Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash 

From the Book

Sometimes inspiration toward that thing that makes you come alive follows after you so hard and so loud that you look around to see how everyone else is reacting to this most obvious explosion of creativity happening right here in this room. It is bright and tangible and full. But other times, it speaks of future, not-yet things to come. It whispers for you to prepare so that it isn’t so surprising when the story shows up one day, demanding you to tell it or to live it, ready or not. The Spirit of the living, loving God speaks into our lives and offers us shadows of things to come, blurry and unclear. But no less real.

And so when you hear the whispers, One day, there will be fiction. Children. Teaching. Building. Travel. Love. Writing…don’t ignore them. It doesn’t mean that things will turn out exactly as you think. They won’t. But I do believe God fully provides for us in the present while at the same time faintly hints about the future. And sometimes, as he moves in us and around us in the moments of our day, he nudges us in whispers and desire toward something he has for us later.

<A Million Little Ways> Emily P. Freeman p66

Ashley’s Note

It goes like this. The first stage: Random Words. Out of blue, certain words pop up in my head. They come after me persistently while washing dishes, getting children ready for the morning, walking, cooking, and working. It’s as if they are determined to become ghosts and follow my every move.

And the second stage happens: Reminded conversations. Certain conversations I had with people in the past are reminded and repeated in my head. And strangely enough, those conversations somehow mingle together with the words. More strangely, once thought to be random words are no longer random. They start to form themselves into a purposeful community. They no longer exist in words but in action.

Then the third stage kicks in: Imagination and Battle. I start to picture every small and big detail of the imaginary meeting that goes along with the words, the conversations, and the people. And it’s this phase that I go through the most intense battle as I fight fiercely to find answers to the questions I fear to face: Is this meeting really necessary? Why is this have to be you and now? What if no one wants to participate in the meeting?

Ever since I opened the very first English bookclub in 2017, I’ve walked this cycle of thought-developing process, stumbled, fallen and walked again. If it hand’t been for God who gently nudged my exceedingly passive personality with His light to the fourth stage of commitment, we would have never happened.

Today’s Mission

1. 오늘의 단어인 ‘nudge'를 넣은 문장을 영작해주세요. 문장이 길지 않아도 되어요. 그리고 한 문장이어도 괜찮아요! Remember. This place is the place to make mistakes and errors!
2. Recite: 눈으로 읽는 것과 소리를 내어 읽는 과정의 차이. 분명히 있답니다! 그 차이, 꼭 느끼고 누려보세요. 오늘의 책 부분을 핸드폰 녹음기로 녹음하여 카톡창에 공유해보세요. 10일의 기간 동안 7회 이상 Recite 미션을 인증하시는 분들께 드릴 특별한 선물을 준비하고 있어요. :)