Casting Every Woman Part II

I do my best thinking in the shower. One morning I found myself thinking about the staging of Every Woman while massaging shaving cream onto my legs. Several minutes passed before I realized I was daydreaming about a scene from my book and remembered, “I’m not in the show!”

When I finished showering I made my way to my favorite chair in the living room. I settled in for my morning ritual of Bible reading and prayer. “Lord, forgive me.” I prayed. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to be in the show. Quite the contrary,” I had truly come to embrace my role as director. I prayed that the Lord would show me if I was secretly coveting a part in the production.

Several days passed. I continued to pray that the tenth woman would be revealed. One afternoon during prayer time with my husband I said, “Lord, I know you’ve made it clear that I’m not to be in this show but for some reason I keep seeing myself on stage. I don’t understand why I can’t move past this. Please, would you make it clear to me who you want to fill the remaining role?”

My husband understood how much I was struggling and committed to praying with me about the show until the role was cast. Each morning when I had private prayer time with the Lord, I felt he was telling me that I was the final cast member. But my husband didn’t confirm this during our time together. By this time, I really didn’t want to be in the show. I couldn’t imagine something going wrong during a performance and me being stuck backstage unavailable to help.

After two weeks the answer finally came. My husband and I were sitting on the sofa having prayer time. We were coming up on a deadline for our cast photo shoot and the only person who seemed to fit the final role was…me. The burden weighed so heavy upon me that I dared to pray Jesus' prayer from the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.” (Luke 22:42) Then I desperately added, "Surely someone else has broken the second commandment!" The Lord immediately responded and I understood for the first time what He had been planning from the beginning. I quickly wrapped up our prayers so I could share with my husband what the Lord had revealed. There wasn't any need. Before I could speak my husband turned to me and said, "You're the tenth woman."

Be sure to come back next week to find out why God saved me for last.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that the finalizing of the script goes smoothly and that it gets printed on time for our read-through rehearsal.
• Pray that Chris will be granted his vacation request from work so he can be fully present during the performance.
• Pray that business owners will support our ministry and the performing arts by advertising in the playbill.
• Pray the cast stays healthy and committed to this important work and that the production glorifies our Lord Jesus.

In His glorious name,
~Harvest

Be sure to check out our new website!

Casting Every Woman Part I

Upon completing the final draft of my book Journey to the Son, I felt the Lord prompt me to invite other women to share stories of a time when they have broken one of the Ten Commandments. I had a solid plan. I would solicit stories from women and then once the deadline for story submissions arrived I would have hundreds, perhaps even thousands of stories to choose from. Then I planned on selecting ten stories, one from each commandment, to feature in a stage production of Journey to the Son: Every Woman. The plan was Magnificent! Or so I thought. But it wasn’t the Lord’s plan.

“I don’t understand, Lord.” I sobbed. I received only seven story submissions. Not even enough to cover all of the commandments. I was certain the concept for Every Woman had been the Lord’s idea and that it was something he still wanted me to do but I couldn’t see how. Clearly I had misinterpreted the Lord’s call.

Over the next several days the Lord revealed to me that the plan had nothing to do with a second book (at least not yet). What he wanted was for me to use my theater experience to direct and produce a stage production of Every Woman. “Okay, Lord,” I conceded. “But how am I supposed to cast the show if I don’t have women submit stories?”

You already know them.

I already knew them? How? Who were they? “Lord, I trust you and believe you have a plan. But I’m racking my brain and haven’t any clue who you have in mind.” I closed my eyes and prayed. I told the Lord that he would have to tell me who these women were. I pulled out a pen and paper and prayerfully waited for the Lord to reveal the names to me.

The Lord was faithful. He gave me sixteen names. Two of them were women I had never met before who had submitted stories for the book. Another I had met only one time during a luncheon. One had taken a class I taught the previous spring. And still another I had only heard of from an acquaintance at church. Sixteen names. Obviously I only needed ten. But which ten? I decided to invite each lady to coffee and share the concept of Every Woman with her; if she seemed interested I would invite her to be part of the cast.

The first email I sent to a friend of mine whose name was on the list. The next day we met for lunch and she seemed very excited about the project. Unfortunately, her schedule was already full of speaking engagements and other commitments. Regrettably, she declined. I wasn’t daunted but I realized I wasn't able to discern the ten the Lord had in mind for this show. It finally occurred to me that I should pray about each name before making contact.

By this time the Lord had made it clear that I wasn’t going to be in the production. At first I was surprised and admittedly a bit disappointed that I wouldn’t have any “stage time” given my background in theater. But as the interviews progressed I came to embrace the idea and looked forward to my role behind the scenes. I particularly welcomed what I saw as an opportunity to minister to the women of the show, expecting that they in turn would minister to the people of Spokane.

Praying about each name before making contact proved to be very fruitful. After my first failed interview the Lord lead me to nine women from my list. I met with all nine individually and each agreed to be part of the production. I still needed a tenth but no matter how hard I tried, the Lord wouldn’t reveal who the tenth woman was.

I had nine women committed to the project. At this point I ran the risk of having multiple commandments represented since I hadn’t interviewed them for their stories yet. I decided the tenth woman could wait. What I needed to find out was which commandments I had to work with.

I scheduled “story time” interviews where each woman shared with me a time from her past when she broke one of the Ten Commandments. What came from those story time interviews could only have been orchestrated by the Lord. The nine women from my list, the first nine the Lord lead me to, each shared stories representing different commandments. There wasn’t a single overlap! If I ever doubted the Lord's call upon me to do this project, I couldn't doubt it any more. It was clear to me that he knew who he wanted in this production and which stories he was going to have them tell. All I needed to do was get out of the way and let the Lord work.

It was a relief knowing the stories for nine of the commandments. What was strange to me was figuring out how to cast the final woman. Up until now I didn't have to ask anyone if they had ever committed adultry. Or if they had ever stolen anything. These things were naturally made known during our story time interview. Now I was looking for a specific commandment to fill. Who would that woman be and how would I go about filling that final commandment?

For more information about Journey to the Son: Every Woman please visit our website at http://chariotministries.com/

In His glorious name,

~Harvest

That old trouble-maker Satan

Did I promise a May 4th introduction to the cast of Every Woman? What was I thinking?!! We were on target, friends, but then I had to switch hosting companies. A few days after I made the switch I found out that the company I switched to is also going through a transition. Yikes!

What does this mean for Chariot Ministries? To begin with it means that our new site won't be posted until after May 15th because there is a "freeze" on any web updates while the hosting company transitions. You will still have access to the website, it just won't be the new one. It also means we might experience a few glitches with our email. But that is pretty much it. So it has been a hurry-up-and-wait scenario for us at the ministry. I figure it's just that old trouble-maker Satan messing with my plans. I'm not worried though because I know our Lord is faithful and His plan is always better than mine and is always executed with perfect timing. {huge grin}

On the up side, Chris and I spoke with a CPA firm this past week and have put the wheels in motion for Chariot Ministries to become a bonafide non-profit corporation. Whoot! We are very excited about this and know it is the direction the Lord wants us to take with this ministry. We don't know what exactly He has in store for us, but we do know we will be able to serve you better. Please pray for us during this (yet another) transition.

Speaking of prayers... we have a few requests:

• Pray for peace and patience during our various transitions especially since they are taking place during our preparations for Every Woman.
• Pray for the women in the show. That they will stay healthy and that the Lord will protect them as they stepped onto the war field when they agreed to be involved with this project.
• Pray the Lord's continued blessing and guidance for Chariot Ministries and its leaders.
• Pray for the audience that will watch Every Woman. Pray that the Lord is preparing their hearts, even now, for the truth about God, the truth about Jesus and the invitation of eternal Salvation.

Please be sure to check back next week as I have some Every Woman casting stories that I'm going to share with you.

In His glorious name,
~Harvest

www.chariotministries.com