{"id":3263,"date":"2016-09-08T14:36:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T19:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littworldonline.org\/?p=3263"},"modified":"2018-06-19T21:38:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T21:38:34","slug":"sometimes-god-surprises-us-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/ar\/sometimes-god-surprises-us-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes God Surprises Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>By John D. Maust, MAI President<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2765 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/John-2015-headshot-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"John 2015 headshot\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes God surprises us by doing something we did not imagine.\u00a0 Has such a thing happened recently in MAI\u2019s work? A friend wanted to know.<\/p>\n<p>One country came immediately to mind. Several years ago, we began doing some behind-the-scenes writer training in a closed nation of Southeast Asia.\u00a0 Some gifted and committed writers began to emerge, and we thought it would be helpful for several to attend LittWorld in 2015 in nearby Singapore.\u00a0 We hoped to provide scholarships for two or three.\u00a0 But, generous donors seemed to emerge out of nowhere, and we were able to provide full conference scholarships for eight.<\/p>\n<p>During LittWorld these eight emerging writers bonded in their friendship and shared passion for the ministry of the written word.\u00a0 One said afterwards, \u201cWe now see that writing is a way to serve the Lord.\u00a0 Before it had been a task we were assigned to do. Now it is a vision we are excited about. We are now so inspired to serve the Lord through writing!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;d never really seen the potential that writing has for reaching so many people in places where we ourselves cannot physically go due to time and other restrictions. The written word is powerful. And what a humbling privilege that we might become the authors of these written words.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following LittWorld, the writers organized a \u201cwriting for children\u201d workshop, led by two MAI facilitators they met at the conference.\u00a0 They also received graphic design training from a speaker they met at LittWorld 2015.\u00a0 Today they are forming a fledgling publishing ministry.\u00a0 MAI will accompany them on their publishing journey, and we are eager to see what other surprises the Lord has in store for the writers group and Christian publishing in their country.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John D. Maust, MAI President Sometimes God surprises us by doing something we did not imagine.\u00a0 Has such a thing happened recently in MAI\u2019s work? A friend wanted to know. One country came immediately to mind. Several years ago, we began doing some behind-the-scenes writer training in a closed nation of Southeast Asia.\u00a0 Some [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[306,394,90,46,86],"tags":[393],"class_list":["post-3263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia","category-john-maust","category-littworld","category-writing-resources","category-writing-for-children","tag-closed-country"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sometimes God Surprises Us - Media Associates International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/ar\/sometimes-god-surprises-us-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ar_AR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sometimes God Surprises Us - Media Associates International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John D. Maust, MAI President Sometimes God surprises us by doing something we did not imagine.\u00a0 Has such a thing happened recently in MAI\u2019s work? A friend wanted to know. One country came immediately to mind. 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