Being an Instrument

Today I sort of reached a point where I was floundering a bit in knowing what the Lord would have me to do. (How appropriate, considering my last two posts). So I prayed more than usual this morning and studied the scriptures more than usual and afterward I was feeling the Spirit again.

Now that my daughter is in preschool for 3 hours every morning, I made a general commitment that I would use most of that time for my writing, meaning my novel. However, this week, I completed an amazing two chapters by Wednesday afternoon. I was feeling so good, but so weird. All of the sudden, I do have more time to write. The writing is flowing along nicely, so I started to feel like I should use my precious alone time to do some other important things. I suddenly have time to look at the other priorities the Lord has given me that I may have neglected, like helping other people, for example.

I felt I should write my testimony in a letter format and give it to a friend. So I did. I also felt I should write another letter to a friend that might help them grow spiritually. So I did. Now I am writing this and I feel really good about what I did with my morning.

I had tons of other things and errands I could have been doing, but I felt out of sync with the Lord's will. It was just a feeling like I was missing something. I realized that all of my writing and creativity can't be constantly poured into only one thing – my novel, that is. I have been given this gift because the Lord wants me to use it as a tool. I do feel He will use my novel as a tool to help others grow spiritually, but that is not all he wants me to do. Writing a novel takes a long time. A very looooong time sometimes. In the meantime, life goes by!

I felt today that the Lord was telling me, just as he led me to start this blog, to use my talent in other ways to bless the lives of people I love. I just have to pay enough attention to the ones I love and pray over them and seek the Lord's will for how he would use me as an instrument in their lives. Nothing feels better than being used as an instrument in the Lord's hands, whether it is through writing a letter, or doing a small or great service. Some people think they can't sacrifice their time to serve others or write tedious letters because then they would not get anything else done that they wanted to and then they would not be happy. On the contrary, when we sacrifice what we thought would bring us happiness to do what the Lord wants us to do instead, then we actually find true joy and contentment. The Lord amazes me with his ways! He is wonderful.