Killer Coupon

The entry that follows is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Risking it All:  One Woman's Adventure Giving Away Her Income.  I'm writing the book in journal form, and I expect to complete it early in the Fall of this year.

Journal Entry - Saturday, July 15, 2017

That 30% off coupon almost did me in tonight. 

It’s not often that a department store coupon takes me down.  It didn’t win this time, either.  I’m still standing, but let me tell you – it was quite the battle.

Tomorrow I leave for a writers’ conference.  It will be the first time I attend this conference, and my mind has been full with all the preparations to leave home for a week.  My suitcase is packed, and I have completed all of the pre-assignments.

That coupon sitting there on my desk has really interfered in all of it.  That bugger has really given me a run for my money, an attack on my self-confidence, and a test for me of what’s really important in the end.

After seeing that coupon this afternoon, I was having thoughts I don’t usually have.  I became convinced I wouldn’t be appropriately dressed at the conference.  I started thinking I won’t be dressy enough to meet with those important people – agents, authors, publishers, and the like.  The thought passed through my mind that I shouldn’t even be going to an event like this one.  After all, why would I even think I could call myself a writer?

Sometimes our enemy, Satan, is so subtle.  Other times he’s obvious, and I’m just dense.  This was one of the latter for me.

I seriously considered canceling our other evening plans, dashing out this evening, doing some shopping for “professional wear” clothing, and using that darn coupon.  It was still sitting there taunting me and facilitating those lies from the enemy about how worthless I am and how underdressed I’d be.

But then I had that “Wait a minute…” moment. 

I AM a writer.

My clothing IS appropriate enough.  Maybe not the two-piece polyester pantsuits that I assume I’ll be seeing, but so what.

I DON’T need any more clothing.  My clothing is plenty good enough and certainly appropriate.  People wear pretty much anything nowadays, and what a person wears just isn’t that important.

I would think that after spending the majority of this last year focusing on social issues and writing an entire book about my journey, a battle of this magnitude over a selection of clothing for a conference would NOT be an issue. 

From this little battle, I’ve been reminded again that the enemy is crafty.  His plan is to kill and destroy.  He doesn’t want me to stand strong in the knowledge of my worth as a daughter of the One True King.  And he certainly doesn’t want me to write and point people to Jesus.

But write I will.  Tell people about Jesus, I will.  Worship Jesus, the King, I will.  And I’ll happily wear what I’ve got. 

That silly coupon went into the trash just now.  And it was launched into there with a confident, victorious, Michael Jordan-type hook shot.

God:  2.    Satan:  0