write your story, but trust god when he steals your pen

​Earlier this year, I spoke at a school safety conference. After my presentation, a woman in the back of the room cornered me and told me she wanted me to come speak to her school. I told her, make it happen.

The next day - this was a two day conference - the woman approached me and told me she'd contacted her superintendent and it was all set. He's on board, she told me, and you're going to be the keynote speaker at our convocation this fall.

I was a bit stunned and asked her, "who does that?"

Does what, she asked.

I said, "who goes home and calls her superintendent of schools and talks him into having a complete stranger come talk to his entire staff to start the school year?"

I guess I do, she said.

A couple of weeks later, the date and time was written in stone. That date and time was supposed to be this morning.

Mary, the woman who does that, called me earlier this week to catch up and to pump me up for my talk. She told me she was initially afraid she wouldn't be able to be there, but she talked her boss into letting her come.

Why wouldn't you be able to be there, I asked her.

Well, it turns out Mary is recovering from a major surgery as part of her fight against breast cancer. She said she wanted to be the one who introduced me, but her team was afraid that might be deemed work and risk the guidelines of her medical leave.

But I'll be there in the back of the auditorium, she said, cheering you on. I know you're going to do great. Mary also felt the need to tell me, "all 700 school personnel are going to be there to hear you."

I got a bit emotional. Not at the size of the crowd but at the spirit in Mary's voice. Clearly a woman who hears a man speak and then goes home and convinces her superintendent that he needs to hear him speak, too, has a lot of spunk. I heard that spunk in her voice as she talked about her fight with cancer.

When Mary and I hung up, God and I started talking. And I said, we've got this God. We're going to do something big here for Mary. We're going to touch the hearts of that entire audience and then remind them it was Mary's heart and Mary's fight that prompted the opportunity for all of us to have our hearts touched to fight for our kids.

We were going to help fuel her fight.

I have been accused of being a dreamer, and I suppose it's true, but these days I rarely dream about the endings that will be written without asking God to be there in the writing. Just as I have asked him to be here in writing this.

But there it was. The ending. It was written. The scene I had in my mind that would take place only a few hours from now.

Only now, that won't be the ending at all.

The school team called yesterday and told me they were postponing the event until next year because of tropical storm Debby. I'd been watching the weather and anticipated this decision. Any other decision would have been risky. But still, I felt disappointed.

It was such a beautiful ending I had dreamed and prayed into the story.

But you know, I don't ask why these days. I just don't. But I do ask WHAT. If not my ending, God, WHAT is yours? Because if it's better than the ending I dreamed up, and it was a good one if I say so myself, God, you must have a doozy in mind.

Mary texted me on my way out of town yesterday. She told me she understood safety first but she was sad. But, she said, we are going to get you back down here before next year, AND, you ARE going to speak at our convocation.

She said she was praying for my safe travels home. And then asked, keep me in your prayers as I continue this journey. My go to, she said, has been Isaiah 41:10.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Wow, did I need to hear that...

Do not be dismayed.

I needed to hear it yesterday. I'll need to hear it today. And I'll need to hear it tomorrow.

Do not be dismayed.

Maybe God didn't intend me to be the speaker at all. Maybe it was Mary. And maybe God was reminding me that sometimes speaking to an audience of one can touch a heart right into a spunky and fighting spirit that will touch far more than that one can imagine.

Who does that?

Who takes an audience of 700 and turns it into an audience of one and makes the original speaker that one in the audience?

God does. That's who.

Sometimes God has bigger endings in mind than we can imagine. But he uses our imagination and dreams to write them. So don't ever stop dreaming, don't ever stop writing your endings, but be ready to trust God when he steals your pen.

Trust God, and do not be dismayed.