I do not know why God waited to rescue me and call me to His service out of darkness when He did… but He had a plan.

God has a perfect view of my life. He has a perfect view of your life. He sees the beginning from the end… time is within Him. He is not bound by time as we are. This is why we can put our faith and trust in Him.

It’s weird to think that God created me for the purpose of writing a 100 book series. How strange and mysterious… and I never imagined this would be my life. Seven names. 100 books. Solitude. Obscurity. But somehow within my spirit I get it… I understand… why? Because I’ve seen a glimpse of God. And there is so much more to my life than I will ever see this side of heaven. The ripple effects of my life going out through others… I don’t have a clue what those have done and continue to do.

I know this one thing: God’s will and His ways are perfect. I trust Him with all that I am.

I get to bow my head to the ground and humble myself before Him. I get to surrender all I am to Him. I have the amazing privilege of embracing the mystery of this life He has planned for me.

When I was homeless… and I had nothing in this world… and I sat shivering behind a dumpster in the Walmart parking lot all those years ago… I was held by God… and I saw a glimpse of who He is. In that low moment… that humble moment… that moment of suffering… that moment of intense loneliness… I saw Him. Since that moment I have had so many more moments with Him… moments where He has shown me a little bit more of who He is.

Our relationship isn’t like anyone else’s relationship with Him. Ours is unique… because I am unique. This is what I want you to understand… your relationship with God is your relationship with Him. You must seek Him and be found by Him yourself. What that relationship becomes will be unique to you and in the degree that you surrender your life to Him is the degree that you will also know His heart.

I write because He asked me to write. I write because He enables and has anointed me to write. I write because He chose me for this journey… a journey that He uniquely prepared me to travel. I feel His power and His love propelling me forward each and every day. I have said yes to His will and His Word pushes me forward. It protects me on all sides. It enables me to walk the impossible paths I am called to walk. I know that even now as you hold this book and read these words you can feel the power of God flowing in and through me. How do I know this? Because I feel Him coursing through all I am right now. My fingers fly over the keys of this iPhone… writing these words and I know it is not my mind or my will that writes but it is the Holy Spirit who is writing through me.

What is it that God has called you to do in your life? Have you come to the place of surrender where you allow God to work in and through you? Consider it all. Sit quietly before God. Make that choice of obedience that will change everything for you.

I have two more steps to take into obscurity. Two more times I will have everything and everyone stripped away from me. Two more times I will be emptied and broken. That final step… the one only a few short years away… once I take that final step then I will rest from the work God has given me to do because I will have completed what He asked of me.

God showed me a vision of who I am when I stand on the fields of eternity. I have seen that man… the man that I am not yet but soon to be. Whole and complete in Christ. It is that vision… that man… that I look forward to becoming. That is the amazing thing about God… He doesn’t leave us guessing of what we shall be. He tells us. And we can trust that He will lead us down the paths that lead us to Him… to home.

Life comes at us from every side. 10,000 fall to our right. 1,000 to our left. Our enemies are everywhere. Our weakness always before us. But we are more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. This is our unseen hope. It is the power of Christ at work within us. We win because He won. Be encouraged… encourage others. Return to God over and over and over again.

There is one cry I call out often… and if you do not know what to pray then pray this:

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”