Keep Moving Forward

Keep Moving Forward

The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Psalm 32:8

Once you have begun taking those first steps toward finding God’s path for your life, don’t be surprised if you encounter obstacles. It’s kind of like sailing a boat. When you begin to say yes to God and seek the direction and purpose he has for you, you’re putting your boat in the water. In taking the first action steps, you’re moving away from the dock so the wind can fill your sails. But when you are really under way and obstacles come, don’t get stuck on the sandbar of discouragement. Keep moving forward.

The old saying is true: You can’t pilot a moored ship, especially one stuck in the dock (or on a sandbar). If God gives you an idea or a dream, keep your sailboat in the water and keep going forward, asking the Holy Spirit to move your rudder and to blow his wind on your sails.

When I started writing, I never had an editor appear on my doorstep with a check and ask me to write a book. I had to study how to write a nonfiction book, then create a proposal and send it out. In essence, I was putting my boat in the water as I worked and prepared. I was doing what I knew to do to keep my boat moving, doing my part and trusting God to do his. When I found a rejection letter in my mailbox, I saw that rejection as redirection and kept going, learning from it and persevering in writing the book.

I found that one of the ways God directs us is by opening or closing doors. Although the closed door of rejection hurt, the Spirit nudged me to keep getting up and putting that boat in the water. A year later, I met an editor at a writer’s conference, and within two weeks I was sent a contract for my first book. Becoming a writer was a step-by-step process, but God has been immensely faithful and has led me these twenty years of writing the books and articles he’s given me ideas for. He will do the same for you in your area of calling. —CHERI

Father, I don’t want to miss the adventure you’ve planned for me. I want to say yes to you and to what you choose for my life. Show me the way, and I will follow!

God often puts us in situations that are too much for us so that we will learn that no situation is too much for him.

—ERWIN LUTZER, AUTHOR AND PREACHER