A few weeks ago, our pastor preached a sermon on prayer. He told the story of a Native American chief who permitted the transcontinental railroad to be built across his lands. In exchange, he was given a free pass to ride any place the railroad could take him as often as he wanted to travel. But the chief never used that pass. Instead, he wore it around his neck like a piece of jewelry, never truly claiming the fullness of the great gift he’d been offered.

Our pastor made the point that we too often treat God’s promises that way. We seldom pray His promises back to Him, believing that He will really do what He’s said He would. Instead we turn His promises into keepsakes, pretty words to recite or inscribe on wall plaques, when we should be persistently and confidently imploring Him in faith to do all that He has promised. 

So how does this apply to my life and my writing? I mean, God doesn’t promise any place in the Bible that I will get a publishing contract for my novel in the near future (though I know I’d love that).

The promise I feel most compelled to pray is found in I Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.”

I don’t need to fret about building a platform, or getting my name known. Instead, I need to learn what it means to humble myself under His mighty hand and to give Him all my worries, confident in the knowledge that He will “exalt me at the proper time,” and that He cares for me.