(To read Part One click here. And if you can’t see the images click here.)
I slipped my card ideas into an envelope and sent them off with hope and a prayer.
Have you ever sent a dream, a piece of your heart, out into the world?
Then you know how my heart was pounding all the way to the mailbox. And at nineteen years old, I had no clue about all the proper things you’re supposed to do to get published.
…CHRIST
He is with you and many prayers are for you as you fight this battle.
You answer me and encourage me by giving me the strength I need. Psalm 138:3
When the phone rang a few weeks later a sweet woman named Ann (who is still my coworker) told me yes, DaySpring did want some of my ideas. I didn’t know then that their freelance acceptance rate was about one percent.
Ann asked if I’d like to send more ideas or drop them off personally and meet the staff. It turned out DaySpring was only about thirty minutes from where I attended college. I told her I’d love to stop by.
DaySpring started out small. They relocated from California in the early 1970s and the building where I first worked was a renovated duplex that was expanded bit by bit to hold over a hundred employees (of the almost 500 who worked there then). It overflowed with life and creativity.
So for more reasons than one, when I walked through the door that first day it felt like my heart came home.
Roy Lessin, one of the founders, took me to the product room where row after row of cards was displayed, much like my grandparents’ store. He told me to look around while I waited to meet with Linn (who is still my boss now!).
As I quietly read through cards, Roy slipped up behind me again. He tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a journal. On the cover a blond-haired, brown-eyed little girl smiled in a photograph. She looked a lot like me.
I thanked Roy for the kind gift. After he walked away, I flipped through the blank pages of the journal. I couldn’t help thinking of another journal–one that had a thousand pages. I’d just finished it and so many of the events recorded there during my season of rebellion filled me with regret.
I felt the Lord whispering, “Start over…and don’t write anything on these new pages you wouldn’t want me to read.”
By the time Linn came to get me, I realized a new chapter in my life was beginning.
I’m glad God called me to DaySpring then–not when I was the “Christian good girl,” not when I felt like I deserved it, not even when I knew anything about publishing.
I’m here not because of what I’ve done or know but because of Who chose me for reasons beyond my understanding.
If you have a God-dream in your heart you may be thinking, “But I need to be more _________. Or I need to know__________. Or if I could just ____________. “ I hope my story encourages you that God is bigger than all of those blanks.
As Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it’s the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Yes, we are to be proactive partners in the process who pursue excellence. But God is the one who makes it happen. Nothing is impossible for Him…and for us because we are His.
And in my adventure with DaySpring He was just getting started–to be continued.
