Red Rover and Waiting for Someone to Call Your Name

Although only 35 degrees, my elementary teacher proclaimed it the perfect day to have recess outside, rather than in the school gym--a sanity-saving measure, as a grownup, I now totally understand. My third-grade classmates and I bundled up in coats and jackets, pulling boots over our socks and left behind pencils, textbooks and writing papers for freedom.

"Let's play Red Rover!"

Teams were divided and we lined up on two sides of the playground, mittened hands clasped  together in death grips of determination.

Red Rover, Red Rover send Susan right over

.Susan ran, feet flying, toward the other side as she joyously broke through the line and chose Robin to join our team.

Back and forth, back and forth, the game continued.

Red Rover, Red Rover send Steven right over. 

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Greg right over.

I shuffled my right boot in the melting snow on the school playground, rubbing the toe into the white mixture, peppered with small stones, waiting to hear my name. When would it be my turn?Although safer to remain standing in the line, wasn't the point of the game to be called?

Aren't we all standing in line, waiting for our names to be called?

Fast forward four decades. (Okay, almost five decades!)

“You are not famous enough to write a book about cancer.”

Although not phrased with those exact words, the inference was there. Loud and clear. From other bloggers. From publishing agents. From authors. From experts in the industry. They didn’t mean to be cruel, they wanted me to be realistic.

With 1.7 million people diagnosed with cancer each year, why would a traditional publisher be interested in my story? With countless actors, sports figures, and big-name entrepreneurs with a large platform attached to their names—who also had cancer—why would a publisher choose me over them?

In reality, there was no reason to expect they would.

Yet, isn't that the nature of dreams? To attempt to do the impossible against insurmountable odds?

If you are a regular reader, you know that my cancer story was published on May 2, 2017 with Revell/Baker Publishing, turning the impossible into a reality.

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Lynne right over.

So let me encourage you.

This is not a post about trying harder. About setting the necessary goals and working step-by-step toward a future accomplishment. This is a reminder that sometimes God has purpose and destiny that has nothing to do with stats and probabilities--that He is still the God of the impossible.

Are you the one standing with mittened hands, waiting in line to be called?  On a line on the playground? At work? At home? In a relationship? With a dream?

Don't despair! There is Someone who always calls your name.

(You are His favorite.)

Remember: you are not alone in your fear, you are not foolish to hope, and you are never forgotten by a loving, pursuing God.

Never.

Book Stuff:

Click here to read an excerpt from Under a Desert Sky.

And a video, below:

May I ask for your help?

It is challenging, as a first-time author, to offer this message of hope in a noisy world. You can help by talking about the book in your circles of influence, by posting on social media, and by writing an honest review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. And by sharing this blog!!It is also helpful to ask for the book by name and to encourage a local store to carry it.