When you look back at how things fall into place – things you could not have not arranged in one thousand years – isn’t it amazing?  You can clearly see the hand of God and Him working out everything in a way you could not possibly have imagined.

Last year, before I turned 40, I decided that I wanted to go after something that I had always dreamed about.  So, I signed myself up for a writer’s conference in North Carolina and went with a book proposal in hand.  At this conference, I was given the opportunity to meet with a publisher.  I had worked so hard on that proposal and prayed so much about that trip, I was certain I was coming home with a gig.

I was rejected.  It was devastating.  The rejection I had feared for 39 years hit me like a ton of bricks.  I had never wanted to put myself out there for that exact reason.  It’s that terrible question, “What if no one likes it?” 

The last night at the conference I thought I would be celebrating, but I found myself writing, “Square one.  I am back at square one.”  Those words opened into another batch of words and frustration which ended up being the beginning of my prayer journal.  The prayer journal has ended up being something I write in everyday where I praise God, talk to God and ask (sometimes beg) Him for things.

My rejection turned into a revelation.  My rejection turned into a deeper relationship with God.  My rejection turned into something that is the best part of my life.

I can’t live my life afraid of, “What if no one likes it?”  Ain’t nobody got time for that.  The passion you have, the dream you have, go after it.  It’s sitting there for a reason.  God places those inside of us so we will use them for His glory.  It might not turn out the way you hope or expect, but He will make it even better.