I thought the dream was dead. It died a slow death, giving me time to look around for a new one. At last, I felt ready to put the old one
to rest and move on. Move forward. And then…
Boom! I met an editor at a writers’ conference who expressed a strong interest in my story. Two weeks later, I have signed a contract with HopeSprings Books to publish my middle grade novel, Sticks & Stones. The dream I thought was dead is now alive and well.
Isn’t that just like the Lord? He waits until we’ve exhausted our efforts and given up, then hands it to us all tied up with a pretty little bow.
This isn’t the first time He’s done this. Oh, no! As a young single woman, I buried my dream of finding the right man to marry in order to focus my attention on serving the Lord in whatever arena He chose. Within a month, I’d met my future husband.
Years later, we hoped and prayed for a job transfer that never came. Nine years of waiting made us think this must be where God wants us and we might as well get on with life. As soon as we hired a painter to renew the outside of our house, our transfer came through and we moved to our “dream” location.
Is there a lesson in all this? I’d say it goes back to my life verse in Psalm 37:4. “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” We like to focus on the end of that verse, where it talks about the desires of our heart. But first, we must take delight in the Lord. Put His desires and plans ahead of ours. That’s scary, but it’s also safe. Because only He can resurrect what’s dead. That way, He gets the credit, not us. And He deserves it way more than I do!
