Process is a systematic series of actions directed to some end (Dictionary.com). What a powerful statement – a systematic series of action. This is where the power of process lies. Not random, now and then actions. It’s the consistent, the regular, over and over, deliberate, scheduled action. Commitment. Planning. Doing. This is what brings results. Puts the book in your hand. Changes lives.
I’m in the process of writing what I lovingly call the ‘insert-book’. Yes, I smile because I’ve been busy working on the first Teatime Stories book for just over two years and planning on having it published before Christmas this year. It has been a remarkable journey – let me not regress and share that journey now! Today I want to share the power of the process of the insert-book . . . Your Story Matters. There’s a story happening within the stories.
I have been humbled and awed by the power of God in the stories of the women I’m writing about and all I have discovered exploring my own story. As the interviews for the stories in Teatime Stories draw to a close and the cover design begins, I heard a PR lady speak about story at a business meeting. A few weeks later, she and I met and discussed the title of my book, Teatime Stories – I have tea, she has coffee. Unexpectantly our visit together brings focus to what I am preparing to share at an upcoming conference. The talk, Your Story Matters, developed with intensity following our conversation.
I spoke on Your Story Matters a few times more and my heart was quiet at the impact it delivered, at the response. It is clear that it speaks for Jesus. He wants it. I’m beckoned to flesh it out and place it between covers. Publish it – insert it before anything else I do. With a mix of hesitancy, fear, joy and excitement I step into the process. Yes, wondering if I’m crazy and if my friends will call me out for being so random and switching my focus. But I need to listen. Be obedient, follow the nudge.
As I plunge into the process, I discover:
- You can do all that you clearly know God asks you to do (Phil 4:13)
- He needs your voice and uses it for purpose
- You grow as a person
- You receive as you give
- God’s timing is different than ours
I struggle with – a systematic series of actions directed to some end. I have had so little patience with process. My energy level and exuberance for the movement of life, finds process too still and lengthy. The people I love don’t raise their eyebrows in vain at my visionary nature. Part of me loves new, big, bold, change. It makes it difficult to be disciplined in doing the same thing consistently.
Aah . . but I received this gift, this insert book, His insert, and with it now have the power of process, through this process. It’s easier now and I find joy in it. The book is about to be completed.
Do you struggle with process?
Can and will you step into whatever process is required of you right now, however random it is, and experience it’s power?