A Sign

There have been so many times in my life when all I wanted was to see a sign that things would change. I am sure you can relate. All it takes is one big crisis. You are faced with a major decision, you don’t know what to do, and you become confused, frightened, and full of doubt. Then, as a last resort, you send a prayer up to Heaven like this: “God, if you would just show me a sign, then I would know what to do. Please just give me a sign!”

In times like those, I’m glad God is so compassionate and patient with me. I usually add this: “You know how dense I can be, Lord. Please make it very clear to me. Even a little sign would help.”

Has God ever sent me a sign in response? Yes. Sometimes, whether to teach me an important lesson or to simply stop my whining, He has sent me a sign. There have been some big ones, but most of the time they have been small—subtle and personal. Often, though, He will not send a sign. That is when He wants to test and build my faith in Him. There are also times when the lack of a sign becomes the sign itself, if that makes sense to you.

Besides the sign you want during a crisis, have you ever considered that God also sends you all kinds of little signs about things every day? This is something I have only recently discovered. We always look for the big stuff—the big answers, the big signs, the big changes. But every day, God is sending us signs and messages; we are just too busy or distracted to recognize them.

Fortunately, He knows how confused we can get. He knows how much this world is working against us and against our development of spiritual “ears” to hear Him. So, I think God compensates by giving us little signs and hints all day long. Sometimes, I think He even does this to enjoy a laugh with us. Let me share an example of this.

Back in January, I wrote a blog post titled Beauty from Brokenness. Nicole, a very special person in my life, gave me a shard from her broken taillight, and I turned it into a pendant necklace. At the time, I did not give much thought to the shape of the shard. It was just a red piece of plastic—made special by the symbolism of something beautiful coming from something that was broken. Eight months later, I discovered that piece of plastic was also a sign.

As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel in Gallatin, Tennessee, just 30 minutes from downtown Nashville. Through an incredible series of events, I was offered a fantastic job here, I sold my house in Florida, moved with my two sons, our cat, and all our stuff right before Hurricane Milton crossed Central Florida (the eye went right over our house there), rented a beautiful townhome that we are about to move into, and am on the verge of paying off most of my debts and rebooting my entire life.

Tennessee was not on my radar earlier this year. My sons and I talked about leaving Florida and about where we would go. Tennessee came up, so I started looking at that as an option. In September, everything fell into place in such a way that I never had to question if God wanted me to move to Tennessee. Blessing after blessing, open door after open door, pointed to this move. Then, as if to put a cherry on top of the ice cream sundae, I turned my pendant sideways and discovered that its shape looks just like the state of Tennessee.

Can you see the humor of God in that? I can. I also see His immeasurable love. Way back in January, He was giving me one of His little signs: beauty will indeed come from your brokenness, and you will restart your life in Tennessee. Is the shape of the shard just a coincidence? With God there are never coincidences; there are only His purposes. We make plans, but He guides our steps.

If you are at a point in your life where you could really use a sign, I encourage you to go ahead and ask. Get close to God. Ask. Watch, listen, pay attention to little things, and always interpret what might be a sign by first comparing it with what God says to you through His Word (the Bible). I think you will be surprised by how many little signs—and blessings—He gives you every day. Maybe just reading this blog post is itself a sign to you somehow. If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Project Eden Update

Please forgive me, Edenites, for taking so long to post to this blog. As you just read, my life has been quite hectic for the past few months. I’ve had to purge my house, pack what was left, and say goodbye to people I love and care about. Moving is so hard. Even with all the good stuff happening, my mind was, and still is, all over the place. It has been difficult to stay focused.

Even before the relocation events of September and October, I was keeping busy with marketing for Planet of Eden. I had a speaking event and a few book signing events that I had to unfortunately cancel due to moving. (Sorry!) However, even having just arrived in Tennessee, I am already planning to attend a local Comic Con this month and am looking at advertising possibilities in this market. So, Project Eden is still moving forward!

I will be honest; book sales are slow. But the feedback I am receiving from readers is excellent. Clearly, you have enjoyed the book! And a slow start to sales is very common in publishing, especially for independent publishers like me. So, I am not concerned, and I still have a strong marketing plan that I am implementing. You can help by recommending Planet of Eden within your own networks and reviewing the book on Amazon and on other bookseller and book review websites. If you are a reader, you will know where to post reviews. Word of mouth and reader reviews can really help an independent writer/publisher, so please help me get the word out!

Can I tell you how awesome I think you are? Just by reading this post, you inspire me to keep going. You are “a sign” to me that I am on the right track. So, thank you for that. I am truly blessed to have you on this journey with me.