Everything is Going According to Plan - Meyer

The writer’s life is unpredictable. When you “go to work” each day, there is no clear job description or list of duties to follow. There is no boss telling you what to do; no board of directors overseeing your efforts.

As a follower of Christ, I do look to Someone for direction. I pray each day that He will guide me to make the right choices in my work day.
Sometimes, though, I fret. I worry. And on occasion, it could more accurately be described as full blown panic.

I prayerfully plan out the day, the week, the year. I set goals and march bravely towards them. But things don’t always go as planned.

There is one manuscript that I have been longing to see in print for five years now. I have prayed earnestly that Deep Waters would be published as I believe it will be an encouragement and help to many people. Why doesn’t the Lord answer my prayer?

As I reflect on the past five years, I see that was has happened has been very good. It hasn’t been anything like what I would have planned or even dreamed of. But it has been very good.
Recently, the Lord has been assuring me that: “Everything is going according to plan.” His plan of course; not mine.

If Deep Waters had been published five years ago, I might not have pursued journalism. If it had been published four years ago, I likely never would have taken the time to teach writing classes. If Deep Waters had been published three years ago, I wouldn’t have worked at getting my young adult novel, Colin’s Choice, published. If I'd had a contract to publish Deep Waters two years ago, I would probably not have taken a position as editor of Indian Life or published my children’s book, Get Lost! If Deep Waters had been published a year ago, I would not have continued to teach writing and would have missed out on the wonderful opportunity of meeting all those great people and editing three anthologies of Winnipeg authors. I would have missed out on so much!

The past two weeks have been filled with wonderful things that I could never have imagined five years ago. I had a book signing at Book Expo, an interview with Drew Marshall and I received my second book award from The Word Guild Canadian Writing Awards. I was on faculty at Write! Canada and on a writer’s panel at The Family Christian Bookstore, sitting alongside authors: Keith Clemons, N. J. Lindquist, Denyse O’Leary and Ray Wiseman.

Will Deep Waters be published this year – or does God have yet something else for me that I could not even begin to imagine?
One thing I do know – things will continue to go according to plan.

Jer 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."