My Computer Fleece

There are so many ideas I have to share. I guess that is a good thing as a writer, teacher, trainer, and speaker!


One idea comes to mind from many years ago. I had felt that this idea of “writer” had been imprinted on my heart, my soul, deep within me. When I first felt it, I thought “no way, not me, I can’t do that.” I am a faithful person and I believed that this idea came from a greater power than me. And so, I did what many faithful people have done over the years. I sent out a fleece.

I first heard of the concept of a fleece from a friend of mine, Trish, and she shared that the concept of fleecing came from the Bible. She gave me some passages and I researched it, making me a believer in fleecing. Over the years, occasionally, I have sent out fleeces and waited for answers.

A fleece is something that really has no chance of happening, something that would definitely be out of the ordinary. The fleece I sent out for my writing was, “Lord, if I am to be a writer, please give me a free computer.” At the time, computers were becoming popular and I didn’t have one, nor did I have the budget to acquire one.

A week later, Annette and Joe Hatton, at my Toastmaster’s Group, casually mentioned in passing – “If you know anyone that needs a computer, we have one. We just upgraded our computers.” I asked them how much they wanted for it. They said, “Nothing, we are just giving it away.” With that, I graciously accepted the computer...and began writing.

I have been the type of person who feels a prompting, an intuition, a direction and follows it without really knowing where it will end up. Over the years I have written poetry, training manuals, sales brochures, etc. Then about ten years after that, I was walking out of church with a friend who I had known for a few years. She had no knowledge of my writing, or interest in writing. She shared that her husband was starting a community newspaper.

I shared my story with her and she suggested I call her husband, which I did. I ended up writing for them monthly for six years.  All from my computer fleece years earlier!