Do You Write?

Again with the birthday? Well, it was a big day and I had lots to do. Pie aside, I had to make dinner and clean and run to Target for birthday cards.

It was funny that as I walked around Target looking for a birthday present for Travis, I realized that there wasn’t a lot there for him. Which made me realize that we’ve taken hundreds of trips to Target and very little of it is of any interest to Travis. He must really love me.

I did a quick sweep of the store and grabbed a couple of cards and some back-up dessert plans. You know, in case the pie was wretched. I bought a lot of ice cream toppings. And then I went to check out. I randomly picked the shortest line and realized that I’d never seen that cashier before.

I spend a lot of time at that Target.

As he checked my stuff, I was having trouble with the stylus on the credit card machine. I tried it a few different ways and he assured me that it wasn’t me it was the machine. Then he asked me, “Do you write?” In the context of the conversation we were having I thought he meant do I ever put pen to paper? So I answered yes, thinking that I at least write my grocery list on paper. And he said this:

“I want to tell you that your gift of writing is most genuine and I want to encourage you in that.”

Tears immediately welled up in my eyes and he let out a “Praise the Lord!”

Why did I get all teary eyed? It wasn’t because I’ve dreamed of being a writer for my whole entire life and he had just validated that dream. That’s not it at all. I’ve never dreamed of being a writer. I got teary eyed because I knew that God was speaking to me through him. I don’t think I will ever cease to be emotional about that.

I’m not sure what I said to him after that. I was dumfounded and nearly speechless. I wanted to soak in the moment but I had to get cards and go home and make dinner. Life was still going on. But God chose to take a moment to interrupt what I was doing to speak to me. I can honestly say that’s never happened to me in Target before.

The analytical Amy could go crazy with this and drive herself nuts trying to figure it all out. He’s not the only one to encourage me to write. I can think of three other people that have recently encouraged me to as well. I think that for the time being I will continue to do what I do. I write a blog. I told Travis last week that after some time in prayer, I thought I should write more. So that was already my plan. I guess God just chose a much more dramatic way of letting me know that I really should do that. I don’t exactly know what to write about. I mostly like writing because it’s like talking. I like to talk to the people that like to read what I have to say.

So what now? I’m not really sure. I suppose we could talk tomorrow.