Since I started writing in May 2023, which task I ought to be doing at any given moment has become increasingly unclear. Should I read my kids another book? Edit a chapter of my audiobook? Do the dishes? Finish that house project? Learn to HTML code an ebook? How do I know what God wants me to do next? Two concepts continue to pop to mind, and I’m finding they’re closely related:
Faithful
I’ve been playing pickleball occasionally with fellow homeschool moms. Each time, the same core three show up—fiercely competitive and athletic. As their far less skilled doubles partner, I'm panicked not to let them down. In response to that anxiety, I've started praying for help during the game. With each play, I don't focus on earning points or smashing the ball in the perfect spot. Instead, I just try to reach every ball that comes my way and keep it in bounds. I feel God whispering that this is an illustration of faithfulness. I am faithful with my part, and my impressive partners handle the rest.
What a relief to apply this to my writing, my parenting, and my marriage. I don’t have what it takes to make my endeavors successful, but I’m not called to be the Mastermind or Orchestrator. I’m called to be faithful—day in and day out, moment by moment. God, in His mind-boggling care, handles the rest.
Half-Steps
I would love to have a comprehensive plan for parenting, writing, decision-making with Brit, publishing, homeschooling—everything.
Trust me, I try. But lately, God has been forcing me to slow way down. He doesn’t give me instructions for the next five years ... or even the next six months. He doesn't tell me what to expect or even a basic outline of my part in it all. Instead, He offers His steady guidance with each next half-step.
Right now, for my publishing project, I’m recording my audiobook. After that? He’ll show me the next half-step. Does it make me crazy not knowing? Absolutely. But He’s showing me that it’s good for me. It reminds me constantly that it’s not up to me—that I’m not the boss, that I don’t decide whether I succeed or fail. In fact, I don’t even get to define what success or failure looks like.
I receive my next half-step, and my role is to be faithful in it. I see God changing me through this process, making me more trusting, more serene, more content. My hope is in Him alone ... to show me how to live a life worthy of the call, to make all the half-steps add up, and to bring His kingdom to earth, one surrendered heart at a time.
Faithful, yep. Leaning into God in so many areas of your life. You inspire and motivate me. I am often learning from you. What a benefit your writing would have been to me as a teen and young adult! You are proof that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I think or ask. (And I ask a lot!)