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The Call
of God
By Christine
Beaucage
“…
the Lord called Samuel (Christine)
and (s)he answered,
here am I.” I Samuel 3:4
I woke with a start at one AM. “What do you want me to do, Lord? Shall I pray?”
When I’m awake at night I always ask the Lord for His plan for the time. I
learned long ago that to allow myself to toss and turn gave the victory to
Satan.
Usually
God’s answer is, “Pray.” Sometimes He gives me a specific topic. But this night
the answer was different. God flooded my mind and heart with ideas for a new
book, Taste and See -
Stories of Ordinary Women and Their Extraordinary Walks with God.
How exciting! My first book,
Taste and See - A Nibble at a
Time,
would be coming out in just a few months. And I now know that God wanted a
second one available at the same time, but I wouldn't be the author of this new
book. Instead I would edit it - and publish it. This would be a whole new
adventure.
I got up. My pen flowed with names of women I should invite to
contribute to the book. I wanted to be sensitive to God’s leading from the onset
of the project. “Please, Lord, show me the women who will be blessed by this
invitation. And Lord, please choose the ones You would have write for the book.”
After jotting down some notes I went back to bed confident that I
was embarking on a project that was the Lord’s.
I sent flyers with personal notes written on beautiful cards copied from one my
daughter Carol had made. I didn’t know what the response would be - but I was
full of enthusiasm about following the Lord.
The first response to my invitation was a
big
hug from my teenage neighbor Morgan. She was thrilled to be included.
A few days later I received an e-mail from my Messianic Jewish friend, Phyllis.
It started, “OK, Christine, the ‘Divine Nudge’ has definitely told me it’s time
to write my testimony. Your letter today just confirmed that!”
And the responses kept coming. I received letters, phone calls and
e-mails, some from friends I hadn’t heard from in years.
Susan called to say that she hadn’t written anything for a long
while. Friends had been encouraging her to get back to writing. Then, my letter
came. But what finally caught her attention was when she ran into my husband,
David, in the grocery store.
One morning Karen believed God might be calling her to write - and
that afternoon she received the letter.
When Corrine called to tell me what she had written, she shared a
piece written by her friend Cassandra. I asked permission to use Cassandra’s
work because it was a perfect companion to Corrine’s.
And though I had not planned to be an author for this work, God had
a different idea. As I taught my regular Bible study at High Hopes, I found
myself telling a story - and then realized that it should be included in
Taste and See.
So I wrote the chapter, “Stay Home and Dust.”
My plan was to have just one chapter per author. But God had other
plans. Two women, Marjorie and Linda, had already submitted articles that were
to be used - and each sent another which turned out to meet the theme so
beautifully that I just
had
to use them.
As I write, the book is in process. It will be the first ever
published by
Paraclete Publishing
and will be used to the Lord’s glory. I ask you to pray with me for God’s
blessing on all who contributed to this work - and on all who will read it.
Is the Lord calling you? It doesn’t have to be a wake-up call in the
night. It can be circumstances, or a gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit.
If you believe it’s God, respond and be blessed!
Christine and her husband, David
Beaucage, have a ministry in Orange County, California called
the Rec Room. Visit them at:
www.recroom.org
Ron
Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
www.fridaystudy.org
Ron@fridaystudy.org |
