diff --git a/Sources/Realtime/Defaults.swift b/Sources/Realtime/Defaults.swift
index 296c352..b006b13 100644
--- a/Sources/Realtime/Defaults.swift
+++ b/Sources/Realtime/Defaults.swift
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ public enum Defaults {
 
   /// Default encode function, utilizing JSONSerialization.data
   public static let encode: (Any) -> Data = { json in
-    try! JSONSerialization
+    assert(JSONSerialization.isValidJSONObject(json), "Invalid JSON object")
+    return try! JSONSerialization
       .data(
         withJSONObject: json,
         options: JSONSerialization.WritingOptions()
diff --git a/Sources/Realtime/RealtimeClient.swift b/Sources/Realtime/RealtimeClient.swift
index b50a6f4..489595a 100644
--- a/Sources/Realtime/RealtimeClient.swift
+++ b/Sources/Realtime/RealtimeClient.swift
@@ -645,7 +645,7 @@ public class RealtimeClient: TransportDelegate {
     joinRef: String? = nil
   ) {
     let callback: (() throws -> Void) = {
-      let body: [Any?] = [joinRef, ref, topic, event, payload]
+      let body: [Any?] = [joinRef, ref, topic.rawValue, event.rawValue, payload]
       let data = self.encode(body)
 
       self.logItems("push", "Sending \(String(data: data, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8) ?? "")")