Each Step I Take

1 Kings 17:13,15 – But Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid! Go ahead and cook that 'last meal,' but bake me a little loaf of bread first. Afterward there will still be enough food for you and your son." So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil for many days. (NLT)

Since starting to write about six or seven years ago, I've done so many things I would have considered impossible when I was younger. At first, I resisted the idea of becoming a writer, doubting my own abilities and not tapping in to God's. However, after the idea kept returning to my mind over and over again, I remember praying, "Okay God, I won't know until I try, so with Your help, I'll try." Shortly after this, I told my first children's story at the local library to 56 squirming children and their parents. Unbeknownst to me there was a reporter in the audience, and after story time, she asked to do an interview with me for the provincial paper. An announcer at CBC Radio saw the interview and arranged to come and tape me reading to another group of children, and then another paper did an interview. Shortly after this I wrote a devotional, and it was accepted for publication. All of my writing since this humble beginning (a children's book; devotionals; stories published in anthologies, magazines, and on CBC radio; interviews for print, radio, and TV; and a non-fiction book, "When Canada Joined Cape Breton", coming out in April of 2005) came about as a result of my response to an inner urging to say "Yes" to what I now recognize as God's direction for my life.

About a year ago, some people asked me if I had considered speaking to women. A few years ago, I would have run from this idea too, but as I look back, I see how God has been preparing me for this new opportunity to share His love with others. So in the fall of 2003 when people began telling me that I should consider speaking to women, I didn't say "No" like I would have in my younger days. Instead I said, "If that is what God wants, then with His help, I think I'm ready to try."

In the year that has followed since that first suggestion, I have had several other people urge me to consider a new step — sharing my story with other women. So last fall, I took the training workshops to be a Christian Women's Club speaker, and in December, I gave my first talk at a Christmas banquet in Bathurst, New Brunswick. Now I have other dates booked, and I'm looking forward to this ministry. In my mind's eye, I foresee people, especially women, mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins who have been prayed for by family members and friends, people who need to know God loves them. With this vision before me, I want to continue to use whatever time and talents God has given me to bring comfort, hope, and God's love to others.

We may battle with doubts and wonder how God can ever use what little we have to offer, but if we obey His call, I believe we'll discover a marvellous truth — little is much when God is in it. He will take our little and multiply it in order to bring honour to His name.

Prayer: Dear God, help us to listen to Your instructions for our lives, and give us courage to obey You today. Amen.

P.S. – In order for me to free up the time I need to pursue writing and speaking, and to be a partner to my husband in his retirement, I have resigned from my position of Assistant Submissions Editor for Daily, but I do hope to continue contributing devotionals. Mary Jane Hanson, Robin Ross, and many of the Daily readers have given me so much encouragement, and I want you to know that I appreciate your support.

Habakkuk 2:1-2 – I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it." (NIV)

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