An unexpected journey

So often it is hard to see God's hand in your life, how he is directing and guiding. Occasionally, however, it is much clearer, albeit after the fact.


Without going into too much detail, (I tried, and realised I was writing a long article, not a blog post!) let me show you what I can see has happened for me in the last five years.


In 2007, I unexpectedly was able to go to a missionary women's retreat. There I received challenges from two different people about pursuing writing more actively. (I'd written the occasional thing, but not made any attempt to be proactive in improving my writing or get it to a wider audience.) Soon afterwards I joined a couple of internet writer's groups. And via one of those I happened to be invited to join a small internet based international writers group who critique or edit one another's work. I've written about the group before here. They've not only improved my writing and given me confidence, but they've provided much editing experience, which came in handy later.


All this happened within a couple of months. Then I did a short writing course over the Internet. On that course I wrote an article that I eventually submitted to Japan Harvest, the magazine of the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association (JEMA). The editor of the magazine was impressed enough to imply he'd like me to be involved with the magazine somehow.


A couple of years later I took him up on that as I pondered what my ministry in Japan would look like once I had all the boys at school. After discussions, he decided to appoint me as the Associate Editor of Japan Harvest. In 2008, prior to taking up that position when we returned the next year, the editor and I attended a Christian Magazine Editor's conference in Manila.

Hong Kong Writer's Workshop

Not long after that I received an invitation from OMF to attend a Writer's Workshop in Hong Kong in August 2010, just weeks after we returned to Japan and days after the boys began school again! It was a fantastic week. I'd do it again in a jiffy. One of the things I took away from that time was an easy plan that could be used to facilitate a Writer's Retreat.


Then I got back to Japan and began the steep learning curve of editing a real magazine. I'd only walked through one cycle of the magazine when Japan was hit with a massive earthquake and suddenly I ended up with a whole magazine to produce almost by myself! By God's grace that didn't end up a flop, but actually turned out really well. We had a print run more than three times our usual size and even made a profit.


After that all settled down again, I returned to the thought of doing Writer's Retreats here in Japan. My editing boss was a bit leery about the idea until he saw how easy it could be. Our first Retreat/Workshop was held in November last year (read about it here). It went well, we had three participants.


One reason this whole thing comes to mind this week is that I've edited an article by one of those participants and it is going into our Spring issue. Like a whole lot of dominoes, God has worked behind the scenes to weave an incredible story and take me on an amazing journey. And as they say, it isn't over yet! 


We have more Workshops planned. I'm taking on more responsibility for the day-to-day production of the magazine. And I cannot wait to find out what the next exciting part of this journey will hold.