Yesterday, I decided to get a head-start on tax season. I had neglected my receipts and business expenses all year long, opting to throw them into a folder rather than log them correctly. So, I began the tedious task of first organizing them and then inputting them into a spreadsheet. I’m going to be honest; it was a rather depressing chore.
A friend of mine recently called her writing an “expensive hobby.” Let’s just say that I definitely relate. The Girls Get Together is one-year-old this month. And, although I call it a business, I am reminded by experts that if it isn’t making money, it’s really a hobby, a very expensive hobby.
So, as I sat at my desk working through piles of receipts that documented how much money I had spent this past year, I began to question again why I am doing this. And then the most amazing thing happened.
The phone rang.
For some reason in the Brown house, we can never find a home phone. This is despite the fact that no one except me ever seems to answer it. So, when the phone rang, I jumped up from my desk, receipts in hand, and ran around the main floor trying to locate the direction from which the ringing emerged.
Upon locating a phone, I quickly realized that I didn’t recognize the number. Because we have recently been inundated by political junk calls, I almost didn’t answer. But there is just something in me that has to answer a ringing phone. Seriously, you never know who it might be. It might be an emergency.
So, despite the fact that it wasn’t even a local area code, I answered the phone. A lady on the other line said, “Hello, Tricia. This is Marnie.”
She spoke in that friendly, cheerful voice that the political callers usually have. And I don’t know a Marnie. Again, I almost hung up.
But Marnie went on to explain that she was with the Christian Women Speakers organization, an online group I joined to publicize my speaking profile. Then, she asked if she could pray with me.
I can’t remember everything that Marnie prayed, but I remember that she asked the Lord to bless my writing and speaking. She prayed that He would give me opportunities and that He would use me. At some point during the prayer I began to cry.
Sitting there, looking at the handful of receipts I was still clutching, I listened to a stranger pray for me.
When she was finished, I told her why her call had come at the perfect time. I explained that I was just calculating how very much I had spent this year on my business and how very little I had made. And then she told me something personal. She told me how, for years, she had been praying, praying, praying about the money situation in her career. Then, one day it was as if Jesus asked her a question, “What would happen if you prayed for souls as much as you prayed for money?”
Marnie’s call was another reminder of why I do what I do, and it was a call-to-action to keep my focus on loving the Lord and loving others. It was a challenge to pray more for the people who are reading my work or listening to my messages and less about gaining more followers or getting more “likes.”
That’s harder than it might seem. It’s hard to know when to move forward and when to move back. It’s hard to know when to spend and when to stop. It’s hard to know how to balance all the work for this while still managing everything else. It’s hard to know if it’s worth it.
But, here’s the thing. As Marnie also reminded me, if God has called me to it, He will see me through it. It’s up to Him to bring the audience. It’s up to Him to generate the “hits” and “likes” and “comments.” It’s up to Him to create the platform. The results are up to Him; He just asks me to be obedient.
You wanna know what was really funny? When I finished adding up all the receipts and adding up all the income I have brought in since I quit my job at the end of June, I didn’t come out in the hole. I actually came up a few hundred dollars on top. It wasn’t much mind you, not even enough to count as one month’s part-time salary, but still, it brought me hope.
God has called me to write, to teach, to speak, to share. My job is to be obedient. What He does with my obedience, well, that’s His business.
Thank you, Marnie for the prayer. Thank you for the reminder. Thank you for being obedient to God’s calling in your life so that you could be a blessing in mine.
Has God ever reminded you that He’s “got this”? If so, how?