There I was with the Urgent Care doctor, someone I’d never met before, as he looked at my hand, overused after recent surgery.

“I’m a writer,” I explained. “I’m writing a book.”

“What are you writing about?” he asked.

“Stewardship and generosity: generous-hearted living.”

“That’s great!” he immediately replied, looking me square in the eye. “I see so many people day after day. They’re focused on Number One: themselves.” Then he went on to explain. “There’s this energy within each of us, and it just has to get out. Counseling lets it out, but most people won’t go to counseling.”

“Prayer gets it out, too,” I added.

He went on. This energy gets bottled up, he said, and it needs to be let loose, to get out of the box somehow. As he left the room he said, “What you’re doing is needed. You finish that book.”

That gave me both healing and energy – not just for my hand, but also for my heart.

Your partner in ministry,

Betsy Schwarzentraub