Tomorrow I celebrate the publishing of my book.
I celebrate these three years of hard work.
I celebrate these months and months of editing.
I celebrate this story that has already reached many people in many different ways.
But more than any of these, I celebrate the way that the Lord has moved in my life within the last two and three years to bring me to this point.
On Wednesday as we stood in church singing "Great I Am," I proclaimed the words of this song, knowing what a great and powerful God that I serve. This song was my Paige's favorite worship song and normally it brings tears to my eyes.
Wednesday was different. I was able to stand and worship, truly worship my God who has brought me SO far and done SO much for me. And I was beyond grateful.
I texted a friend that night, "Can we just talk about how awesome our God is?"
And we did, because we've both seen Him move in the craziest, most amazing ways and we know that His plans are beyond perfect.
Just ask me and I'll tell you that the journey to this book proves that the God I serve has the perfect plan.
On Sunday mornings I help teach the 5th grade Sunday school class with some good friends, Brent and Ashlee Moore. Ashlee was telling the kids about my book last week in class and they started asking all of these questions (Will you be on the red carpet? Probably not. Is your book going to be made into a movie? Probably not. Are the characters based off of people in your life? Yes, a few of them.).
Anyway, we ended up spending the last twenty five minutes of Sunday school hour doing a Q&A about my book. I told them if I ever became famous I would give them credit for my first official interview. Haha!!
At the end of class, sweet Gwen was closing us in prayer and she said, "And I pray that people would know You, God, through Bailey's book." And I smiled because that's what I've been praying all along.
After Sunday school I walked a couple of the girls back to their parents who were working nursery and we were carrying on conversation when the book came up again. They asked if I wanted it made into a movie.
My response, "Well, my goal wasn't to write a book that would be made into a movie or become wildly popular, I mean, that would be fantastic. Anyway, my goal was to write a book that would point people to the Lord, to write a book that would show people what it means to live for Him. I pray that He would be glorified in what I write and what I do with the abilities He has given me."
I pray that is what I have done. I pray that I have written to glorify my Savior.
I pray that this weekend we celebrate the things the Lord has done, that we celebrate the fact that He does know the plans for each of our lives!
As my youth pastor said Wednesday night, I don't want to trade in my love for the Creator for the love of the created. I want to stay focused on my Creator and His will, His glory, His honor and not be distracted by the created.
I know that God has big things in store for me, for my writing, for this story and the ones to come (yes, there are more). But I want Him to get the credit!
Because HE has done great things and I am so very thankful!
Let that be what we celebrate this weekend.
~Bailey Elizabeth
Psalm 98:1
"Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things!"
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