Claiming Your Promised Land

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Deuteronomy 1 :6-8 on having camped on this mountain long enough. I believed God was telling me it was time for me to break camp and advance, to possess my Promised Land.

I told you that your promised land could be anything God wants you to accomplish or resolve in your life. I challenged you to determine what that might be for you.

I knew what God was pointing to in my life. I have been holding back in fear, doubt, and just plain procrastination. I reasoned that I was waiting for God to show me that the time was right and then how to begin. It may have been an excuse not to start something I was afraid I could not finish.

Like the Israelites when they came to the Jordan River, which was in flood, the first problem we encounter can seem like a good reason to turn back. In the Bible narrative, crossing the Jordan River ended their forty years of wandering and was the beginning of claiming a new homeland.

Some of you sent messages about what God wanted to do in your lives. I also suggested that I might tell you what God wanted to do in mine.

I have vacillated for several years on the question of writing another book. So many of you read Why Doesn’t God Just Heal Me and enthusiastically encouraged me to write again.

When anyone asked how long it took me to write Why Doesn’t God Just Heal Me, I usually responded that it took me thirty years. I then clarified that it took me thirty years to learn those lessons and six months to write it all down.

Here I am again, with all these messages, ideas, scriptures, and stories running circles in my head. I need to write them down and make them all tangible and accessible to those who would benefit from what God has been teaching me. But ladies, there are giants in the land and fortified cities. You might think having written one book that I would not be so intimidated. In truth, knowing what it will require of me actually adds to my ambivalence.

Here’s is my Jordan River in flood, the thing that has kept me from even starting. How do I find the time to keep up this blog, research and write a book, and have a life? I do have a husband, a house to keep clean, laundry, dishes, and meals. I have children and grandchildren, a church, friends, and a weekly Bible study. Finding the time is only the first obstacle. I haven’t even gotten to the intimidating fortifications of Jericho!

I started this blog a year ago as a way to keep in touch with all of the ladies I loved so well when we were full-time Evangelists for the Christian Motorcyclists Association. As we approached retirement, I begged God not to forget me, not to put me on a shelf. I didn’t mind losing the title and all that went with it. I did not want to lose the influence. My joy is ministering to women, particularly encouraging them to fulfill God’s highest callings in their lives. The book I believe God is calling me to write would be a compilation of all I’ve learned about how God loves and uses women. (I hope that piques your interest!)

I have discovered that keeping a weekly obligation to post on this blog page is not easy. If you looked for it every week and were disappointed, I apologize. I want to be faithful here, but I also want to answer the call to write that next book!

I wrote in Where To Now, that God does not ask us to take a leap of faith. A leap is a haphazard throwing of ourselves into the unknown with no regard to where and how we might land. God asks us to take a step of faith, just one step at a time.

In addition to applying the instruction Joshua gave the Israelites in Joshua1-3, I have added these verses to my current situation:

Where no vision is, the people perish. (Proverbs 28:19) I have had a glimpse of my Promised Land. I have spent a lot of time in recent weeks deep in prayer and seeking God’s direction and confirmation. The Spiritual (the Priests) must go out first.

In a multitude of counselors, there is safety. (Proverbs 11:14)

I called the dear friend whom I refer to as, “my editor.” I sent him a preliminary overview, and gained his support and commitment to work with me again. He is my counselor, my collaborator, and sometimes, my task master!

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

As I wrestled with the question of time, I thought of this verse. I must discipline myself to use my time wisely. I will have to say no to some things I would rather do, and I must be steadfast in my commitments.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Like walking a dark path with a flashlight, I only need enough light, enough faith, for the next step I’m about to take.

For the rest, I will trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. In all my ways I will acknowledge him, and he will direct my path. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I will step cautiously, just as I would if I stepped into a flooded River Jordan. I am inviting you to come along. Don’t worry. You won’t even get your feet wet. Here is my plan:

I may be able to post on this page every other week and spend the intervening week working on writing this next book. I am hesitant to commit and fear I cannot keep this schedule. Some weeks I may not be able to work on either one! I will try.

You can help us both out by signing up for email reminders. It’s at the bottom of this page in an orange box. All I ask is for your first name and email address. I promise I would never use it as a mailing list for anything but reminders of when I post on Kathchats.

If you sign up, I can send a reminder when I have a new post and an apology if and when I don’t. I want to keep up this blog and maintain contact with you, my friends, to encourage and bless you. Signing up for reminders will reassure me that you want to keep walking with me. And if that’s the case, I will share occasional updates on the progress of the book.

Enough about me. Let’s talk about you.

I wonder if God is showing you an area in your life that is your promised land. Is there something God wants you to accomplish or resolve now in your life?

You may wonder if the thing you want to accomplish is from God. How do you know?

When that dream requires a huge personal sacrifice, when it will glorify God and bless others, and when what it will cost you far outweighs any personal gain, then it is from God.

You know God has chosen you to accomplish this challenge when you are willing to merely be the tool in his hands rather than have the spotlight on you and what you have done.

So here goes. I’m stepping in my Jordan River. Are you?