In the Hallway

Melissa Simpson, Managing Editor

“You should send something to Hope for Women magazine,” emailed Marie, a new friend for whom I was writing a piece for a local magazine. The next thing I knew, I was an editor of Hope.
Well, maybe it didn’t happen quite that fast. But it seems like it did. Within weeks of my initial contact with Hope, I received an email inviting me to be part of the creative team, and my involvement quickly transitioned into an editorial staff position. Before long, I was editing copy, participating in conference call meetings, and making real decisions for a real magazine.
I don’t know why those who invited me to be on the Hope team in March 2008 did. I don’t have a publishing background, unless you count one published book and a few academic articles, plus a journalism award or two in high school and a college “background.” What I do know is something a friend of mind often says: “When God closes a door, He opens a window, but sometimes it’s hell in the hallway.”

In March 2008, I was in the hallway. Trying to break into Christian publishing with a women’s Bible study I’d written, I experienced rejection after rejection. And as we all know, rejection stinks. Satan was using it to tell me God didn’t want me to be successful, my work would never be good enough, and I would never be good enough. Still, beneath the burden of failure was a spark of hope. I wrote this to Marie before I was ever asked to join Hope:
“My lack of success has even caused me to question God’s prompting me to write for Christian publications, but every time I have doubted, He has made that prompting even more intense. That kind of confirmation can be frustrating when success is elusive! But I do know that His timing is perfect—it’s my perseverance that isn’t.”

Taking into account the fact that my publishing background is limited, my successes in Christian publishing were nonexistent, and I hadn’t even heard of Hope before meeting Marie, how in the world did I end up on staff? God opened a window. The same God who sent His Son to die for us “at just the right time” (Romans 5:6) makes things happen we can’t make happen, and He enables us do things it appears we can’t do—at just the right time.