MY FIRST BLOG. CELEBRATION TIME!

It took ten years to get round to actually obeying God and printing the book I knew He had prompted me to write. This confession from someone who would say she always obeys instantly and joyfully. So God said write a book about knowing Me, and it took four years of guilty procrastination before I actually and literally put pen to paper. Literally ballpoint pen in longhand onto A4 spiral bound book.Place? Mauritius. Time frame? Two weeks. Achieved? Seven chapters. Result? Two more years of further guilt and the awareness that obedience means finishing a project and not just starting it. Then a month long visit to wonderful friends in Perth and chapters 8 to 16 accomplished. A couple of years later I was in a ministry team meeting and received the gentlest rebuke ever. "Fiona, I just want to mention that it's nearly 2010 and we're still waiting for your book."

Conviction deluxe! (Thanks Granti!) This was followed by two more God prompts. One pastor friend sent an sms out of the blue asking when my book would be in print and followed this up by sowing R10000 to get it into print. Gulp! Further gulp when a week later another ministry friend met me "accidentally" at a b and b we were both staying at and asked the same question. My excuses were now sounding so hollow they had an echo. He said, "What would it take for you to finish this book? do you need to get away? We'll pay for you to go away and get it done." Short of an audible voice and a lightning bolt, I'd heard enough. Thanks Peter and Rory.So I went away and finished what I'd started nine years previously.

God's patience astounds me. My capacity to disobey by partially obeying horrifies me. So does the realisation that the ugly reason for my unwillingness to get the book into print was fear of man, an issue I thought I had overcome. Truthfully though, I was scared that no one would want to read what I had poured my heart into. There are some people whom I enjoy hearing preach, but when I read their books, I seldom get past the first chapter. What if people felt the same way about me? (Always assuming they even enjoyed my preaching..)

So 2010 dawned with my book finally and thankfully in print and for the first time in nearly a decade I didn't enter the new year with a sense of unfinished business. That is until I was told by Cheslyn, the member of my ministry team fondly known as Techno Barbie, that I now had to write regular blogs. After I had finished screaming, I inquired what that entailed. She told me and kept right on telling me until today dawned. And here we are! I am blogging, and this first one is for you Ches! I think I've learned that early capitulation is the way to go for sanity sake. (Did I MENTION that I have a past in psychiatry? No? That's another story but here's a hint. I wasn't a psychiatrist!) Another time I'll tell the story of recording an audio book. It involves snoring poodles, demented hadedas, and an incredibly patient and composed recording boffin.

For now, though, I've said enough. I just hope SOMEONE reads this!
Blessings, Fiona