My Best Yet?

Good Sunday morning.
It is just up from sleep that I am and believe it or not, have finished my morning meditation and prayer. It is now time to do my blog for the day. Yes, it is in the wee hours of the morning that I do my best writing. When I first started writing full-time, I tried several different times in the day to write. I had read some book on writing, and one of the things that it suggested was to find the best time of the day for you to write. It took me being patient, but I finally realized that my best time was in the wee hours of the morning.
     During the process of entering the world of serious writing, I learned to always have a pad and a pencil in each room of my house and in my purse. It seemed that the words to a poem would hit me when I was in the midst of something in one room and my notebook was in another room. By the time that I got to my notebook, the words of the poem would have flown. After one or two misses like that, I learned to quickly jot the thought down, no matter what room of my house I was in. Voila! I was now beyond the threshold.
     Once I crossed the threshold of serious writing, I had to learn what genre I wanted to write in. That was a process all of its own, I thought. It seemed confusing to me when people asked me what genre? I learned that poetry and prose can be broken down into several categories and subcategories. I just picked up my pen and let it flow. I just wrote. I wrote whatever came up in my newly awakened writer's mind. After several trials and after my first book of poetry, I realized that over 70% of my poetry was of an inspirational nature. I found that my natural tendency to encourage people found its way into my writing through no conscious effort of my own.Well, to make a long story short, I realized that my poetry writing niche was the inspirational poetry one done in a freeform.
     In my writing, I have become a sponge, soaking in new information and keeping and using that which felt right for and discarding the rest. I realized from listening to other writers at conferences, meetings, etc. that writing is an ever learning process.  And my writing continues, and the learning goes on. For I learned a long time ago that if your "want to" is strong enough and if you practice a thing long enough, you will become a master at it.
     In a like manner, my walk as the Lord's child is a process, too.   I was set on a committed path a long time ago, and I remain committed to Him. When you walk with the Lord, and you really think about what He has done for you, you will always seek to do more for Him as you ask yourself, Have I given my best yet?"
     I have learned that there are several things that I can do in service to the Lord, (being finished as you read this...Will post the rest in a few minutes. This part is being posted for those souls who are perhaps waiting for this morning's blog. Read it and be blessed. My soul is being blessed, even as I write this.)
As I said, there are several things that I have learned do in service to the Lord, and I have learned to do them well, whether it is "giving help, writing for the discouraged, sharing food, giving pats on the back or handshakes," etc. But you know, as I told you about my writing journey, there are several ministries that we can make my own, depending on which path the Lord places us on. That means that whatever we determine to do for Him, which thing(s) do we do best? What is it that we do that we really shine at while we are trying to do His will? Each of us has to ask ourselves, "What is my 'category' of work?"
     In my walking as a Christian, I have learned to "desire the sincere milk of the word that I might grow thereby." (1 Peter 2:2 KJV) When I picked up that Bible and began to read, I became like a sponge. It seemed the more that I read, the more I wanted to know. I itched to read it, and so I did. I read, and I read.
     It got to where I was using some of the things that I remembered reading when I would have discussions with other ladies about the Christian life. It got to where people would ask for my opinion about certain topics that were being discussed in our ladies' Bible class, even if I was sitting there listening attentively. The first couple of times this happened to me, I was surprised about being singled out to answer questions or give an opinion. Then I noticed that when I answered, it seemed that everyone would lean forward or turn their head to hear what I was saying.
     This was all a part of a process of refinement that I was being put through by the Lord, though I did not know it at the time. You see, this was early on in my youthful days as a new wife, whose husband had not started preaching yet. I can look back over the years and realize that I was being groomed to be a preacher's wife. Yes, he did become a preacher and I have labored beside him these many years.
     As a preacher's wife, there were several things that you are expected to be able to do well. I, who used to be quiet, had to put myself on the back burner and become a soldier of a spokesperson to women. That was a "Hard row to hoe," let me tell you. (I talk a little bit about this in my new book, Chopping My Row, soon to be available on Amazon.) But you know what I have learned during my walk as His child, I have learned to do like my momma had always told me to do, and that is to do my best. Have I given my best yet, don't know because there are several things that I have yet to do because my living is not done yet. But I can tell you this, I keep trying to do my best in anything that I do for Him because He gave His best for me. That is why you will often hear me say when I speak at ladies' days, that I am "Doing What I Can While I Can. That does not mean giving a small pittance of myself to the Lord. It means that I am fully committed to Him, even to the sometimes discomfort of myself. But remember this, every discomfort and every everything that we have done in service to Him will pay off after while. And you know what dear ones? It will be sweet, so sweet when we get over there! I want to go, don't you?
     What is your ministry, your thing that you do best for Him? Are you there yet?

Doing the Best I Can, While I Can Because I Care,
Alma L. Stepping On Jones