by: Shannon Redmon @shannon_redmon

When God called me to be a writer, I was working a full-time job with a corporate company and enjoyed the work I did each day, but a strong desire developed within to focus all my energy and time on writing.  My husband and I had several conversations about making a transition to becoming a full-time writer but we decided to wait a little longer and I kept praying about the move.

One Sunday morning at my church, we had a dynamic guest speaker. The title of his message? Taking a Faith Step with God.

As soon as the pastor began his sermon, my heart raced and didn’t stop the entire time as if God were speaking directly to my soul. At the end, I stood to my feet with many others, ready to take the first step into what I realized was a journey of trusting God with my writing.

Needless to say, the ride home with my husband was awkwardly quiet. He wasn’t quite on board with my decision to give up my corporate position so soon and write full-time. Instead of arguing we remained silent.

Only God knew how all the details would work out. I continued to pray daily and ask him for his guidance. Until He moved, I would wait. He did not keep me waiting long.

The next day, I received a meeting invite from my manager. When I hopped on the call, she told me we were waiting on someone from human resources to join. I knew that wasn’t good and within minutes I found out my position and a few others were being eliminated due to low sales during COVID. Leadership had decided to reduce our workforce and my job got the axe.

After the meeting ended, I told my husband who was working from his home office at the time. He assured me we would be fine and not to worry. Then he said to me…

                                    “I guess God really does want you to write full-time.”

His statement struck awe and a bit of fear into my heart. Now I had to live up to the call God had placed on my life. My books needed to be interesting and bring glory to him. Could I really be a full-time writer? Questions filled my mind dragging a smidgen of doubt along with them.

But seeing how God maneuvered his plan into place without any help from my own efforts, brought me comfort. When we give the desires of our hearts to our heavenly father, he does listen. When we give him our battles, he provides answers that bring about his will in a way that suits all parties involved. If I had demanded my husband to accept the decision on my heart, then we would’ve had conflict and fought. He probably would’ve resented any decision I made about God’s will for our lives. Instead, when we wait on God to work out the details, He provides the answers and moves in ways far beyond what we could ever do in our own strength. God changes the hearts and minds of all involved.

The Bible verse Philippians 4:6 states, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

How often do we get anxious about our writing careers? Rejections? Lack of publishing contracts? And yet, when we give those concerns to our heavenly Father, he always provides what we need to do his will.

This holiday season, I’m thankful for all the good my God provides, not only in my life, but in all the amazing contributions happening in the Christian writing community. Glory to God, indeed and may each of you have a Happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Shannon is a Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and her greatest hope is for her stories to immerse readers into a world of suspense and escape while encouraging faith, hope, and love in Christ.  She has three books published by Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line–Cave of Secrets, Secrets Left Behind and Mistaken Mountain Abduction. She is also one of the Managing Editors of Acquisitions for Spark Flash Fiction Magazine, where she received her first official published byline. Shannon is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube
Agency.