Looking for Guidance?

First: My husband, Phil, and I are working on creating a course called Applying Business Principles and Practices to Your Writing Life. Our hope is that it will help me get organized and focused, and since we like to share, we'll be posting it on this blog starting in a couple of weeks for all interested blog readers to gain from it too.

In the transition time between the Debra Dixon GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict study which I just completed and when we're ready to start presenting this course, I'll be posting random thoughts and book reviews. I hope you'll find these posts useful and I look forward to hearing what you think of the upcoming course: Applying Business Principles and Practices to Your Writing Life. If you have any specific topics related to this course that you would like addressed, please let me know via the comment option and we'll do our best to do some research on it and include it in the course line-up.

Now, on with the Looking for Guidance? topic for today.

I've been working through Marlene Bagnull's Bible Study for Christian Writers called Write His Answer. My husband happened by this little book while looking for something on Amazon.ca and ordered it for me. It's truly a golden study for any writer. I'm not halfway through, but I'm already finding so many wonderful directions, and the plethora of Biblical referencing to back up the author's notes is marvelous.

One of my major struggles is discerning what is God intended, opposed to what is just self-wanted or what might be evil-lead in all it's disguise to make me think it's God intended. Sounds paranoid, I know, but the devil loves trickery as well we know from the very beginning with Adam and Eve. I struggle with these questions on almost a daily basis. Do any of you?

In one of the many informative chapters of Marlene Bagnull's Write His Answer she discusses this very question and offers four scriptural channels for guidance that I found very helpful.

1. Study the word of God to discern if your plan of action, desire, proposed goal, etc. is biblicly sound.
2. Listen to that inner voice/feeling. Are you being prompted from within to go forward or change course? Which direction offers a sense of peace?
3. Are there any surprising doors opening that might help you discern that God is leading?
4. Seek guidance and support from fellow Christians, church family, pastor, Godly Christian friends. Pray and have them pray for you to see His will.

So, by following these four guidelines, I will go forth and hopefully discern His will for me a little more efficiently and with a lot less stress. I pray you'll find these helpful as well.

Blessings,

Eileen