Today I’m going to talk about why you might be writing the wrong story entirely—and how to recognize when God is trying to edit your life. This episode lists three things to consider regarding the stories we are writing with our lives.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 00 (00:00):
Hello, hello.
Welcome to the Dona WatsonShow.
I'm your host, Dona Watson.
Today I'm going to talk aboutwhy you might be writing the
wrong story entirely and how torecognize that God is trying to
(00:20):
edit your life.
I can speak about this fromexperience because more than
once I've caught myself writingthe wrong story, whether it was
literally writing or a season oflife when I was pursuing goals
that were not the best ones forme.
When I think about this topic,it puts me back in college, my
(00:43):
first couple years of college,when I was writing the wrong
story.
Wanting to be practical, Isigned up for a business major.
But I quickly found out that Icould not stand the coursework.
It just wasn't me.
I would watch the upper levelclassmen walking around carrying
their literature textbooks andwish that were me.
(01:07):
And I finally got to the pointwhere I knew I had to make a
change.
I was writing the wrong storyfor my life.
I was not being true to mypassions and my needs.
So I changed my major toEnglish and I joyfully jumped
into those literature classes.
They were so refreshing aftersitting through business
(01:31):
courses.
But, you know, I also found outthat God has a way of turning
our mistakes around to benefitus.
And I discovered that I hadenough business credits, I just
needed to take a couple moreclasses and I could register to
(01:52):
get a minor in business andstill get my major in English.
And all those business classeshave served me well through the
years as I've gone on toexercise my entrepreneurial
tendencies in one form oranother.
And now all these years later,I've learned that God does
(02:13):
indeed use all things, even ourmistakes.
That is so cool, right?
Well, today I want to talk aboutthree things in regard to the
stories that we are writing withour lives.
The first thing is that life isabout the journey, and we need
(02:35):
to learn to enjoy the process.
Psalm 16:11 says, "You willshow me the path of life; In
your presence is fullness ofjoy; at your right hand are
pleasures forevermore."Often we get so caught up in
reaching our destination that weforget to stop and smell the
(02:56):
roses, don't we?
But the truth to that secret— apeaceful life— is learning to
enjoy the journey and when wewalk hand in hand with God he is
faithful to guide us and what asweet journey that becomes.
(03:16):
Think of it like writing a book.
While nothing compares toseeing an actual copy of your
published book for the firsttime, the magic is not only in
holding the finished product.
The magic of the writingprocess comes through the daily
discipline of putting thosewords on paper.
(03:38):
Those breakthrough moments whenthe scene finally clicks, when
you have the quiet satisfactionof a well-crafted paragraph.
To finish a book, every writingsession matters.
Without those, publication daywould never arrive.
(04:00):
But when we can enjoy thosemoments, it makes our life
richer and we can enjoy theprocess, enjoy the journey.
Similarly, God wants us to savorthe days of our lives, even
(04:20):
those rough draft seasons,knowing that every chapter that
we're living is being woven intosomething beautiful.
And he gives us these, what Icall God kisses, these little
bright moments throughout ourday when we look for them,
whether it's flowers blooming bythe roadside or a dog that you
(04:47):
get to pet.
There are always little funthings along the road, along the
journey, that enrich life.
And we need to stop andremember to smell those roses
when we see them.
The second thing is that I'vediscovered that my goals are
(05:08):
simply milestones along the way.
My main goal, my destination,is to be with God forevermore.
That's a goal.
Everything else to me is amilestone.
Philippians 3 (05:21):
13 to 14 says, "Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended, but this onething I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, andreaching forth unto those things
which are before, I presstoward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God inChrist Jesus." As we "press on,"
(05:46):
it is helpful to identify thesemilestones that we can reach
for that will keep ourselvesmoving forward step by step.
You might call them "goals,"and that's fine, but to me,
words matter, and when I say theword goal, my mind wants to put
a period at the end of thatsentence and say, "Oh, you've
(06:07):
arrived.
You've reached your goal." Butthat's a really dangerous place
to be.
There's danger in thinking thatwe have arrived.
That's when we get bored.
Then we get in trouble.
My hope for you is that youwill never run out of milestones
in your life.
I hope that you can keepreaching and growing and
(06:30):
learning and creating new worksuntil the Lord decides to take
you home.
See, we have milestones inwriting too, right?
We get to celebrate finishingevery chapter, hitting those
word count goals, or completinga difficult scene.
But these aren't the end goal.
(06:52):
They're markers of progresstoward the larger story.
Similarly, our earthlyachievements, whether it's
graduation, a career milestone,buying that first house, or
whatever your goal is, whateveryour milestone is, they're like
(07:14):
chapter completions in God'sbigger narrative for our lives.
And they're definitely worthcelebrating.
but they're not the final page.
It's so healthy to remember tocelebrate our progress without
losing sight of the biggerpicture.
Achieve and celebrate thosemilestones and keep pushing
(07:38):
forward.
The third thing is surrender.
We need to remember tosurrender control to God's
perfect guidance and direction.
Psalm 32 (07:51):
8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in
the way you should go; I willguide you with my eye." How
great is this scripture?
God can see our entire story somuch better than we can, and he
is faithful to guide us on theright path.
(08:15):
And that reminds me of anotherscripture that we find in Isaiah
chapter 30 verse 21.
"Whether you turn to the rightor to the left, your ears will
hear a voice behind you, saying,'This is the way; walk in it.'"
I love this verse.
It is so powerful.
(08:35):
And it came, it was writtenafter God's people had been
trying to make their own plansand to seek help from other
sources.
Here, Isaiah is telling themthat God is promising that when
the people turn back to him, Hewill be their personal guide,
and he will never leave them tofigure out the path alone.
(09:00):
This idea intrigued me so muchthat I wanted to dig on it just
a little bit deeper.
So when we look at the Hebrewtext and translation, the
meaning here is actually God'svoice instructing us which way
to turn.
rather than simply guiding usno matter which direction we
(09:21):
choose.
You see, there is a right path.
The key Hebrew phrase literallymeans "when you turn to the
right or when you turn to theleft." And the context suggests
that this is about God'scorrective guidance.
He speaks up when we start toveer off course.
(09:45):
How cool is that?
Now the structure, the way thisis written in the original
language, it indicates that whenwe begin to turn right or left,
potentially away from the rightpath, then we'll hear his voice
(10:05):
saying, "This is the way, walkin it," essentially calling us
back to the correct path.
And this tells me rather thanGod passively blessing whatever
direction we choose to go as hischildren, actually, he's
(10:25):
actively speaking.
He will speak and redirect uswhen we're about to go astray.
This verse is describingcorrective guidance.
Now let's look at our bookanalogy again.
It's kind of like having aneditor who doesn't just let you
(10:47):
write whatever comes to mind,but who gently interrupts you
when you're going down a rabbittrail that doesn't serve the
story and says, "Actually, let'sgo back to the main plot here."
And it strengthens our story.
(11:07):
This is talking about God'sactive personal involvement in
keeping us on his path.
Not just his presence with uswherever we wander, but his
loving intervention when westart to drift.
He is so faithful.
God comes as a gentle voicebehind us, not shouting from far
(11:32):
ahead where we can't see him,but close enough that we can
hear his whisper guiding us stepby step.
That is so sweet.
You know, every good writerknows the frustration of staring
(11:52):
at a blank page or being stuckin a plot hole.
But sometimes, if you pray, youtrust the process, and then
listen carefully, that nextsentence, it just comes.
God is like the perfect writingpartner.
(12:13):
He whispers the next line whenwe're stuck.
He suggests a better directionwhen our plot isn't working.
And he gently edits out theparts of our lives that don't
serve the larger story.
We don't always need to see thewhole outline; we just need to
trust him with the nextparagraph.
(12:38):
It's like Paul tells us inPhilippians 1: 6, "Being
confident of this very thing,that he who has begun a good
work in you will complete ituntil the day of Jesus Christ."
You see, God is both the authorand the finisher of your story.
(12:58):
And as followers of Christ,we're just holding the pen.
When we walk with him and wefollow his voice, we can know
that we're writing the rightstory.
One more thing, I want tochallenge you with this thought:
How would you walk through thisday if you knew 100% beyond the
(13:27):
shadow of a doubt that God hadall of your outcomes planned for
and accounted for?
Would that change how you doyour day?
Just think on that.
Maybe write it down in ajournal.
It's worth considering.
(13:52):
If you are looking foradditional spiritual
encouragement, check out mybook, "Be the Warrior Queen,
Practical Christian Strategiesfor Women to Achieve Victory in
a Chaotic World." And I'm makingthis available to you: I will
ship you a paperback.
I'm just asking that you covershipping and handling for $9.95.
(14:16):
Otherwise, look for that linkin the comments, and I'd love to
send you your copy.
Until next time, remember toenjoy the journey as you lean
into God and let Him write yourstory.
Until next time, take care.
(14:38):
If you loved this, please giveit a like or thumbs up or leave
a comment with your thoughts.
I love to hear from you, andyour comments help me to know
what topics you'd like to see mecover.
For more information on mybooks and other projects, visit
my website at DonaWatson.com ormy Substack at
DonaWatson.Substack.com.
Hello, hello.
Welcome to the Dona WatsonShow.
I'm your host, Dona Watson.
Today I'm going to talk aboutwhy you might be writing the
wrong story entirely and how torecognize that God is trying to
(00:20):
edit your life.
I can speak about this fromexperience because more than
once I've caught myself writingthe wrong story, whether it was
literally writing or a season oflife when I was pursuing goals
that were not the best ones forme.
When I think about this topic,it puts me back in college, my
(00:43):
first couple years of college,when I was writing the wrong
story.
Wanting to be practical, Isigned up for a business major.
But I quickly found out that Icould not stand the coursework.
It just wasn't me.
I would watch the upper levelclassmen walking around carrying
their literature textbooks andwish that were me.
(01:07):
And I finally got to the pointwhere I knew I had to make a
change.
I was writing the wrong storyfor my life.
I was not being true to mypassions and my needs.
So I changed my major toEnglish and I joyfully jumped
into those literature classes.
They were so refreshing aftersitting through business
(01:31):
courses.
But, you know, I also found outthat God has a way of turning
our mistakes around to benefitus.
And I discovered that I hadenough business credits, I just
needed to take a couple moreclasses and I could register to
(01:52):
get a minor in business andstill get my major in English.
And all those business classeshave served me well through the
years as I've gone on toexercise my entrepreneurial
tendencies in one form oranother.
And now all these years later,I've learned that God does
(02:13):
indeed use all things, even ourmistakes.
That is so cool, right?
Well, today I want to talk aboutthree things in regard to the
stories that we are writing withour lives.
The first thing is that life isabout the journey, and we need
(02:35):
to learn to enjoy the process.
Psalm 16:11 says, "You willshow me the path of life; In
your presence is fullness ofjoy; at your right hand are
pleasures forevermore."Often we get so caught up in
reaching our destination that weforget to stop and smell the
(02:56):
roses, don't we?
But the truth to that secret— apeaceful life— is learning to
enjoy the journey and when wewalk hand in hand with God he is
faithful to guide us and what asweet journey that becomes.
(03:16):
Think of it like writing a book.
While nothing compares toseeing an actual copy of your
published book for the firsttime, the magic is not only in
holding the finished product.
The magic of the writingprocess comes through the daily
discipline of putting thosewords on paper.
(03:38):
Those breakthrough moments whenthe scene finally clicks, when
you have the quiet satisfactionof a well-crafted paragraph.
To finish a book, every writingsession matters.
Without those, publication daywould never arrive.
(04:00):
But when we can enjoy thosemoments, it makes our life
richer and we can enjoy theprocess, enjoy the journey.
Similarly, God wants us to savorthe days of our lives, even
(04:20):
those rough draft seasons,knowing that every chapter that
we're living is being woven intosomething beautiful.
And he gives us these, what Icall God kisses, these little
bright moments throughout ourday when we look for them,
whether it's flowers blooming bythe roadside or a dog that you
(04:47):
get to pet.
There are always little funthings along the road, along the
journey, that enrich life.
And we need to stop andremember to smell those roses
when we see them.
The second thing is that I'vediscovered that my goals are
(05:08):
simply milestones along the way.
My main goal, my destination,is to be with God forevermore.
That's a goal.
Everything else to me is amilestone.
Philippians 3 (05:21):
13 to 14 says, "Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended, but this onething I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, andreaching forth unto those things
which are before, I presstoward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God inChrist Jesus." As we "press on,"
(05:46):
it is helpful to identify thesemilestones that we can reach
for that will keep ourselvesmoving forward step by step.
You might call them "goals,"and that's fine, but to me,
words matter, and when I say theword goal, my mind wants to put
a period at the end of thatsentence and say, "Oh, you've
(06:07):
arrived.
You've reached your goal." Butthat's a really dangerous place
to be.
There's danger in thinking thatwe have arrived.
That's when we get bored.
Then we get in trouble.
My hope for you is that youwill never run out of milestones
in your life.
I hope that you can keepreaching and growing and
(06:30):
learning and creating new worksuntil the Lord decides to take
you home.
See, we have milestones inwriting too, right?
We get to celebrate finishingevery chapter, hitting those
word count goals, or completinga difficult scene.
But these aren't the end goal.
(06:52):
They're markers of progresstoward the larger story.
Similarly, our earthlyachievements, whether it's
graduation, a career milestone,buying that first house, or
whatever your goal is, whateveryour milestone is, they're like
(07:14):
chapter completions in God'sbigger narrative for our lives.
And they're definitely worthcelebrating.
but they're not the final page.
It's so healthy to remember tocelebrate our progress without
losing sight of the biggerpicture.
Achieve and celebrate thosemilestones and keep pushing
(07:38):
forward.
The third thing is surrender.
We need to remember tosurrender control to God's
perfect guidance and direction.
Psalm 32 (07:51):
8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in
the way you should go; I willguide you with my eye." How
great is this scripture?
God can see our entire story somuch better than we can, and he
is faithful to guide us on theright path.
(08:15):
And that reminds me of anotherscripture that we find in Isaiah
chapter 30 verse 21.
"Whether you turn to the rightor to the left, your ears will
hear a voice behind you, saying,'This is the way; walk in it.'"
I love this verse.
It is so powerful.
(08:35):
And it came, it was writtenafter God's people had been
trying to make their own plansand to seek help from other
sources.
Here, Isaiah is telling themthat God is promising that when
the people turn back to him, Hewill be their personal guide,
and he will never leave them tofigure out the path alone.
(09:00):
This idea intrigued me so muchthat I wanted to dig on it just
a little bit deeper.
So when we look at the Hebrewtext and translation, the
meaning here is actually God'svoice instructing us which way
to turn.
rather than simply guiding usno matter which direction we
(09:21):
choose.
You see, there is a right path.
The key Hebrew phrase literallymeans "when you turn to the
right or when you turn to theleft." And the context suggests
that this is about God'scorrective guidance.
He speaks up when we start toveer off course.
(09:45):
How cool is that?
Now the structure, the way thisis written in the original
language, it indicates that whenwe begin to turn right or left,
potentially away from the rightpath, then we'll hear his voice
(10:05):
saying, "This is the way, walkin it," essentially calling us
back to the correct path.
And this tells me rather thanGod passively blessing whatever
direction we choose to go as hischildren, actually, he's
(10:25):
actively speaking.
He will speak and redirect uswhen we're about to go astray.
This verse is describingcorrective guidance.
Now let's look at our bookanalogy again.
It's kind of like having aneditor who doesn't just let you
(10:47):
write whatever comes to mind,but who gently interrupts you
when you're going down a rabbittrail that doesn't serve the
story and says, "Actually, let'sgo back to the main plot here."
And it strengthens our story.
(11:07):
This is talking about God'sactive personal involvement in
keeping us on his path.
Not just his presence with uswherever we wander, but his
loving intervention when westart to drift.
He is so faithful.
God comes as a gentle voicebehind us, not shouting from far
(11:32):
ahead where we can't see him,but close enough that we can
hear his whisper guiding us stepby step.
That is so sweet.
You know, every good writerknows the frustration of staring
(11:52):
at a blank page or being stuckin a plot hole.
But sometimes, if you pray, youtrust the process, and then
listen carefully, that nextsentence, it just comes.
God is like the perfect writingpartner.
(12:13):
He whispers the next line whenwe're stuck.
He suggests a better directionwhen our plot isn't working.
And he gently edits out theparts of our lives that don't
serve the larger story.
We don't always need to see thewhole outline; we just need to
trust him with the nextparagraph.
(12:38):
It's like Paul tells us inPhilippians 1: 6, "Being
confident of this very thing,that he who has begun a good
work in you will complete ituntil the day of Jesus Christ."
You see, God is both the authorand the finisher of your story.
(12:58):
And as followers of Christ,we're just holding the pen.
When we walk with him and wefollow his voice, we can know
that we're writing the rightstory.
One more thing, I want tochallenge you with this thought:
How would you walk through thisday if you knew 100% beyond the
(13:27):
shadow of a doubt that God hadall of your outcomes planned for
and accounted for?
Would that change how you doyour day?
Just think on that.
Maybe write it down in ajournal.
It's worth considering.
(13:52):
If you are looking foradditional spiritual
encouragement, check out mybook, "Be the Warrior Queen,
Practical Christian Strategiesfor Women to Achieve Victory in
a Chaotic World." And I'm makingthis available to you: I will
ship you a paperback.
I'm just asking that you covershipping and handling for $9.95.
(14:16):
Otherwise, look for that linkin the comments, and I'd love to
send you your copy.
Until next time, remember toenjoy the journey as you lean
into God and let Him write yourstory.
Until next time, take care.
(14:38):
If you loved this, please giveit a like or thumbs up or leave
a comment with your thoughts.
I love to hear from you, andyour comments help me to know
what topics you'd like to see mecover.
For more information on mybooks and other projects, visit
my website at DonaWatson.com ormy Substack at
DonaWatson.Substack.com.
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