DO IT vs. DON'T DO IT

October 3, 2013

Dear Friends,

Between my two books and my blog, I have shared three remarkable stories about the kind of divine signs that are literal signs—that is, they are printed messages that spell out a sentence or a phrase that answers a burning question you have, or points you in a particular direction, or supports you in a choice you recently made.

In Row, Row, Row Your Boat I wrote about a billboard in Dallas that helped guide me to the publisher of that very book. In Further Down The Stream I told the story of a woman in Arizona who made a life-enhancing decision when she saw three telling words on a T-shirt. And in my last blog post I shared the example of a poster on the side of a bus that supported my choice to adopt a certain kind of mindset in regards to my career as a spiritual author.

Today I would like to present two more examples that were shared with me by participants in two of my workshops. One divine sign supported a woman in taking a particular action. The other divine sign instructed a woman to resist taking a particular action.  Appropriately enough, I’ve titled their stories, “Do It!” and “Don’t Do It!”

DO IT!

The lady who told me this story had been offered a job in Denton, Texas.  The job sounded great, and she was excited about the possibilities the position offered her. Her only issue was this: She was a “big city girl” from Dallas, and Denton was more of a small country town. She just wasn’t sure whether she would enjoy living in a small town atmosphere.

She couldn’t make up her mind whether to accept the job or not, until one day she was driving up Central Expressway in Dallas and noticed a particular billboard on the side of the road. On the billboard were these three words: “YOU’LL LOVE DENTON!” That’s right. It was an advertisement for the very town she was debating moving to. And that was just the divine sign she needed. She accepted the job, and not only loved her new position, but also quickly discovered that Denton suited her just fine, too.

P.S. On a side note, it turns out that the billboard this lady saw was the very same billboard that—bearing a different message at a different time—helped lead me to the publisher of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. It makes me wonder how many other people have been divinely guided by that one particular sign!

DON’T DO IT!

I feel comfortable telling this woman’s story because I am not using her name or location—and, in fact, I don’t even remember those details. This woman revealed to me that several years earlier her marriage had been in trouble. The distance between her and her husband was growing daily, and she was beginning to feel very close to one of her associates at work . . . too close.

One evening she was driving down the road imagining what it would be like to allow herself to become even more emotionally involved with that associate . . . perhaps even physically intimate. She knew she needed to put the brakes on this relationship so she could work on her marriage in an appropriate manner, but she continued to play with the idea of jumping into something new.

And then she saw it. Up ahead was a sign for a hotel. It was the kind of electronic sign that changed moment by moment to either complete a message or to present a brand new one. And what did the sign say?  “DON’T HAVE AN AFFAIR . . .”  

To say this woman was shocked by the very clear and direct nature of that message is an understatement. Then, moments later, the rest of the message appeared: “UNTIL YOU’VE SEEN OUR BANQUET ROOM.” Yes, the sign was nothing more than an advertisement for the hotel’s banquet facility.  But to this lady, what she saw first—and when she saw it—was clearly a divine sign telling her to refrain from allowing her relationship at work to grow any further. 

Right then and there she vowed to focus solely on reestablishing a closer relationship with her husband. And, as it happily turns out, she was able to do just that.

*******

So, my friends, is there something in your life that you are debating doing or not doing? Then pay attention to the divine signs that show up in your life—especially the literal ones. Because sometimes—perhaps more often than you realize—the answer you seek is being spelled out right in front of you.  

Steven

© 2013 by Steven Lane Taylor

www.rowrowrow.com

Steven Lane Taylor, LLC