“Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.—2 Corinthians 1:20-22 (MSG)
Last month a sermon at church talked about how God’s favorite word to us is, “Yes,” and the most life giving thing we can do is to say,”Yes” back to God. I love how The Message version of 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 says that God puts His "Yes" within us.
15 years ago, God laid a "Yes" on my heart to write a book about knitting. When I sat down to try and write, nothing was flowing through my hands, so I thought, “maybe I misunderstood God.” Fast forward to 4 years ago. One of my good friends had approached me about writing a book together that compiled our knitting stories. We met a few times and then her father got sick and our project set aside.
A few months later, as I sat in a hospital waiting room while my daughter was having a tonsillectomy, God clearly spoke to me about writing some sort of knitting devotion book. This was the start of the Threads with Red concept. Spiritually and emotionally I was not in a good place, so my writing became a form of therapy for me.
Because of that difficult time, I wasn’t totally trusting God. This led to roadblocks, really barricades in my writing. For about a year, God was not blessing my hands. Once I could totally lay my burdens at His feet and completely trust His promises to me, I was able to write again.
Around this time, the pastor at our church had been saying, “If God is calling you to do something, you need to do it.” I was saying to myself, “Yes, Lord, I am writing this book. I am saying, “Yes,” to You.” The reality was, my book was almost finished. I was dragging my feet because pursuing it was outside of my comfort zone. I knew that if I moved forward with this, it would require me to get a website/blog going as well as increase my social media presence.
Finally, 3 months after hearing the pastor talking about how if God is calling you do something you need to do it, he said, “If God is calling you to do something and you don’t do it, He will find someone else!” What? God will use someone else to do this if I don't? No way was that going to happen! When I got home from church, I got on the computer and starting searching for Christian writer conferences. God led me to the perfect one in Southern California.
In blind faith, I signed up for the conference not knowing a soul and even signed up to have a random roommate in the dorm room with me. I could have afforded to pay for my own room, but I felt like, if I was going to do this for God, part of that meant making the most of my experience and meeting new people.
When my roommate, who was a volunteer at the conference, came into the room, she saw I was knitting and said, “Oh, you are a knitter? So am I, I didn’t think to bring mine.” As I shared with her my book concept, she was able to give me advice to help prepare me for my appointments I had with publishers and agents. Not only did both publishers that I met with love my book idea, but I also found an agent who was not only enthusiastic about representing me, but was also a knitter. From my roommate, to my agent, my response is,“Only God.” Only God can orchestrate these kind of details.
This past week, I signed a contract with a publisher for a 2019 publish date. They asked me to tweak the concept of my book a bit. Even though it means writing new material and patterns, I like their concept better than my original manuscript. I know this is part of God’s plan because it is all falling in place. God has not taken me this far on this journey to fail or abandon me. He is a Promise Maker and a Promise Keeper. God is giving me an opportunity to use my gifts of writing and knitting to glorify His Kingdom. That is what, “saying, “Yes,” to God looks like.
God impressed something on my heart to do 15 years ago, but his answer was,“Not yet.” He knew I wasn’t ready. All these years God has been behind the scenes to prepare me for this spiritually, mentally, emotionally and personally. I choose to walk by faith and not by sight.
Dear Lord,
I know sometimes You need to bring me through a fire to refine me so that I can be prepared to fulfill Your calling. I ask that Your spirit of joy flow through me this week to bless those put in my pathway. Lord I know that when You are in my vision that what many may see as impossible becomes possible. I thank You and trust that You will continue to Guide and provide as I seek you with all of my heart. In Jesus name, I pray these things. Amen.
Will you join me this month in memorizing, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”—2 Corinthians 5:7
Please make sure you tweet @KnitPrayShare or share your projects on the Knit Pray Share Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtags #ThreadsWithRed #KnitPrayShare.