Today is opening day for my husband’s team. We open in Boston, a city we lived in for 12 years. A lot of change has happened in our lives since we moved away eight years ago. In fact, things have changed for me personally even more in the past two years. I have gone from full-time and overtime mom to empty nester living the baseball life with my husband. My new personal revelations have come through a path that I didn’t plan or desire to come. I had been writing devotions for Baseball Chapel for over 12 years but didn’t consider myself a writer, even though others gave me that badge. My past failures and experiences had me stuck in thoughts of not being enough. I wasn’t intelligent enough. I wasn’t educated enough. I wasn’t valuable enough. I wasn’t important enough.

“The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain,” (Deuteronomy 1: 6).

This past year or so my writing journey has taken me from not identifying myself as a writer to having a book being released early 2018. I had to change my thinking from my faults and deficiencies to what can God do in his abilities.

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” Pablo Picasso

I began to ask, “Why Not?” I allowed God to pull me where he wanted me. I talked with an experienced author friend about next steps. I signed up for a writer’s conference. I got shot down by publishers. I didn’t identify myself as a writer before or after that experience.

But God…..continued to say: Get off that mountain. You have wandered long enough!

My thoughts set me back a little. Fear, unworthiness, unintelligence, failure, anxiety swirled around in my head.

But God…..continued to say: Get off that mountain. You have wandered long enough!

“See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them,” (Deuteronomy 1:8).

There were three distinct actions I realized in this scripture:

1. See: We have to accept responsibility for our thoughts. Choose to focus on the right things. To focus on the right things we need to renew our minds. We have to think about what we are thinking about. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will,” (Romans 12:2). My days of not considering myself as a writer went away this past year. I began to see where my thoughts had taken me. I was thinking about all the things that hindered my call from Jesus to write.

2. Go: Where does God want us to go in our thoughts? “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things,” (Philippians 4:8).Our mind must change, then our behavior will follow. I had to change my thoughts about writing. If God was calling me into this new season of my life and I didn’t obey I was disobedient to God. Wow! I know I make him laugh a lot, but this was a new view of disappointing God. I knew I had to take a step of faith and Go! I had to do the next thing in my thoughts so my actions would fall into place. More disappointments happened, but I knew God had called me into this journey and I was going to do the next thing he asked. No more. No less. I went to another writer’s conference. In my obedience to go, God took me to new places. I accepted the identity as a writer. I accepted the calling to write. I accepted the purpose to glorify him in the process.

3. Take: Take what is promised from the Holy Spirit of God. “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord,” (Psalm 31:24). “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33). As I focused on where God took me in each little step of faith, I claimed the amazing power of God that he provided me with. His Holy Spirit promised, and I took. I thought about the whatever’s and grasped them in each step. I took the next step, not expecting but embracing what was to come.

Don’t be afraid to leave the past thoughts in the past.

If you have been knocked down, get back up

If you have been hurt, love again

If you feel weak, grasp onto the strength of Jesus

If you are burdened, go to Jesus and find rest for your soul

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable think on these things.

See what God wants you to think. Go where God wants you to be in your thoughts then, your actions will follow. Take heart Take what’s promised from the Holy Spirit of God.