I received an email from a magazine editor informing me that an article I’d submitted for publication would be bumped to a later month. She went on to say that it was probably good that the article was rescheduled, as I had used I, me, and my 64 times in the article. She said that it was more about me than about the dolphins or the Sea of Cortez, which I regularly swim in, which was supposed to be the focus of the article.

I instantly took the editor’s comments as a personal insult instead of constructive feedback. Even worse, I didn’t understand what could be done to revise the draft, as it sounded to me as if it might be impossible to meet her standards. She was being unreasonable, I told myself. I grumbled to my husband that I was going to quit writing for that publication.

After descending into this miserable emotional state, I realized I didn’t want to remain in that frame of mind. Anger was clouding my thoughts, and I knew that the only way out of this fog of anger and disappointment was to seek God’s guidance.