Sometimes we’re blessed with the opportunity to step back and see the pattern and progress of our lives, and we’re better for having that experience. Last weekend I was a leader at a spiritual retreat, and I reconnected with an old friend, Sheri.

Ten years ago I was a shy single mom who worked in Corporate Hell as a Quality Systems Analyst. This meant that I interviewed people on their compliance to our quality standards, and presented their shortcomings to their managers. Coworkers greeted me with about the same pleasure as folks once responded to this.

I had a growing conviction that God had called me to be a writer, and that he created me for that purpose. But at the time, the dream of being paid to write what I wanted, when I wanted, was about as far away as the moon. I couldn’t see any way that I could achieve this.

Sheri was introduced to me through mutual friends, and I was thrilled to learn she wrote for the Chicago Tribune. A real-live writer! At the same time, I’d found out about a Christian Writer’s Conference in Wheaton, IL. Sheri helped me pull together the money to go and encouraged me when I returned, talking a mile a minute, and excited that an editor accepted one of my stories on the spot.

As time went on, Sheri and I somehow lost contact. I continued to work on writing and submitting, but there still didn’t seem to be any way to quit my job and take up freelancing. So I crawled up the ladder in Corporate Hell, looking for jobs that would allow me to use writing talents. I moved from quality systems to software administration to project/process consulting. Sometimes I got angry with God – why would he put this desire on my heart and not give me a way to fulfill it? Sometimes I’d pray, “God, if you don’t want me to be a writer, please make me stop wanting it.” But that didn’t happen. Once I was married, my husband accepted his dream job in ministry, and let me tell you, ministry does not pay. We needed my income and corporate benefits.

Almost two years ago I was laid off, along with one third of my entire department. I was given a severance package generous enough to allow me to start my own business, and Pearl Writing Services was formed. God had come through in breathtaking fashion, but of course, I still questioned him. Why couldn’t I have been laid off five years ago? Why did I have to wait so long for this when he spoke the dream to me so long ago?

When I think back over those challenging and sometimes self-esteem-destroying years, I see a pattern and a glimpse of God’s plan. My quality auditing job taught me to be a good interviewer, facilitator, and technical writer – skills that carried on into the software administration and business analyst roles. I also learned fantastic project management skills (someday, ask my husband about the project plan for our wedding!). From my project/process consultant role, painful though it was, I learned to be excruciatingly exact in defining requirements, planning communications, determining the right vehicle for a communication, and editing my work and that of others. If any of those roles had been missing, I would not be prepared to freelance.

So Friday night, when I saw Sheri at the lodge called Inspiration Center, I introduced to her to to everyone I knew. “Sheri’s the writer who inspired me years ago.” I told them.

Then with pride, I turned to Sheri and said, “I’m a writer now, too!”