What's Your Story (Part 2): Coincidence or The Holy Spirit?

One man, through the Spirit, has the gift of wise speech, while another, by the power of the same Spirit can put the deepest knowledge into words. 1 Cor. 12:8 NEB          

In Part 1 of my story, I mentioned that I’ve always loved writing, but during those years between high school writing, Sunday school and Bible school teaching, women’s exercise leading and monitoring the cradle roll, I didn’t do any Christian writing. Those were my years of raising children, writing poetry and working outside our home. 

However, in the year 2000 Lori Snyder-Sloan encouraged me to contribute a message to the first Eastridge Advent Devotional booklet. A few years later, in 2005, I was invited to contribute to the Homestead Presbytery’s Advent Booklet.

It was between those years in 2003 when I really had an opportunity to become a better writer and write for a wider audience. Were all these interesting writing opportunities just a coincidence? 

Then I received an email from a gentleman I didn’t know who said he had read several of my messages and he thought that I might like to write for the Presbyterian Church of Canada’s (PCC) website. At that time, PCC’s daily subscription count was nearing 5,000 and each of their “Dailies” (devotionals) was posted in 7 languages besides English.      

I decided to give it a try but I was quite apprehensive when it came to actually hitting that send button. Did I really have anything to say to so many readers? It took 3 days of preparing my message to send then backing away saving the message for another day. Finally, it was sent. Then the editor sent it back to me 3 times with changes that were needed. Although I admit it was a bit more frustrating with each return, I realized that I was learning a great deal - making sure each verse of scripture was accurately referenced and quoted, and affirming spelling was correct in order that all the translations worked. Then there were the differences in American English and the King’s English which is used in Canada. The result being that I’m no longer sure I can spell correctly in either version! Those “ior/iour” words like behavior (American)/behaviour (Canadian) still vex me.

For my first message, I chose to write about healing after the death of a spouse. I thought that those readers who had also lost their spouses would be among my first readers. When the feedback messages started coming, I found that men responded 2-1 to women. That really surprised me!

All those messages came from places like Africa, Brazil, Canada, the Middle East (from a gentleman who feared signing his name), and from the UK, etc. They said things like: Many Thanks; I loved your clarity of thought; I am your brother in Christ. Such uplifting messages made all my trepidations vanish. I continued to write for PCC for more than a decade, and I was no longer jolted by being addressed as “Sister” Judith from Your “Brother” in Christ from various parts of God’s earth, but it wasn’t until I took a break from writing in 2010 to have 4 eye surgeries that I realized that all those opportunities to write seemingly coming from nowhere and which led me to making Christian friends across the globe weren’t the result of any coincidence. I had just been too “blind” to see the “Hand of the Holy Spirit’s” leading me on to share my Christian faith.  

After a year’s healing time with restored vision, and at the request of the editor, I returned to writing for PCC for many more years. I received so much Christian love from so many people in so many places! I’ve found no greater joy than this on my long Christian journey of faith.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we praise You for so many things for which we often forget to say thank You, and now we ask You to open our eyes to the beautiful surprises that You send through the Holy Spirit that make our Christian journey here on earth amazing each and every day. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen

Judy Welch

  * What’s Your Story? 

This summer, we invited members of our Eastridge community to explore ABCs of Faith: Simple Stories for Complex Times. In this series, we will be exploring stories from the Bible that tell us about God and God’s people. But our faith is also carried through our own stories.

When someone asks, “What’s your story?” they’re asking about the moments that shaped you: the people, experiences, challenges, and turning points that made you who you are. Scripture is full of such stories—and so are we.  

Throughout the series, we’ll offer prompts connected to the themes we’re exploring. You’re invited to share a brief reflection on any prompt that resonates with you—especially a moment that changed your mind, your heart, or your life. Selected stories may be shared (with your permission) in our newsletter, devotionals, or even during worship.