Guidance

Here's the bleating fawn in the daytime

Every morning, for three days, a different creature woke me up. First a fawn bleating outside our open bedroom window, the next day the familiar tree frog, and the third day a spotted towee. God's alarm clock through His creatures to wake me up at my usual time to pray, read His word and seek His face. Otherwise I would have slept in since I was on pain meds due to the hip injury from falling on the stone floor a few weeks ago.

I start the day by climbing the loft ladder, stepping the good leg first, the left injured one moved by grasping the railing in order to drag the injured leg where the first settled, hoping it is sturdy and so on to the top. I start every day there praying to our Lord, interceding for others, asking for guidance for the day and strength and wisdom to do His work. "The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust..." Psalm 18:2 NKJV

This week's guidance:

The writing loft needed an overhaul, getting everything irrelevant to the book out and bringing in supplies and relevant reference books. Instead of writing, this week, hard to do with a fuzzy head from pain meds, I researched new marketing methods to replace the marketing section in the 15 year old proposal.

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  It looks like this blog could be my best platform if I get more of you involved. Not sure how.
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  Megatrends 2000 shows a rise in "The Power of Spirituality" http://www.yourlifework.com/List-of-Megatrends.html "The surest route to self-mastery is spiritual practice. Time spent in peaceful reflection or mindful meditation clarifies thought, sharpens intuition and curbs unhealthy instincts. Spirituality, it turns out, is a lot more practical than most of us ever thought." This is how I write.
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  Social media the new way of marketing http://www.tribalauthor.com/ I joined facebook awhile ago.
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  Pondering twitter for weeks, I didn't want it to run my life. Today I ran into an island friend that I haven't seen and talked to for years yet he told me he has used it for three years and has thousands of followers. He had his IPhone with him and demonstrated to me how he uses Twitter on it. He mentioned I can download a program so I can see all categories, twitterfriends, twitter othercategories, facebook on one site. He will tweet me around to his contacts if I let him know when I get on. I'll let you know as well.

Sometimes I feel like I am stepping out into thin air and will again crash onto stone. One note that I stuck above my desk quite awhile ago, states, "There is nothing indeed which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; although as he puts down his foot he finds a rock beneath him." F.B Meyer

Better my foot on a rock than my hip on a rock.

Lord, You are my rock. Help me get everything personally irrelevant to your calling out of my life so I can focus fully and stand firm on what you have created me to do.

I get it

For the second week God has been speaking to me everyday through His creatures, encouraging me to write in spite of obstacles.

Monday noon God sent a mink to our front door and birdbath.

I have created a folder for the mink stories. Mink signify the obstacles to me, they steal the ground nesting bird’s eggs and are quite vicious, attacking neighbor’s chickens. They even eat my planted peas and crocus every year just as they sprout. I hardly ever see them in broad daylight except today.
Later that day I tripped and hurt my hip on our hard stone floor and my head on a chair. I am still limping around and can only get to my writing loft by holding onto the banister and stepping lightly on my left leg. Obstacles encourage me that I am on the right track. (scripture coming soon)

Tuesday 11:30 a.m. a buck came to the front door. This is not a usual occurrance

Later in the day he pushed his way through the closed but unlocked gate. We managed to get him out after he stripped the lower branches of the apple trees and then we found him back in again in the orchard after ramming his way through another gate. I have created a folder for the deer stories. They also keep me focused on overcoming the obstacles.

Canned pears on our Monarch wood stove

Wednesday, God brought a friend, Cherie, a published author and gardener, to encourage me while helping peel pears. She suggested I organize my files, writing area, and contacts, and to set aside time each day for writing. She also suggested that I start rug hooking with her again so I can finish the “Raven” hooked rug that I started well over ten years ago, when I first knew I was going to write this book. She thought a picture of it would work well in my book.


Thursday night several friends came to our door. They come every week for prayer meeting. I had the opportunity to ask them to pray for me: to keep focused on what God is calling me to do, for wisdom and persistence to do it and for protection.
Friday: Another friend stopped by and sat outside my door in the wonderful sunshine and I was able to encourage her through my experiences while we sipped lemonade.
Saturday: The bleating of a fawn outside our bedroom window woke me up early to pray and write. I am grateful for God’s continued incredible encouragement and even the bumps that show me the importance of pressing on. I am determined, by God’s grace, to get this book proposal off as soon as possible.

Encouragement

A tree frog arrived at our door

There are always obstacles and annoyances, especially when on this mission of writing a book proposal. Yet, the more interruptions, the more encouragement I have. If it were not important to do this, the path would be smooth. Yet, on this rocky winding garden path, God, rich in kindness, meets me at every turn. Psalm 59:10

The last few weeks we picked pears and berries from our garden and set them on the counter. The annoying fruit flies came with them. A cousin of mine suggested the microwave to trap them and zap them, but we don't have one. I put the fruit in the refrigerator and off handed asked God to help me get rid of the annoying pests. The next day a tree frog, specializing in fruit flies, showed up at the sliding glass front door, spending half the day looking in, God's sense of humor. Now I see encouragement, as the frog pointed out, to write the devotional not just about birds but about the rest of the creatures in the garden. Perhaps the new title under consideration,"I Come to the Garden"

The next day in rushing to catch an early ferry for a dentist appointment,errands, and spend a few days sitting grandson Dylan, my packed computer was left behind. I let go of spending any free time working on the book, so we went to a movie instead, since they didn't expect us in Seattle until evening. We went to see "Julie and Julia" since 9 months ago I bought Julia Child's volume on Mastering the Art of French Cooking for our chef son, and was bringing it to him for his birthday. In the movie, much to my surprise, Julie started blogging about working her way through a year of trying all Julia's recipes from this very book. I was taken back that she blogged partly because she wanted to see if she could finish something... one of the very reasons I started blogging.

By the way, in God's rich kindness, we also had a wonderful free time with our grandson.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

Focus

The place set aside for writing

Over 10 years ago I knew in many ways, God was calling me to write a book, a bird lover's devotional. I had found an interested publisher and worked with them for several years, changing it to meet their needs, but then their focus changed so they let me go. One of the editors pleaded for me to keep persuing a place for it, but I stopped sending it out to anyone else.

I didn't stop thinking about it, so secured a private place accessable only by a ladder, the loft in our cottage, as recommended by an author at a writing conference, a place that was only for writing, nothing else. Here I gathered and organized files for uncompleted stories and every time I found an encouragement to write, I would post it around the window above the desk, so I would be reminded of the task I needed to finish.

I even started this blog, thinking that if I could write every week and be able to meet a deadline, I would be able to finish the book if accepted by a publisher. For years I have done everything except complete the book and send it to a publisher.

A week or so ago, God sent three swallows, one to the greenhouse, two into the cottage. Although the greenhouse door was open for bees to pollinate the cucumbers and tomatoes growing there, our cottage door was only open for a few minutes and two swallows flew right up to the loft and landed on my desk and then up to the window ledge above where the notes are posted. I climbed the ladder, opened the window and they flew out, their mission accomplished.

I pondered this experience for a week until it dawned on me. It is time to finish the bird book. I have already decided on sending a proposal to a publisher connected with the very first time God sent a bird to encourage me. (You'll have to read the book to find that one out)

The 3x5 note below the window ledge with the largest print on it says "FOCUS!" I even took a toilet paper tube as suggested in a writing book, and wrote FOCUS on the outside, looking through it to see what it was like to block everything out but the task at hand. I pray I can make a priority of getting the proposal out. Thank you God for sending birds once again to get your will to the front of my mind.

• Keep at it "I must work the works of Him that sent me. While it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work - John 9:4
• Follow through what He has willed "The sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know what to say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will" Isaiah 50:4
• Be obedient "God's mark is on everything that obeys Him." Martin Luther
• When I feel like I cannot do it "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

I hope these will encourage you as well to continue what you are called to do.