Focus

A good friend emailed an encouraging word (thank you!!!) about how God is using me even if I don't see it, and suggested I check out Psalm 8. I did and it's a great reminder of the realization God gave me this morning~ a real ah-ha moment.

Last Saturday I taught about getting your foot in the publishing door with a dear friend, both of us fully expecting only a handful of folks to show up. We were blown away by a packed room and the Spirit of God making Himself so real. We laughed a lot, and I had a blast teaching as well as meeting people afterward and getting to encourage some awesome new writers.

All because God showed up and wouldn't let me stay in the place where lies were beginning to sound all too true.

Then today I had a radio interview. Lots of amazing folks were praying for me (thank you!!!) and yet I still felt my stomach clench and my voice quiver. So I prayed.

And told God over and over why I was nervous and what I was afraid of.

Guess what? I got more nervous.

Then a song from my favorite writing CD's said something about praising God.

The ah-ha lightening bolt hit me.

Focus.

Mine was all wrong. I was busy "praying" and babbling to God what He already knew that had me focused on my fear.

I cried. And then started to pray listing the things God brought to mind about who He is. He is the Author and finisher of my faith. He spoke the world into being. He is for me, not against me. He loves me with an everlasting love.

The fear literally disappeared and the phone rang right after that for my interview.

What followed was an incredible time in God's presence, being given the opportunity to share a little about Ransomed Dreams and even more about who God is.

One line that God gave me to speak still lingers in my thoughts....

"Dream big because God is a big God who is amazing at taking shattered dreams, broken lives, and tears and mixing them with His grace to create something beautiful."

Thanks so much for your prayers! God is so not finished with me or with teaching me. Sometimes that thought makes me cry (being in God's school isn't always fun) but other times, like today, it makes me sing with joy.

God is good and He has good plans for us. Dream big. He can handle it. And He has so much more than we can ask or imagine ahead. Just remember who He is in the midst of the journey.

Focus. On Him.

All the amazing pray-ers in the Bible did... from Jehoshaphat to the psalmists to the apostle Paul. We can too.

Here's to God-focused prayers. They change the world. One heart at a time.