Praying and Proofing

I thought it was ready. I thought today would be the day I would make the final click, and then my new book would be ready for publication.

I have checked and double checked every word. I received a proof copy, and I checked it again.  I changed a few words, rewrote a sentence or two, then resubmitted it. Yesterday I received what I thought was the final proof. I was certain today would be the day to make it all "real" and official.

Then I saw it. A glaring typo that I had missed on every previous check and recheck.  Something so obvious, right there on the first page.

How had I missed something so obvious? I had read and re-read every word multiple times.  The manuscript had been through multiple checks.  Yet there it was.  A tiny error, but an error nonetheless.

Because of that one little error, today I'm rechecking everything one more time. More proof-reading. That's how I'll be spending my day.  Proofing.

Proofing and praying. Every word in this manuscript has already been prayed over. But as I'm checking it, I'll be praying again. Praying that I've written well what God has laid on my heart. Praying that I've written it correctly. Praying there are no more typos!

More than that, I'll be praying, as I have been already, for each person who reads these words I've written. Praying that God will use my words in each life they touch. Praying I have fulfilled the mission God entrusted to me with the writing of this book.  It's a daunting responsibility and an awesome privilege to put to paper what God has laid on my heart and to have people read the words I've written. So, just as I have already, I'll be praying over these words today.

This typo I discovered was a real source of frustration. But it also provided a great life lesson. How often do each of us have sins in our lives that we are completely unaware of, or that we just gloss over? Some habit. Something we have said. Some word that has become a habit in our vocabulary. Something we should do, but don't.

We are quick to notice such mistakes in others, just as it is easier for a writer to see a typo or an incorrectly-used word or a misplaced comma in someone else's writing. But just as every writer needs to carefully check each word and phrase, so do we need to carefully examine each aspect of our lives.  Our job is not to edit out the mistakes in someone else's life, but to edit out the sin in our own lives.

I was challenged recently by a passage I read in Anne Graham Lotz's book The Daniel Prayer.  She shares how she had been reading a book by Charles Finney (How to Experience Revival).  In the chapter titled "Preparing the Heart for Revival", Finney explained that we must examine the state of our own minds and reflect on our actions.  Finney cautioned that he did not mean we were to glance at things, then make a general confession to God the way many of us do with 'Dear God, forgive me of all my many sins.' He challenged the reader to take pen and paper and write down each sin as it came to mind. Because our sins are committed one at a time, he said they must be reviewed and repented of one by one.*

Each word and phrase of my manuscript must be examined.  Each area of my life must be examined just as carefully if I am to be aware of, and repent of, the sin in my life. Today I'll be proofing and praying over my manuscript one more time.

And I'll be doing the same over my life.

"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye." (Matthew 7:3,5a NASB)


*The Daniel Prayer by Anne Graham Lotz, page 125