Psalm 38:9 tells us, "Lord, my every desire is known to You; my sighing is not hidden from You."
And in Philippians 2:13, Paul says, "For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose."
My husband likes to say if you want something you've never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.
Through my writing journey, I have seen God's faithfulness to honor my desires when they bring honor to Him. As a writer my whole life, I had always dreamed of having a book published. But it wasn't until I sincerely committed that dream to Him--and began to take steps to accomplish it--that I saw the dream fulfilled. As long as I only dreamed about it, walked into bookstores and admired the books on the shelf, read other books and thought, "I could write that," nothing happened. But when I actually sat at the computer and began to write, the book began to take shape. When I realized that I needed to study and work at the craft of writing, I could have given up, but I didn't. I continued to learn and work and rewrite and edit and polish--and finally, in God's perfect timing, I entered a contest called "Books of Hope" and won. The prize was not only the publication of my first book, but a three-book contract.
God continues to grant the desires of my heart. For several years, I have dreamed of becoming a full-time writer. For more than a year we have been planning and praying about His perfect timing to sell our house so that we could move closer to our family and so that I could retire from my full-time job. We thought we would not be ready to put our house on the market until spring 2014 but, through friends of friends, we recently sold the house. In this economy, we know that was from God. Now we are looking forward to spending more time with our children and grandchildren, and with each other. And after I finish the next two books in my contract, I lots of ideas for the more novels.
So if you have dreams or desires that you think will never come true, stop just dreaming and talk to God about that dream. Find out what you need to learn or to do, and take that first step.
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If you want something you've never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. Click to Tweet
When I actually sat at the computer and began to write, the book began to take shape. Click to Tweet
God continues to grant the desires of my heart. Click to Tweet
Marie Wells Coutu has written for newspapers, magazines, business, government, and nonprofit organizations. Her debut novel, For Such a Moment, won the Books of Hope Contest sponsored by Write Integrity Press and is the first in the Mended Vessels Series, contemporary stories based on Biblical women. She has lived in five different states and has worked for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for fourteen years. She and her husband have two children and three grandsons.
“If I don’t do this … I might as well perish.”
Revealing her secret could save lives…or change hers forever. In this book that re-imagines the story of Queen Esther in a contemporary setting, Ellen Neilson enjoys her comfortable life as the wife of an American CEO. Having lived in America since the age of ten, she has forsaken her mixed heritage and kept aspects of her childhood secret. Her husband has become engrossed in his job, and she believes having a child will salvage their troubled marriage.
When her cousin Manuel, whom she hasn’t seen for twenty years, shows up as one of her husband’s managers, Ellen fears that her past will be revealed. The company buys a banana plantation in her home country of Guatemala, and Manuel informs her that illegal pesticides have poisoned the water. People are dying, but she doesn’t know who’s to blame for the cover-up.
When her cousin Manuel, whom she hasn’t seen for twenty years, shows up as one of her husband’s managers, Ellen fears that her past will be revealed. The company buys a banana plantation in her home country of Guatemala, and Manuel informs her that illegal pesticides have poisoned the water. People are dying, but she doesn’t know who’s to blame for the cover-up.
