Stay Connected to God On the Writing Journey

by Julie Lavender @JLavenderWrites
The ProblemWhen I called to report a problem with my email, the responder from my internet service provider company said, “Well, I see here that your router is ancient. Maybe that’s the problem.” 
Ancient? I thought I’d only had that one for about three years now. And, I wondered why I’d not been informed that it was past its prime, since I leased the router from them anyway. 
Nevertheless, she said she’d report my call to the trouble desk and send someone with a new one. By the time the two technicians showed up, my email had resolved its issues, but they swapped out the router for a newer model anyway. 
Testing the new equipment, the 13-year-old—I’m sure he wasn’t a day over fourteen, at least—said to the 80-year-old with him, “I’m still getting interference.” 
This “interference” caused my internet and email to “blip” occasionally, giving me poor service, sometimes kicking me offline. Two hours later, when Junior and Senior had yet to locate the problem, after multiple phone calls to headquarters, they informed me that Griffin would visit me after lunch. 
Calling in the big guys, I thought.
When the next technician arrived, he announced the arrival of a brand new piece of equipment, and that I would be the guinea pig. 
The Process“It’s an anazlyer,” he explained. “It will guide me to the interference.” He began to speak in another language … well, that’s what it seemed like. For some reason, Griffin thought I needed to know how this $1000 piece of equipment worked, with its megahertz and frequencies and channels. He said it wouldn’t give him the exact answer; he’d have to narrow it down by unplugging things and walking around with his gadget. 
I couldn’t help but giggle and thoughts of Ghost Busters danced around in my head. It wouldn’t have done any good to mention that to Griffin, because, if Logan was 13, this guy was about 20, and I’m not sure he even knows who Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis are. 
Griffin the Interference Buster wandered around the house, watching blips and spikes on the analyzer, saying things like, “We’ve got a 3 signal on the number 2 channel” and “Only one access point count on channel 8.” Which meant nothing to me, but apparently it was significant to him. 
He turned on my microwave and got so excited about the spikes that he recorded it and sent it to his boss. He thought my cordless phone was the culprit at one point. 
“I don’t ever use that anyway,” I pointed out. “And, I certainly don’t answer it even when it rings because it’s either a politician or my university wanting a donation.” 
The SolutionThree hours later, Griffin announced, “Got it. I found the problem.” 
With help from his boss at headquarters that he kept on speaker phone, who apparently got quite the geek-kick out of watching my microwave make the analyzer dance with glee, he deduced my printer was the guilty party. 
Though the printer was WiFi capable, it was not programmed correctly to operate that way. For us, it worked fine just plugged in to my laptop with a USB cord. But unbeknownst to me, my printer spent every day attempting to connect to a source that would make it WiFi capable. My printer persevered daily, randomly scanning and searching channels to find a source, but to no avail. 
All that searching caused interference that disrupted my internet service. Once Griffin connected the printer to the source to make it WiFi capable, the interference ceased.
I apologized to Griffin for the time he spent searching for the problem, but he was so excited to play with the company’s new gadget that he thanked me instead. “I’m taking this home with me over the weekend to play with it at my house.” 
He probably thinks writers are geeks, too, I reminded myself! 
The Takeaway for WritersEmail and internet restored, I turned on the computer to work on a writing project. But, I couldn’t help but compare the searching-printer to myself. Over the years as a writer, I feel like I searched for “just the right project” or “just the right editor” or “just the right publishing house.” If I could just get that contract …. I’d often think, then my writing career will take off. It felt like a constant search for “the perfect one.” 
All that interference of misplaced priorities disrupted my relationship with the very One who gave me the dream and desire and gift of writing. 
Only when I connected to the right source … the Right Source … did I find fulfillment with my writing journey. When I placed my writing in God’s Hands and truly connected to Him, that’s when my writing succeeded. In His timing, in His way, in His plan. 
How about you? Are you connected to the One True Source when it comes to your writing journey? 
Stop searching for the right one and connect to the Only Right One, and He’ll lead you on a marvelous writing adventure, more exceedingly and abundantly than you ever dreamed possible! 
TWEETABLEStay Connected to God On the Writing Journey, insight from author @JLavenderWrites on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)
Julie Lavender loves when God surprises her on the writing journey with new friends, new projects, new adventures, and new opportunities. She was completely caught off-guard to find out her Children’s Bible Stories for Bedtime, published by Penguin Random House, was coming out in hardback in November. Her publishing rep hadn’t even told her—Amazon did—but, God was certainly not caught off-guard, and for that she’s very grateful. She’s also the author of 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories , published by Revell, and she thinks both books would be great to add to your Christmas shopping list!
Featured Image: Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash