined the verse exhortation, extemporaneous speaking, debate, news-casting, and speech choir. Because of my love for extemporaneous or impromptu speaking (with the help of my teachers & coaches), I ended up joining two city-wide contests, specifically extemporaneous and oration with extemporaneous, both of which I was deemed champion. Praise God!
There were more arts-related competitions such as band, choir, and dance. Still, in my last year of high school, I had another city-wide extemporaneous speaking contest where I won. I was also chosen to represent our school in the Most Outstanding High School Graduate competition for schools within our city. This required written work, speaking, and an outreach project. This experience definitely inspired me and enabled me to become more confident in what I was passionate about.
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As for my college life, I am still making my way through this chapter of my life, but I already experienced two competitions. I was the champion in our school's impromptu speaking competition. This led to me representing our university in a city-wide impromptu contest with only a notice of it the night before.
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By God's grace, every competition I have joined served as an experience and motivation for me to share my life and do my best to grow and improve.
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Q: How do you manage all your social media platforms?
A: I do have quite a lot going on… My first media platform was Instagram, followed by Twitter. I suppose I can include Snapchat (though I don't really use it), blog, and YouTube here as well. In the past two years, I started a YouTube channel, sharing words and quotes on Instagram, blogging travels and thoughts, and even starting a "Messenger Ministry" where I send quotes and verses to over a hundred people once, twice thrice a week.
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Sometimes it is a challenge to manage everything so that my life does not revolve around these things. Other things, such as school, take up my time and challenge my time management skills. There is also the challenge of balancing doing my best and sharing God's words on my heart or just taking it slow and not worrying about the followers, views, etc.
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In dealing with both the physical management and emotional and mental balance, Matthew 6:33 (NIV) always comes to mind. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
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Q: What are some lessons you have learned through traveling?
A: God is amazing, creative, and once again, so good. You would know that although pictures look amazing to those who travel, the behind-the-scenes and reality of it all is not always as easy-going or picture-perfect. And life is the same way. There are times when things do not go as planned, testing our patience, mindset, and character. There are also times where surprises come, making everything so much more exciting. These happen in travels but are lived out through life.
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Traveling has blessed me with expanded knowledge of the world and the way life works. In the first twenty years of my life, we have been to five continents and almost fifty different countries. Each place may be different, but because we're all human, I see the different ways people cope with or overcome life.
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Aside from knowledge of the world and the way life works in different places, I have also observed the need to be prepared, polite, and practiced. Prepared in packing, language, and knowledge, polite in dealing with people and customs, and practiced how to react and respond to different situations in life. There are many times in life where you meet someone only once. Make sure that they remember you with something worth valuing and not hating.
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Traveling has also taught me to be content and grateful for what I have. Traveling alone is such a big blessing and something to be thankful for.
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Above all, traveling has allowed me to value my family and the time spent with them. I have never traveled without family, and I wouldn't have it any other way. There may be bloopers and struggles now and then, but they create memories that last for a lifetime.
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Q: What advice would you give to people who "run out of creativity" while writing?
A: There are different ways to tap into your creativity since no two people are the same. Here are three things I like asking myself to get some creativity and inspiration.
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Ask yourself, what you're writing, why you're writing it, and who you are writing it for. When you have these questions answered, you should focus on where you see your writing headed. This also narrows down the people, books, or sources you can search for or read through to get inspiration and ideas.
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Q: What are some things your parents have taught you that you share in your writing?
My parents are a-ma-zing. I cannot stress that enough. I believe that when my parents had prayed for us when they were around my teenage sister's age and then praying for us when they got married and still praying for us now as we grow, their prayers have planted seeds that are bearing fruit in time. So the first thing they have given me was their lives. They give their time, effort, support, care, prayers, and love. Seeing them live this out every day inspires me, motivates me, and encourages me to do the same. This also serves as a reason to keep writing and sharing the life I live, this life, my parents have worked hard to allow me to experience under God's grace.
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My mom is a nurse by profession, and she's, well, a mother. She constantly reminds me of the things I must physically take care of, from my diet to my sleeping pattern. I find myself sharing these same reminders to friends and girls that I lead. Aside from the more medical things she reminds me of, she also reminds me to be a Godly woman. A woman who fears the Lord and falls under the traits of a Proverbs 31 woman. The thing is, she doesn't just teach me these things or speak on these eloquently. She lives it out. Having my mom living it out and having our real talk mother-daughter moments also serves as another source of inspiration, revelation, and encouragement. I will never forget her illustration of "tape" to life.
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"You are like tape. Meant to stick to one. The more you keep attaching yourself to someone then having to detach yourself, the less value you have to the one you're meant to stick to." It was focused on relationships, dating, and marriage, but I took it as a reminder for life. Don't entertain everything, especially those not of God, when you should only stick with God and in Him, find everything you need.
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My mom always says that my dad is wise. I agree. My dad has this way of forming words into phrases that bring impact. As a dad of three girls, he also makes sure to insert some fatherly reminders, especially since time flies by fast and we're growing older. There are way too many things my dad has said that I can firmly say are amazing quotes. Three of these dad quotes (maybe other people have said the same thing, but I heard them from him first) that I find myself sharing a lot are, "focus is the strength," "don't let life control you, you control life," and "remember who you are." He also says, "we are not worriers but warriors."
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My parents have shared much and impacted their lives, and I know many other people can agree that they are a powerful, double-anointed team. Living every day with them definitely helps me stay on track and keep growing to get better.
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Q: What advice would you give to your generation?
A: Find out or remember who you are. You cannot find or live out your purpose in life if you don't have an identity to hold onto. Your identity, who you are, will be your roots to your foundation, serving as your base to run to when you forget why you do things and who you do things for.
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Different things greatly influence our generation. Many people easily moved to follow certain things that are far from helpful or beneficial to their growth. When you are unsure of who you are, you most likely won't have strong standards or boundaries to filter out what is best for you and what is not.
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Know your foundation, build confidence in your identity, and live life from there. For me, my foundation is in Jesus, my identity is in Him (I am His daughter, a child of God), and I write, sing, speak, film, travel, and share my life with Jesus at the center of it all.
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Q: How did you grow in your spiritual walk with God?
A: I grew up in a Christian family. From being the first baby in our Filipino-American Christian Church (FACC) in Lilburn, Georgia, to becoming a part of the Kidpak dance in Free Chapel, Gainesville, Georgia, I was used to being surrounded by people who loved God and loved people. I enjoyed listening to my mom teach Sunday school lessons on Sundays, worshipping with my dad on Sundays and some Wednesdays, and dancing with other kids my age in Free Chapel on the other Wednesdays. However, it was when we moved to the Philippines that my faith in God deepened its roots. Because of the sudden shift of culture, faces, and places, I guess you could say my world was “rocked”. I had a hard time adjusting to the Philippines, despite my previous excitement to live in the country I was born. With that, the only two things that helped me cope and thrive were faith and family.
Being a part of the BCC (Buhangin Community Church) family is a blessing, but I didn’t always see how. At first, I didn’t want to socialize in church, due to the language barrier and the idea that I was just different. But as the decade went on, one of the things I realized was that there is no growth in the comfort zone. Being a part of BCC, along with my family, has helped me step out in faith and do things that I didn’t think I’d be doing at this age.
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​Reychelle Moira Kwan Lagat is a young author who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, USA but is currently living in Davao City, Philippines. She graduated as Salutatorian in high school at Precious International School of Davao, and was a Dean’s lister at the University of Mindanao, where she studied for a year in college. She is presently taking BS Psychology at Oral Roberts University, Oklahoma, USA.
She is passionate about reading and writing, singing and dancing, speaking and encouraging others, and traveling the world with her family. Her love for reading and writing started ever since she was probably in kindergarten. She has written around fifteen books on Wattpad and continues to write blogs, poems, and songs as well. Her passion and creativity in writing, as well as sharing on other platforms, is fueled by her love for the God who gave her these talents and opportunities. She continues to inspire and encourage girls in her generation and hopes that these books, stories, and writings will encourage, enlighten, and empower all readers.
