Patience...Hard stuff!

Man, they tell you all the time that "patience is a virtue." Well, thank you, Mr. Perfect, I know that. But did anyone really say that impatience was a vice? My patience has been put to the test lately - basically through my own doing and so I decided to blog on patience for all of you peoples out there who are as impatient as me or at least a little impatient.

Recently, I went to a writer's conference and met probably the nicest agent I've ever met. She was friendly, VERY nice during my pitch session (which was good because I was super duper nervous) and wrote me a really sweet card because I helped her out with making some copies. I mean, talk about a really good experience!

Trouble is, she asked for a proposal. Now I know all you people out there (and my writer group people) are all like 'that's fantastic, at least she wanted to see it!' and, yes, that's how I was at first as well. All, woo-hoo, bring it on, she wants a proposal, happy dance around the dorm room. Yeah. I happy danced. A lot. Called my mom, told my writer's group, told facebook, twitter, etc.

But now comes the patience part I talked about earlier. This particular agent was nice enough to send me an email saying she'd got my proposal and she'd hope to get back to me within six weeks. Uh-oh. Start the patience meter, my gut's saying it's gonna run out in about 6 DAYS. And it kinda did. I'll find myself thinking about my proposal at the oddest times, wondering if she's looked at it yet, trying not to get the hopes up, realizing that's impossible and even daydreaming different scenarios. Yep. I'm a nutter.

Then, I started thinking about it. This agent is more than likely super busy. She probably gets like a zillion proposals a day. Plus, she does consulting work as well so that takes time. Six weeks is probably a SUPER short time compared to other agents. It's just my fault that I'm impatient naturally.

So I've come up with some ways to get my mind off my proposal and figured I'd share them with you in case you were curious about how you can spend your time - other than crossing off dates on the calendar, working down to the six-week mark (yeah, I did that...)

1. Do something else. *Light bulb moment!* If you're waiting to hear on a proposal, don't just stop writing. Me, I'm working on my sequel so I'll have something to back up my novel once I do get it published or contracted. An agent/editor doesn't want a one-book wonder. They want someone who has more in the wings. So write.
2. Try not to think about the proposal. Now, that is harder said than done. Number one, don't get your hopes up. Don't decide the agent/editor is going to say no but don't decide your proposal is so awesome, they'll put you on Regis & Kelly tomorrow. Just don't think about it.
3. This one is most important. Pray about it. If it's God's will, it'll happen. I've been trying to do God's will for my life, not only in this but in all things. So I'm just praying that if God wants my story out in the world, He'll get it there in His own time. Each morning I pray that His will would be done with my proposal. It's still hard to wait but I can do it. And if I can do it...so can you!!

Patience is hard. But it's not impossible!

Get it? Got it? Good!

This past weekend was Focus '10. It was a youth group retreat put on by Real Life Ministries, which is run by Camp Marietta's camp pastor, Jason Patterson. I was blessed enough to be able to be a college leader for the weekend. So today's blog post is going to be about the 20/20 session I was a part of for the weekend.

The 20/20 session was about Discovering God's Will. It was led by Matt on Saturday and Kari on Sunday with myself and Will Howard chiming in every now and then. I learned a lot from both Matt and Kari and a lot from Will that I am now going to share with you.

We talked about Jeremiah. Do you know how old Jeremiah was when he was called to ministry? He was 13. Yeah. In today's society, a thirteen-year-old would probably still be in middle school, watching Wizards of Waverly Place and eating peanut butter sandwiches. Not preaching against corrupt nations. But Jeremiah didn't complain, he didn't talk back. He went and he did as he was told.

How awesome is that? The fact that God can use you no matter your age, your status in life, all of that. He can use you! God is using you now; He's using me.

Will brought up a very interesting point in that God doesn't always speak audibly to you. He might use other people or experiences to shape you for the life he wants you to lead. He might use His Word to get your attention but, just because you don't ever hear His voice audibly in your head, that doesn't mean you shouldn't go.

Kari also pointed out that you have to be discerning in the people you listen to. Pretty much everything you want to do in your life can be mutated to be what "God wants me to do." I want to be a nurse so that must be what God wants me to be. Don't become so wrapped up in what you're wanting to do that you ignore what God wants you to do.

This was a really good 20/20 session and I really enjoyed learning from Will, Kari and Matt. They are all really smart and cool kids!

Hope maybe you learned something from this post!