One of the main desires of my heart is to write.

I completed my first book when I was 43 years old. I believed with all my heart the promise God made us in Psalm 37, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this”.

A few years prior to me writing the book I had been given a prophecy that God would indeed give me the desire of my heart to write and this was confirmed in Jeremiah 30:2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:  ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you’”.

 I had covered all the bases – I had prayed about the book, someone had confirmed it with a prophesy which was then followed up by a scripture verse and the book itself is very scriptural.  In fact, a friend of mine who read the manuscript before I submitted it for publication had this to say “Noel, it would be a very good book if only it didn’t have so many scripture verses in it!” The title of the book was even based on Scripture – God’s Promise for Families.

 I truly believed and had absolute faith that the book would be accepted for publication.  I posted it off to three publishers – two of them never bothered to reply and the third one sent me a politely worded rejection letter.  To say I was devastated is an understatement.
I was totally shattered and my faith and trust in God’s faithfulness was shaken.  I spent days crying and weeks asking God why?

After a period of mourning and crying, I started working on the manuscript again.  I rewrote quite a few things and added some other things.  I spent a lot of time in prayer and reading the Gospel.
Six years later I submitted the book to a partner publisher in America and they accepted it.
In hindsight, if my book had been accepted the first time I submitted it, it would have been disastrous for myself and my family.
I would have taken all the credit and been insufferably proud.  I would never have coped at that time with the public speaking that goes hand in hand with advertising a book.
A lot of healing still had to be done in my life and issues from my past dealt with before my story was made public.

I needed those six years to grow in Him, to learn to rely solely on Him and to trust Him in all things. I have come to accept that God’s timing is always perfect and He will not give us our heart’s desires until we are equipped to deal with them.

In Psalm 107 the psalmist writes that the Lord “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things”. He does not simply fill us, He fills us with good things.

In 2015 my second book All God’s Stones was published.

Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have believed that my books would be on the same bookshelf in book stores as Stormie Omartian, Angus Buchanan, Gary Chapman and one shelf below Joel Osteen and Karen Kingsbury OR placed next a book by Richard Bonhoeffer.  Authors whose books I have been reading for years.

When your dreams are not coming true and your heart’s desires are not being met reflect on these words by Oswald Chambers;

“If you have only come as far as asking God for things, you have never come to the point of understanding the least bit of what surrender really means…”

When your situation is not changing – your relationships are in turmoil, your children are hurting, there are no finances, you are not being healed…steep yourself in the study of God’s Word, meditate on it and pray until the vision of healing, restoration and promise are fulfilled.

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.” (Habakkuk 2:3 NASB)
“But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, stedily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!” (Habakkuk 2:3 LAB)

Click on http://godspromise.co.za/books.html to buy the books