September 2022 Featured Article

What does the future hold?

It’s a question so many ask and very few have the answers for. In fact, I think God is the only one that knows what the future holds. Yet we still ask.

I have been asking God this often lately as I contemplate the next phase in my life. My hubby and I dream and plan for the next three to five years but there is nothing concrete. Then readers ask what I plan to do after I fulfill the next few books and it is a big question mark in my life. It’s okay though because I know God has a plan.

I work in ministry outside of book writing now. I have no problem saying that I am part of a church that, from time to time, I fill in for the pastor on Sunday morning. Now, whether you believe that women should be speaking on Sundays or not is not what this is about, so stay with me.

Our pastor travels a lot because our church and ministry is not like a regular church and he needs to visit the other church plants around the globe. It wasn’t something that I had ever wanted to do or hoped to do, but I trusted his judgment when he asked me to join the ministry staff. Add to those duties, things that I do around our church with my husband and you have a “job“ that takes up almost as much time as writing books.

Everything beyond three years from now is unknown but I try not to dwell too much on the answers that I don’t have. Will I be working in ministry more after my kids have all moved out of the house or going off to college? Will I be writing more? Will God give me enough storylines that maybe I can do both? Or, Will my husband and I begin to travel with our pastor?

God only knows the answers and I’m okay with that.

See I learned a long time ago to never expect God to do things my way and never tell him how to guide me. I also never tell Him I won’t do something that I get the impression it is something He wants me to do. Saying Yes to God has proven more fulfilling than anything else in my life.

Over the last couple of years, writing for this magazine, I’ve shared often how writing to begin with wasn’t even something I ever dreamed of doing but it has been just what I needed from time to time. Writing is a blessing for me because I get to share with others the lessons I’ve learned in my walk with Christ in an unassuming way. Yet as the years go on, passions change. I have found myself pouring over the Word more than books that entertain me or to teach me how to write better. Not that I don’t have plenty of stories to tell, but I feel my focus shifting. I think any of us who have spent time hungering after Christ and his Word understand the desire to share with others how amazing God is and what He has done in their lives.

Don’t worry though, for now, I still have so much to share and learn. Until the answer is clear that it is time to stop, I will be here— Writing, waiting, and wondering.