December 30, 2008

One chapel service at Faith Baptist Bible College changed my life. OK, most life changes are the result of a process, as this was. But this chapel service was the part of the process that made me know how I could recognize God’s will and pursue it with confidence. This chapel service was when I knew God wanted me to write for Christian publication.

Dr. Donn Ketcham gave four ways to find God’s will for your life. Consulting the Bible was first. Right. Godly counsel could help. Sure. Delight yourself in God and He would give you right desires. That was Psalm 37:4. Then he talked, not about open doors, but about rattled doorknobs.

When you’re not sure if a door is locked or not, you reach for the doorknob, and rattle it, try it, to see if it’s locked. Dr. Ketcham said instead of waiting for God to show you “open doors” of opportunity, you need to rattle some doorknobs. You can do this by setting flexible goals and asking God to guide you as you reach toward those goals.

I began to think about long range goals and short range goals, but I soon stalled. I didn’t know what kind of goals were reasonable. Then I asked Mr. Townsend, my writing teacher, for some of the godly counsel Dr. Ketcham talked about.

Mr. Townsend dared me to look way ahead into my future. What would I like to write someday if I could write anything I wanted?

I gulped down my inhibitions. If I could write anything, I supposed I’d like to write children’s books—maybe a whole series.

Mr. Townsend didn’t laugh. Imagine the significance of that fact to a scared college student! He didn’t laugh or smile knowingly or shake his head. He called that my long range goal. Then he helped me to develop short range goals to get there.

I started by submitting an article to Regular Baptist Press. Mr. Townsend showed me how to do that. They rejected my first article, but I tried again, and the next time they accepted it.  In 1978 Regular Baptist Press accepted and published my first article. This began a lasting relationship with that publisher that continues today. They have since published more than 125 of my articles, some many times.

Are you are an unpublished writer who is trying to take the first steps toward Christian publication? If so, I want to help you set some reasonable goals so that God can guide you into His perfect path. Check out my article on long and short range goals. If you want me to pray for you, leave a comment in my box.

God doesn’t hide His will for our lives. He wants us to know it so that we can do it because we love Him. May the Lord guide you today.