...and now it's over

ya, um, sorry about that. So basically I was WAY too busy on this fantastic trip to have time to blog about the busy happenings. So I shall do my best to give you the highlights without boring you to death or giving my hands cramps from typing.

So, where to begin? Well I guess I already wrote that part...okay so...the rest of the trip..."let me splain...no, there is too much, let me sum up."

Fourteen days
Almost 4000 miles
9 states
4 very different people crammed in one vehicle for hours on end...

And there you have it. Use your imagination :)

Jess and I still cheery early on in the trip

the clan of us who were at the Creation Museum

Riding a camel, no big deal :)

Front of the Creation Museum

Yay for the fantastic four!

Always finding new positions to sleep in the car

Okay, so I have made a decision here. I shall turn this trip into a series of posts written over the next few days, so keep coming back if you want to hear more :)

In this post I would like to share with you one part of our trip that is ironically opposite to the post title: our visit to New Leaf Publishing Group where we met with the editors/publisher of our book! Truly, this project is really just beginning!

We drove out to their quaint location in the middle of the Arkansas countryside. (I didn't even know we were going to Arkansas, I thought New Leaf was in Branson this whole time so that was an interesting surprise.) We were given the grand tour of the offices by Tim Dudley, the publisher, and then had a 2 hour meeting with the editors, marketing people, and graphics people. It was a surreal moment, let me tell you. Put yourself in my shoes if you can:

Nineteen years old, walking into a meeting with a major publishing company, holding in my hands a short manuscript that I've slaved over for 3 months, passionate about what it says but worried to hear the diagnosis on how well I've done. No idea what to expect, smiling, shaking hands, mostly silently listening to Pastor Don present our book, watching people's expressions, trying not to appear like the child I feel like inside, inadequate and foolish for thinking I know what I'm doing. I alternate from nervous, stomach in knots, fiddling insecurity to a calm resting in Jesus, confident that I have been working for Him and He is in control of this book so it doesn't matter what this editor says.

So the moment comes when Laura, the main editor, speaks up. And her words blow us all away: "You have fulfilled your goals and purposes in this manuscript." She goes on to say there are no holes and no glaring errors that she can see right away, just little suggestions she has. She shares excitedly with the whole room how she thinks our book is valuable because it not only brings all different areas of ancient man together as one picture but it has relevancy in today's world. Our book has purpose and it accomplishes what we want it to get across. I am barely comprehending her words as I sit there, looking around the room. We did it? It's good? There aren't any holes? I'm sitting there smiling but I don't really know what I am feeling. Craig, the other editor is smiling his face off and can't say anything bad about it. The marketing people are excited to hear all about what we have to say. Laura wants to hear about our whole experience writing it. Pastor Don is saying that he wants Laura and me to stay in contact, for me to the go-to person between our team and theirs and I'm sitting there trying to remember that I'm only 19 and this is all actually happening. I've just had a meeting with an editor, soon to be OUR editor, who loves our book and hasn't criticized my writing and...I'm ready to jump out of my skin with excitement, bewilderment, awe.

Truly, God has brought me to this place and I am so humbled by how He has used me. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought this would be happening, never mind at this age, without any schooling! This was so not in my plan but God definitely had a different plan and it's only in His power that it was accomplished. That He is using little me and the gifts He gave me to write something, to get this message out to people, is just too much for me to comprehend. I'm doing what I've always dreamed of doing: writing something of value that will be read and will make a difference, Lord willing. I have dreamed of writing for Jesus for so long that I can barely digest the fact that it is actually happening and before I'm even twenty! I am SO blessed by this experience, so honoured to be a tool in His hand, so excited to see what He does with this book, with our team, with the rest of my life.

So, just as an encouragement to you all: Keep dreaming. Keep giving your hopes and dreams to God. Live each day for Him; don't be afraid to follow His leading even if it doesn't seem logical or practical (or financially wise). He will provide for you if you follow His plan for your life. He is in control and can accomplish what He wants to be done. Sometimes I think we have been so ingrained by our culture that we have to do everything a certain way, in a certain order, a sequence of events, a checklist that must be fulfilled before you success can be reached. But God doesn't work that way. He is beyond time and money and the world. Just read His Word, and listen to the testimonies of those around you. He is working.

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" - Isaiah 55:8-9

The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps - Proverbs 16:9

Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand - Proverbs 19:21