A Tribute

You know how there are certain people who enter your life and have a huge influence? Even if you only ever "meet" said person once or twice in real life?
Sandi Rog was one of those people for me.
I first met Sandi through an email group of Christian authors. A mutual writing friend had pulled us both in and it was my first foray into working on bettering myself as an author. We would exchange bits and pieces of writing to critique, news, and prayers.
That was back around the time Sandi had her first books come out. And when she fought her first battle with cancer. It almost took her. I'm so thankful it didn't.

A few years later, I decided I was ready to start submitting manuscripts for publication. I sent one off, all my dreams and hopes with it. It got rejected, but the acquisitions editor who saw it was Sandi. And she saw potential.
A few years later, she contacted me, wanting to publish my story. I got to meet her face-to-face for the first time in 2015, when my family traveled to Colorado for vacation--and we picked the same congregation she worshiped at to attend that Sunday, not even realizing it was the same.
She and I went back and forth through emails and calls, working on cleaning it up, on making it stronger, and on changing the name and what I had envisaged for the cover. She taught me as we went, so that I could apply concepts and grammatical advice in future writing.
The picture above is the second time we met in person. When we signed the official contract. She believed in me. That book came out in November 2017.
A few years ago, Sandi's cancer returned, this time more aggressive. She tried literally everything she could find to fix it, but it was too much. We transferred my book rights to my other publisher, just in case. And she kept being her encouraging self the whole time.
There was never a post on social media that she didn't include something about her faith in God. She knew where she was going. And she wasn't afraid to share about His love and power.
Sandi passed on to eternity last Friday. She left behind a legacy, not only in the amazing books she wrote or the family she left behind, but also in every other life she touched. Because there is not a person out there who met her who wasn't affected in some way. I know she made my life better, just by believing in me and giving me a chance to shine.
​I will be forever grateful God put Sandi Rog in my life. And I hope I can shine as brightly as she did for our Lord who loves us so much.