Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign by Glynis M. Belec

                I love to speak in front of an audience. It’s odd because I also consider myself an introvert by nature.  But stick a microphone in my hand and give me a topic that I am passionate about and I will share until the cows come home.

                My life, lately, has consisted of quite a few speaking engagements and I am really starting to think that my friend was right when she told me that God had a plan for me and she felt it involved some kind of a speaking ministry. I'd bucked the idea at first but now I seem to be settling in nicely to the speaking circuit. I've had five opportunities to speak this year already with three more coming up.                     Sure, I’ve always been a bit of a drama queen so am no stranger to the stage, but in the past, any appearance in front of an audience, has been scripted.

                Now my speaking presence is no longer about memorization skills and how good of an actor I am or think I am. Instead, God is my motivator and my raison d'être. So I try my best to seek God’s will in my presentations. He has blessed me with hope unlimited, so I want to shout it from the mountaintops.

                One of the topics that I speak on is titled – Using My Words. I haul in a plethora of signs that I have scattered all around my home. When I first started doing this I was actually amazed. I didn’t realize I was so literally obsessed with words. And those are just the portable words. I also have Word Art – which include different sayings and these are strategically scattered on the walls throughout our home, too.

                If I had to share some of my favourites – they might include the following:

1. Trust me child. I have it all under control. Love God.

                This sign was given to me by one of my students. Well his mama selected it randomly two weeks prior to the day that I was diagnosed with cancer. She thought it a silly gift at first but oh, how that sign kept me focused and staid on the eyes of Christ.

2. My sister bought this sign for me and it is such a reminder to me in this busy noisy world to take time to Be Still and Know that HE is God! Psalm 46:10

3.  Determination – that’s me; sometimes it gets me into trouble but if I have something on my mind – I do it!

4. Health- I just picked this one  up at a local thrift store. I love it because it serves as a reminder about how precious (and fleeting) life is.

5. Because Nice Matters – really is it so hard to give words of affirmation and lowering a voice instead of raising it? A gentle answer turns away wrath,  but a harsh word stirs up anger 

Proverbs 15:1

6. Laugh! Love it! It is so important to LOLED (laugh out loud every day!)

7. Drama Queen – can’t help it.

8. Probably my favourite - Don’t count the days; make the days count

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

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Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means." Daniel 5:17

Wait - Hope - Expect - MANN

Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord! Psalm 31: 24

How often do we give up before finishing something important? How often do we lose hope in the midst of trying? In my first pastoral charge in Alberta, I was told, “The second point is 25 miles north, through the Battle River Valley on the road to Lloydminster . . . and watch your driving because the gumbo is like driving in bottomless mud.”

So the second day of my new duties, I decided to visit the northern congregation. I had an old 1975 4-door Pontiac that I discovered later, travelled just as well through fields to make pastoral calls, as it did on muddy roads.

On that particular day, I took the elder’s directions and drove further and further north. I met a farmer driving his tractor on a road on which he said later, he'd never seen a car on it before. So you can tell I got slightly off the beaten path. Any way, back on the main road, I went as far as I thought I should while having some fear of getting lost under that big sky.

I remember stopping the car, getting out and looking over the vast fields. With no trees as I remembered in Ontario, I could literally see for miles. Off in the distance, east to where I was standing, I saw three grain elevators. Now that should have given me a clue that I was close to my destination. (I was soon to learn that every little town had its own grain elevators.) But, east? I decided this could not be a town. After all, I'd been told to go north.

So, I turned back, at times my front bumper pushing the soft mud to open the way. As I looked down at my brown heeled shoes, I reminded myself that I was not in the city now, and if I got stuck, I'd surely have to walk back in my bare feet. When I got into town, one of the elders visited me and asked how I found the folks over the valley. I told him about my journey and that I didn't find the town. “Other than a few ranchers working in their fields, I only saw grain elevators to the east.” He looked at me and laughed. Then he said, "And you didn't go far enough to see the sign to turn to Paradise Valley?”

I’ve always been a cautious person, and I admit that too often I’ve missed the signs. Sometimes I think we make life a lot more difficult that it is. Is it a fear of investing too much time and energy and then having to turn back anyway? Maybe it’s because we’re not willing to risk certain areas of life. Or, possibly having it in our minds how things should be or what they must look like, limits our willingness to live in hope of how they could be. Writing personal experiences can fall into this category too. It can be very intimidating and sometimes easier just to put them in our top drawer and leave them there. This Mother’s Day, I submitted an article to Christianity.ca that I’d been revising for fifteen years. I’m glad I kept going and didn’t turn around.

Blessings,
Donna Mann
http://www.donnamann.org
Check out Kid’s MP3 Farm Stories at http://stores.livingwordsmann.com