Behind the Scenes

What if you had a personal assistant who went ahead of you, planning things in advance for your benefit? What if he/she knew your needs in advance without you even telling them? What if your P.A. was available 24/7 and was glad to see to your needs no matter what time you called? What if what this P.A. did for you was always right, flawless, and perfectly timed, never off by a second or improperly motivated? How cool would that be?

Very cool. And that's just what God does for us 24/7. An example of this came to light just this week. I received the plot for the tween book I am to write. Now let me give you a little insider info on myself. I have a few weird quirks. One, I want to learn to play the harp, but I'll save that topic for another day. Two, I love sheep. As a matter of fact, I started loving sheep over 20 years ago, when I saw a picture in Sears one day as I took my two small children to get their portrait taken. I was a single mom then, living a rather frazzled life. I saw this $200 painting of sheep grazing in a pasture and it spoke peace to me. If I'd had $200 I would have bought it on the spot. I've spent the last 20 years looking for a similar painting that gave me the same peaceful feeling. My love affair with sheep began that day and continues to this day.

I live on the edge of the Phoenix metropolitan area. When I say edge, I mean that the city is creeping ever closer to the dairy farms that have been our neighbors. They probably hated it when our urban sub-division of houses encroached on their tranquility. I hated it when the nearby horse farm sold and now a business complex is being constructed. But for a month or so last spring, a herd of sheep was brought to graze in a neighboring field. It was sheer heaven. I loved everything about it. I drove by and stopped to watch and listen and smell the air almost every day. I took my daughter and my mother there to experience it with me. One day I took a lawn chair, my Bible, camera, and digital recorder and sat a spell by the field. I read the 23rd Psalm, took way too many pictures, tried to capture the sounds of the sheep on my digital recorder, and soaked in the wonder of these creatures. They're so ordinary, so dependent. They smell bad. But something keeps drawing me to them.

During the time the sheep were grazing in my neighborhood, I had occasion to attend a funeral. Who should I speak to there, but a man who is a fireman by trade, but a shepherd by heart. He raises sheep. I was thrilled! I told him I am a writer and would love to write a story involving sheep some day. If I did, I asked, could I contact him for my research? He graciously said yes.

Now back to my original thought. I got my plot yesterday. Here's how the first few lines read: "Bailey's cousins go in for sheep in a big way. They not only raise thieir own, but at sheep shearing time, they're considered local experts and sheer other people's sheep, too. Ever since she was a small child, Bailey has spent a week at her cousin's house every year helping shear their sheep."

I was ecstatic! Not only was I chosen to write for this series, God gave me the character I hoped to be assigned, and then added the extra blessing of allowing me to write about sheep! He had gone before me, put a love of sheep in my heart 20 years before, arranged an encounter with a shepherd, then gave me a sheep/tween writing assignment. All the desires of my heart!

It amazes me how God works behind the scenes when I don't even know it. He knows what I need when I don't even know myself. He sees what's coming down the pike in my life and prepares me for it ahead of time. He's better than any personal assistant I could hire. And He even works for free.

When is a time you've seen God's hand at work behind the scenes in your life? I'd love to hear your stories!