An Interesting Journey of Obedience . . .

I have been keeping a journal of some intersting happenings since shortly after the kids got out of school. Some of the dates are estimates as I didn't keep track immediately until I started noticing what was happening . . .

Beginning of June(ish): The whisper of direction for my life came early this month. I feel I am to write a book. I don't know what the topic will be, but I have said, "yes" to God and trust He will enlighten me on the topic soon. He has been working with me on choosing obedience, so I am going to obey.

June 13: God gave me the title of my book in church today. It will be called Brushstrokes though the topic is still unclear.

June 20: My dear friend Fanette told me today that God showed her I was being elevated to new things in my life if I would just step up on the platform and do what God told me to do. It was very humbling and a little scary. She has no idea at this point that I feel I am to write a book. I will be obedient and write this book, but I still don't know the topic. I am believing God will reveal it to me during my trip to LA. I have copied some pages from my blog to get the juices and ideas flowing.

June 27: God did not reveal the topic to me during my trip. :(

July 1: God gave me the topic today and my husband laughed out loud. The book is to be on obedience! Ugh . . . Not a "feel good" topic at all! This should be interesting!

July 6: Fanette came over today with tears in her eyes and gave me a worship CD that she had made at home for herself. After listening to it, God told her to give it to me. It is powerful and inspiring! I am absorbing it as I try to write.

July 10: I finished the first chapter this evening. As I was taking a shower, I was talking to God about authors and how it often takes years for books to come together. Before I could consiously have the thought of how long it might actually take me to get this thing written, He told me I had 3 weeks. Three Weeks! As impossible and ridiculous as that sounds, God reminded me of something one of the leaders said at the LA conference, "God doesn't ask us to do hard things; He asks us to do the impossible!" Well, He has!

July 11: Chapter 2 finished and Chapter 3 started!

July 12: God said to rest! I am starting a fast today as I need divine guidance for this project along with a financial breakthrough at Batteries Plus.

July 13: Chapter 3 finished!

July 14: Chapter 4 finished - these may be the shortest chapters in the history of chapter books!

July 17 & 18: Working on Chapters 5 and 6. Things are slowing down as far as ideas go. I ended my fast this weekend due to a family get together.

July 23: Chapter 7 done.

July 25: Working on a summary. Not sure if I'm finished or not. Oh my gosh! I just remembered that Pastor spoke on the #7 at leadership last week. It is the number of completion. Maybe I am finished and this week will be spent fine tuning grammar, expanding where necessary, etc. We will see!

July 26: Text a friend to see if I should give a copy to Pastor to look at since he has connections with people who have written books. The friend said they had connections too and that she and her husband would be happy to read it.

July 27: Added a paragraph to one of the chapters, but still feel I am basically finished with my initial draft.

July 28: Handed the book over to a friend and e-mailed it to my mom. Still praying for God's direction in what comes next - additions to the book, divine connections, etc.

Aug. 4: My friend said she loved the book - thought it was an important topic that had the potential to be freeing at the same time. She didn't think I was finished though. Suggested I put more of "me" into it. Praying for God to bring some personal stories to my memory that fit with this topic that will not just be stories, but be an impacting witness to God's amazing hand at work.

August 26: I've spent the last couple weeks expanding the book and putting more of myself into it. Dennis thinks he's found a company that will allow me to self-publish without the commitment of thousands of books purchased up front. I am currently e-mailing/interviewing a potential editor. We will see what happens next!

God Awareness . . .

Last night at our monthly women's meeting we listened to a video by Priscilla Shirer on being fully aware that God is right next to us. He will continually communicate with us if we would only listen and make an honest effort to be aware of Him and His presence. In my journey to be more in tune to what He is saying so I can be fully obedient to what He is asking me to do, this really made an impact on me. You know, most of the time we are obedient in the big stuff. We follow the 10 commandments the best we can, but are we listening to His whisper of daily things He has for us to accomplish? Maybe, but probably not completely. My goal is to become so aware of what He is saying that it is natural for me to just do it rather than contemplate whether He is asking me to do something or if it is just an idea I came up with. The other day we had some new neighbors move in and I felt like I was supposed to make some zucchini bread for them and go introduce our family to them to welcome them to the neighborhood. I contemplated this for days, but knew I was supposed to do it. After about a week, I finally made the bread, but something came up that night and I didn't take it to them. The next day I was going to run an errand, I left the house and realized I forgot my phone. I came back to the house, grabbed my phone, and it was as if that loaf of bread was taunting me. "Take me to the neighbors!" I stood in the middle of the kitchen contemplating taking it right then or waiting until the entire family was together. After arguing with myself on whether or not I was going to finally obey what I'd been told, I grabbed the bread, took the kids out of the car, and we went over to this family's house. This seems so ridiculously small, but in delaying my obedience, I was disobedient. I tell my kids that all the time, but I can't even follow my own rule! I ask them, "what is delayed obedience?" They respond, "disobedience." I'm sure as I travel down this road there will be more delayed obedience moments, but the goal is to get rid of them completely. I want to quit justifying that it's my idea or wondering if it is really God. If it's a good thought why even wonder whose thought it is? Obviously if you are married and the thought involves a significant amount of money, there should be prayerful discussion with a spouse, but making a loaf of bread and taking it to a neighbor should just be an immediate, "Yes, Lord! I will gladly do that!"

LA - God Chick's Conference