Give Me a Sign!

“He rescues and he saves;

he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth.”

Daniel 6:26

Did you ever notice how the Lord sets up road signs along the highway of our lives? I think this was one of my earliest revelations about my faith walk: Pay attention, and God will lead.

            I’m one of those people who gets lost pretty much everywhere I go. I’m sort of known for it. For this reason, one of my closest friends has taken on the role of GPS in my life. If I’m headed somewhere new, he’ll often send me an email with written directions that read something like this: “Take a left at Robertson Avenue. The street sign there is obscured, so it sneaks up on you, but you’ll know it by the Shell station on the corner.” David knows that the little details can make or break me.

            Jesus knows this about me, too.

            Early on as a writer, I only knew that I wanted to write. I had a very clear vision of the day my Creator crafted me for future life, whispering into my ear what He would have me do: Writer. But that’s where the clarity ended. I took a disorganized cluster bomb approach, tossing everything I had at the wall to see if anything might stick. I tried writing sexy romance novels, scary suspense, screenplays, short stories, magazine articles, even advertising copy. If an opportunity arose to put words on a page, I engaged.

            How many times have you asked, “Why did You put this desire and ability in me only to have it waste away without success?” After a gazillion instances where I asked that very question, it occurred to me that He is not a God who wastes words. If He’d really breathed Writer into me, He may have actually have had a plan for me to accomplish it.

            With that revelation, I began to watch the signs more closely. If an opportunity arose, I prayed, weighed, considered. What is my final destination? To serve God through my writing. How do I get there? By watching for the signs that lead me down that specific road. For many writers, magazine articles and jingles make sense as part of their journey. For me and my path, however, that isn’t the case. It was a long, messy road to this focus, but two years after I reached it, I sold my first romantic comedy to the inspirational market. Welcome to Your Destiny. At last.

Situations arise often that require me to unfold the map again, measuring opportunity against final outcome. Does this contribute to my journey? If so, great! If not, I have to find a way to do what we women often have a hard time doing—I must say “No thank you, that’s not for me” and be on my way. With this kind of focus about where I’m headed, I’m able to make solid decisions that won’t waste precious time and energy, and won’t break my stride.

Today’s Prayer: Help me today, sweet Jesus, to take the time to listen and watch for Your guidance. Don’t let me drift too far away from Your plan for me, and help me not to contribute to someone else’s wrong turns. Amen.  

[Excerpt from His Grace is Sufficient...Decaf is Not]

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After 15+ years as an entertainment publicist for some of daytime television’s hottest stars, Sandra D. Bricker put Hollywood in her rearview mirror in order to follow the call of God on her life. She is now a best-selling, award-winning author of 15 published novels with 5 more books slated for publication through 2014. She currently resides in Central Florida and makes her living as a freelance novelist, occasional editor and sometimes-publicist.

To visit her popular weekly blog, click HERE.