I don’t believe in magic as such, except for what C.S. Lewis calls the “deeper magic” in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But I do believe in miracles. I do believe that God speaks to and works in the lives of His children.
I believe in the supernatural and the age-old battle between good and evil. I believe our natural world, the one we see, feel, touch, smell, hear and experience in our everyday lives, is only a tip of the iceberg of reality.
With all this in mind, I’m going to tell you a little story. It’s really quite an ordinary tale, but it touches the deeper issues of who God is and how He deals with His children.
Just over a year ago, I attended a Christian writer’s conference in Moose Jaw, SK, for which I had been asked to present a keynote as well as a workshop. It was a wonderful little gathering of like-minded writers, and we enjoyed getting to know one another throughout the day.
At the end of the final session, the main organizer of the event, Sheila Webster (also known as the editor of InScribe’s FellowScript magazine), passed around a jar of small sea shells. Every attendee was to take one. Sheila had prayed over them and asked God to bless each person who participated in the conference. 
Sheila then asked if anyone had chosen the colorful shell. “Come talk to me afterward,” she said. So I did. When I asked her later about the shell, she said that as she’d prayed about the shells, that is, the people who would be at the conference, she had felt the Lord impress upon her that the colorful shell would be chosen by someone for whom the next year would be particularly blessed in the writing field.
I was excited that the Lord would take a special interest in my writing. I set the shell on my dresser as a daily reminder that God cared about my writing and wanted me to succeed. I even gently refused to give the shell to my granddaughter who asked for it more than once.
Did the prediction prove true? I’ll let you decide. After Christmas this year, my former publisher agreed to release me from the contract for my fourth novel. I tweaked the contents of the book, found a wonderful cover designer (Fred Koop Designs) and managed to format the manuscript for digital and print copy (and added a few more gray hairs to my head). These volumes came out through Amazon in April.
After my initial traditional publishing success in the early 2000s, I’d had a long dry spell where I couldn’t sell anything and seriously doubted my future as a writer. Then this spring my first three books went out of print officially, so I now also have the rights to them, and the freedom to release them independently.
I am ever so thankful for Sheila’s encouragement and for her special word from God for me. Call it what you will, God cares for us and is active in our lives. He loves to bless us.
Janice L. Dick 