Jo-Anne Berthelsen
Have any of you ever experienced those times when you are
sure you have remembered everything, yet, at the last moment, someone points
out something you have done wrong or something you have omitted to do
altogether? Sadly, I have—more than once.
Take the time some of you may remember at our Christian
writers’ conference when I arrived early at the site, specifically to check
that my laptop would work with the data projector there. Yes, it seemed fine.
Then I arrived early the next day for my actual workshop to check again. Yes, everything
looked fine on my laptop—I heaved a sigh of relief. However, I omitted to check
whether my lovely presentation actually showed up on the big screen behind me.
Imagine my horror when the participants pointed out it was blank! For some time
after, this experience shook my confidence in using power point presentations.
Yet it also taught me not to hinge my entire input on them and to be able to ad
lib better at a moment’s notice.
Or take the time I arrived to speak at a meeting of what I
thought would be a small group of women and with only a few of my books, only
to find over a hundred men and women present in equal numbers. I quickly
revised the illustrations I had planned to use, in order to relate better to
the men, but there was nothing I could do about my books. From then on, I have
always made sure I can relate to both men and women, if necessary—and that
I carry some extra books in my car!
Or take the day I turned up to speak at another group to
find the meeting well under way. I had not realised that the time I had been
given to arrive was the very moment I was expected to start speaking. I have
never set out my books and organised my power point presentation so quickly in
my life. This experience taught me to enquire more closely when given arrival
times—and then to allow another thirty or more minutes on top of that!
Now I am in the throes of that final check through my latest
manuscript for any little glitches I might have overlooked. I am sure it is
perfect. After all, I have read it through so many times. Imagine my chagrin then,
when one of my proofreaders points out a typo on the very first page—then another
in the middle of a key Bible quotation that changes its meaning entirely.
Worse, she questions some facts I have included early on in the book. Heart in
mouth, I check them out again in the sources I used. Hmm, she could be right.
Far better to leave the whole section out than to be incorrect.
These little glitches might well be embarrassing at the
time. Yet God has used each one, I believe, to teach me more about humility and
to give me strength and wisdom for the next part of my journey. Things might go
wrong. Things might take us aback. But God is there through it all—and I am so
grateful for that.
How about you? Have you ever experienced any little glitches
like mine?
Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives
in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and
Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well
as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and
lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six
published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared
spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three
grown-up children and four grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.
