“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
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