By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Guest blogger: Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams
Do you ever wonder why you are in a particular place at any given moment in time? If you’re like me, you call these events God-incidences, not coincidences. Nothing happens by chance.
My writing journey began a bit over seven years ago when my sister asked if I’d seen the author page of a favorite author. My response was that I didn’t even know authors had pages. She meant a web page, something with which I had only vague familiarity.
Once we ended our conversation, I searched for that author. There she was. A list of her books was available, but she also had a sidebar which listed upcoming writing conferences. The first in the list was the next weekend in California. No way could I go to California from Florida that next weekend.
But beneath the California conference was Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. Amazingly, it was being held in Asheville, North Carolina. What do you know? My husband and I were building a new home in Asheville at that very moment in time. Further reading revealed that the conference was being held the very week J and I had to be in Asheville for our final walk-through.
Coincidence? No way.
God-incidence.
Since childhood, I’d loved writing. I mostly wrote silly poems for our children. Years later I penned stories for our two granddaughters. It was those poems and stories I took with me to that first conference in 2014.
The huge venue and all the people were a bit overwhelming. Intimidating even. There I was standing alongside Yvonne Lehman, the conference director, who invited me to be in her writing group. (I thought she was kidding.) DiAnn Mills and Edie Melson were right next to me. Then Eva Marie Everson walked up. The list could go on and on, believe me. What on earth was I doing there in the midst of all these talented authors and teachers?
Now, I’m an extrovert of the highest order, so for me to tell you that I entered the classrooms with fear and trepidation, my head hung slightly low, you know how overwhelming it all was.
Sally Apokedak and Michelle Medlock Adams were teaching the children’s track, so that was where I spent that week. It was from these two godly and gifted ladies I first hear:
You are a writer.
I spent the remainder of the week in tears of joy and disbelief.
So many questions. Really God? Why? How?
Fast forward to 2020 and six more Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conferences later, now under the direction of DiAnn Mills and Edie Melson, and my first novel, a genealogy mystery, Grave Consequences, has just released. All the people mentioned herein are now not only my teachers and mentors, but I call each one of them friend.
As stated, I don’t believe in coincidence. God put me right where He wanted me when He wanted me to be there. I quote Jeremiah 29:11 to my children all the time. God is true to His word. He knows the plans he has for each of us. And they are meant for our good to give us hope and a future.
When I was a child, so long ago now, I couldn’t have imagined the doors God would one day open for me. But He knew even before I was born the path He would have me take.
He put me where he wanted me, put people in my path who would walk alongside me, teach me, mentor me, pray with and for me. He opened doors so that my words, the stories on my heart could be shared with readers from all walks of life. His timing is always perfect. He waited until I had my family grown and had become a grandmother.
The stories I write are genealogical mysteries, stories of faith and family. They unfold the journey of a young woman who believed a lie and ran from but is learning to run to. Each story will carry the theme of John 8:32, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (NASB).
Friends, listen to that still, small voice, then find your truth, your path. What dream has God placed within your heart? Never be afraid to run to.
Answer God’s call.
It is never too late.
Debra DuPree Williams
Debra DuPree Williams is an award-winning author whose work has appeared in Yvonne Lehman’s Stupid Moments, Additional Christmas Moments, Selah Award finalist, Moments with Billy Graham, and Michelle Medlock Adams’s Love and Care for the One and Only You, expanded edition, in addition to other publications. When she isn’t busy writing, you will likely find Debbie chasing an elusive ancestor, either through online sources or in rural graveyards. Debbie is a classically-trained lyric coloratura soprano whose first love is Southern Gospel. She’s been married forever to the best man on earth, is the mother of four sons, mother-in-law of one extraordinary daughter-of-her-heart, and DD to the two most intelligent, talented, and beautiful young ladies ever. Debbie and her husband live in the majestic mountains of North Carolina.
Thank you, Debra!
