At dinner last Sunday night, Derik posed an excellent question. If you could encompass the past year of your walk with Christ in a single word, what would it be? My word was “awakening,” and Derik asked what prompted my awakening. Obviously God was behind it, but how did He accomplish it?
God is not forceful like our enemy. He does not get in our faces and yell and scream to get our attention. His voice is calm and loving, not loud and obnoxious, and I have long felt His gentle, yet firm, tug on my heart.
I was complacent – to apply an overused church word. I was not deeply engaged in life. I was merely getting buy. God’s tug on my heart grew stronger as I graduated from PSI this May and realized that my life is before me and how I live the next few months sets the direction for my future. Sure, I won’t be locked in permanently. I can always change directions down the road, but now is the best time to set the direction I want, while I am at a crossroads. It will be harder to change directions later than it is to set a good one now. Thus, I began to awaken.
A few weeks later, I attended a Christian booksellers’ conference and met with an editor who works for a major publishing company, and she was interested in my devotional book idea. She requested a sample chapter and a few other book proposal items, and I got to work. During those weeks, it was like I woke up from a deep slumber. I came alive. I have not felt that energetic and purposeful in a very long time. I worked full-time six days a week on that proposal until it was finished, and then I started working on other projects. As I wait to hear back from the editor, I am writing short stories, something I enjoy immensely, and I am much more involved in and committed to Logos and our ministry. I am more engaged in my jobs and find more satisfaction in my work. Life in general is brighter now that I am living it, instead of just surviving it.
I would love to hear from the rest of you. What word sums up the last year of your walk with Christ?
