Yesterday

Yea, before the day was I am he;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand:

I will work, and who shall let it?

Isaiah 43:13

Before the canvassing day begins, God is. There is no one that can turn back the work that He is doing, and no one know the extent to which it reaches. How can I wake up in the morning and worry about the people I will meet, or whether or not I can do my canvass well today? God has been working while I was asleep! 

Driving to territory, yesterday morning, I was a bit worried. Danella had just given more training on working businesses, and it rebuked me. In all the many weeks I have canvassed, I had never heard the training she gave. For some reason, I thought that the best canvassers were the ones who covered territory the fastest, and met their partner quickly, so that the leader could move them and they would cover more territory. Not so, I learned. The best canvassers are the ones who stretch their territory, and talk to as many people as they can, especially at businesses. That means that they do *gulp* parking lots!

Yes, well. My method of doing businesses was to zone in on the door of the business, ignore any people sitting in cars or walking around, and go straight in to the front desk. After talking with maybe one person, asking for a manager, or if there was anyone else I could show the books to, I would leave and go straight to the next business. Oh, for sure, I would smile at all the people I saw, but I wouldn't venture to talk to them unless they were working in the business I was going into. 

Not after training yesterday! Danella told us that she normally trains canvassers to talk to at least three people in the parking lot before they enter the business. Then, they are to go inside, go past the front desk, and talk to everyone else before they ask for the manager. Not in a rude, shifty sort of way, but in a confident, cheerful way. (the manager, of course, always buys 10 books from you) Then, when you leave, you look for at least one more person in the parking lot that you can talk to. 

So we were driving to territory yesterday morning, and I was worried. I had to totally change the way that I looked at canvassing, slow it down, chill out, talk to more people...all things that I wasn't comfortable with. What does Ellen White say about canvassers? She says, "The canvasser should never rest unless he is constantly improving". (I can't find the reference now, but it's in Colporteur Ministry.)

So yesterday, I improved, by God's grace. Stefani drove up to a whole cluster of medical buildings and asked, "So do I have any courageous people here?"

Silence. Then, because no one else was talking, and because I wanted to take God at His word, my mouth flew open and out came a confident, "Yep!"

As soon as I realized what I had done, I clapped my hand over my mouth, and everyone either gasped or giggled at me. Stefani prayed, and then I got out and started in the parking lot. 

It turned out to be a fabulous morning, not because everyone bought books from me, but because I knew that I was really trying to do my best, and God was smiling as He helped me. 

Morals of the story: 

God is already worked ahead of you. There is nowhere in time or place you can go that He is not there.

Do your best, even if you don't know what will happen as a result.

Don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. God is already there.