About a year ago, God began to speak to me about a change of seasons that would be coming. I sensed that I would be phasing out of writing which had been my main priority for ten plus years. I talked about this in my blogs on March 27, 2025; June 12, 2025; and July10, 2025.
Since I don’t wait well without knowing what the future holds, this has been a difficult time, even though I’ve had plenty to do—finishing four books in the past year and preparing for book events.
Finally, about six months later, in September, 2025, the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop “peering into the future” and just “Finish Today” (blog September 11, 2025). That helped to clarify things for me. Then I had a bad case of the flu which lasted well into the time when I should have been getting ready for Christmas. It kept me from being bored!
I was also busy preparing for our trip to Tanzania which was very labor intensive, both in paper work and packing. We got home from Tanzania on January 21, and I was busy washing clothes, putting things away from our trip, and having conversations with three people from Tanzania on What’s App. Also people wanted to hear more about our trip. My weariness after the trip kept me from wanting to be busier.
But as February progressed, I began to feel anxious when I looked at the blank spaces in my schedule and started worrying about being bored and wondering about what the next season held. I sensed that it was time to build an altar, as I do every six months to a year, to make of my body a living sacrifice. I affirm again that if the Lord makes His will clear to me, I will do anything He asks, go anywhere He asks and be anything He asks. (Romans 12:1-2)
Often I go to Presque Isle for a time apart, to walk on the nature trails and sit by the lake, but the extremely cold weather in February ruled that out. Instead, I decided to go to Fresh Grounds for some time apart to write in my special journal and talk to the Lord. I saw that I had last written in this journal at Presque Isle and made an altar on June 24-25, 2025. At that time, I had told God that if He wanted a change of seasons after my break from writing, He’d have to say so, make it clear, or I would go on writing. I wouldn’t try to read His mind!
So I hadn’t been apart with God since He had made clear that I was to phase out of writing and that a new season was coming. Since then I had stopped writing except for blogs and messages. Now it was time to build an altar and see what God had to say about this season. I didn’t have a lot to fill the blanks in my altar as I sat in a quiet corner at Fresh Grounds:
bottom row: Wife/Mother/Grandmother
second row: Sarah, Downtown Ministries Tuesday prayer, Preparing Messages*
third row: Blogs, Worship Center/Greeter Coordinator**
Top row: What’s App with Tanzania people
*Messages: Friends of the Manor & Book Talk at Common Grounds
**Resigning in May
I also wrote down ideas I had about things I could do or wondered if God wanted me to do. I added things in my journal from my In Touch devotional that day titled, Finding Clear Guidance. How do you know you’re making the right decision? Sometimes it may feel like God is keeping things from us when we’re trying to know His will (I added, “YEP!), but that’s not how He operates. He wants to give us clear direction (I added, “In His time!). So what must we do to hear His voice?
There were four subtitles: Clear the Pathway-repent of all known sin…; Exercise Patience-If you rush ahead of God, you may miss His will. (I added, Help me exercise patience!); Persist in Prayer-As we continue to pray, He will gradually weed out anything confusing until we come to understand His thoughts about the matter; Search the Scriptures- So often when we’re faced with a critical choice, all we want from the Lord is a quick answer. But He desires something so much greater—to deepen our relationship with Him. Don’t let the urgency of your need keep you from enjoying the intimacy of God’s presence as you seek His will.
I ended with a favorite scripture, Send out Thy light and Thy truth let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill. (Psalm 43:3)
I had no answer about the next season when I left Fresh Grounds that day, but I woke up the next morning with a “knowing” in my spirit hat I was to send out letters and one sheets to pastors/churches in our surrounding area telling them I was available to do messages for congregations and women’s groups. Some of the pastors and churches know us from our music ministry years ago and from our days of visiting churches as OMS missionary candidates.
As I pondered this idea, I believed following this plan would give me a broader audience than I’d had with my book events, and I had complete peace. One of the devotionals in my In Touch guide was titled, Understanding God’s Peace. I prayed that if the peace I was experiencing about this plan was from Him, it would continue. There were times I had experienced losing my peace when the plan I was following wasn’t God’s idea and knew He was well able to make it clear.
When I met with a friend last week and started sharing something from my life, she took out a pen and paper to write down what I’d said. Then I told her what I thought God was saying about the next season. She smiled and said, “Your words are powerful whether spoken or written. Here I am on a Wednesday morning taking notes on what you’re saying.”
I was encouraged by her words and proceeded with making a list of pastors and churches. If you know of a church or women’s group that might be interested in scheduling a message, please let me know. I’ll be happy to give you or the pastor a one sheet about my life and about my books. I covet your prayers during this transition.
Heavenly Father, please send out your light and your truth let them lead me in the direction you want me to go. My greatest desire is to know and do your will. Amen.