Plucked from Darkness

Thank you, Father for loving me.  Thank you, Father for plucking me from the darkness that was all I knew.  Thank you for amazing love.  How did this happen?  Back in 1996, I was going along in life, thinking all was well, and all was good.  I didn't know that I was missing EVERYTHING.

All of a sudden I found myself listening to a Christian radio station.  How did that happen?  And then there was a message that spoke to me -- was meant for me.  And then there fell a tear or two.  More tears as the days went on and I kept listening.  All of a sudden I am praying -- something I had not done for a very long time.  The radio preacher told me I needed to find a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church.  Before I realized what had happened, I was coming up out of the water -- a completely new creature.

But I was scared on the drive home.  Can I live up to this life?  What have I done?  I didn't really know what to think or feel.  But I knew this -- ALL of my sins had been washed away; erased completely.  Not just with an eraser that leaves yellow dust all over the board, evidence of what went before.  This board has been washed completely -- squeaky clean.  It is brand new.  I am brand new.  Then I asked myself, "How do I act now; what do I do?"  But I took it all into my heart and prayed for guidance.  I listened intently to sermons, struggling to grasp the magnificent meaning of my new life.  What was I to do?

That was 1996.  This is now.  During those years, The Potter has been reworking me and making me ready.  He has spoken to me  -- yes, He does speak!  I wrote this on April 6, 2012:

"What do I need now?  A retreat, perhaps, or a fast?  Time in the woods?  Father, Creator, Awesome God, I need YOU -- I long to hear a message from you.  Longing for your touch that assembles me, keeps me together.  Longing to sense your whispers in my ear.  Longing for my fingers to press the right keys to lay down your message.  No, I'm not a writer -- I am a scribe; your scribe.  What is the message?  How is it to be presented?  I sure wish these pages did not have so many questions, but without questions there can be no answers."

Tomorrow morning I leave for a 4-day Christian writers' conference:  "Write His Answer."  As I look back on that post and my email asking to be put on the mailing list for a brochure (April 27), it is clear that He was answering my prayer.  The amazing nudges of His Spirit since that time have increased tenfold.  What's a girl to do, but "write His answer."

What is He whispering to you?