Articles by Ron Rose at Heartlight

Change in the Wind

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Preparation

Change is in the air ... it's in the wind.

It was over ten years ago when Dick pulled me aside. "Hey, Ron, have you ever done any sailing?"

"A little, years ago ... but the wind wasn't cooperative," I replied.

"Well, we are putting together a sailing trip to the British Virgin Islands this summer. Would you and Lyn be interested in going with us? We plan to rent a Catamaran and Captain it ourselves. We've done this for years with our kids, but this time we want to take adults. Talk to Lyn and let me know."

Lyn and I said "YES" before we left the parking lot.

We barely knew the two other couples Dick had invited, so this was certainly shaping up to be an adventure into the unknown.

On the boat Dick was a mystery. He didn't fit my preconceived image of a pilot. He was humble and patient and gentle. And, he understood the wind and knew exactly what we had to do to get to where we wanted to go.

Once we got out of the harbor he pointed to the horizon, "Do you see the wind? Just off the port bow. See it?"

He anticipated the changes and understood them. He knew when to tack, when to let out the Jib, when to reef the mainsail, when to adjust and tweak, and when to let out and billow. As I watched and listened, he taught me how to find the wind, how to get the most from it, and how to enjoy every minute of the trip (even the danger parts).

I learned how to set a point and sail to it, regardless of the direction of the wind. Even when the wind was in our face, we still reached our destination (it just took a little longer). I learned to watch for dangers, for coral heads just below the surface, for rocks and reefs and lobster traps.

In the world of sailing one thing is certain: the wind will change. So we got new skills. When the wind changed, sails had to be adjusted. The sails made the difference. Sometimes we set for a broad-reach, at times beam-reach or close-reach, and a few times we ran wing to wing. Our GPS helped us keep eyes trained on our track to the point, while our senses grew fine-tuned to the winds of change.

There is a faith principle here: The winds of change are all around us. Sometimes they bring disaster, sometimes a cooling and refreshing breeze. The challenge of the moment is not just to stay alive, or enjoy periods of calm and comfort. The challenge is to do whatever is necessary to stay on coarse.

The Apostle Paul told King Agrippa, "I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do"(Acts 26:20 NLT).

Is it your time to adjust the sails, to make the change work for you and not against you ... to prove your faith?

Inspiration

"Regarding Henry," the movie, came out two decades ago, but the message of the film is timeless. It is the story of major change and transformation. Harrison Ford, plays the part of Henry -- the central character in the film.

Henry is a jerk; he is a shady, cut-throat, dishonest, and unfaithful attorney who is seriously injured in a robbery attempt. The incident leaves him with amnesia. He is a blank-slate. So, with the help of bewildered friends he starts over, from the beginning.

This time he becomes a different man. He embraces different values, makes different choices and upgrades to Henry 2.0.

Before the injury, Henry had ruthlessly suppressed key evidence that would have awarded a poor family a medical malpractice settlement. Now, the new Henry, after discovering what he had done, quits his job and heads off in a search for that family.

When they meet, he gives them the evidence they need to win the case against his former firm.

The wife is shocked and puzzled. As Henry is about to leave, she asks, "I don't get it. What changed?"

Henry looks at her and replies, "I did."

Motivation

Change isn't the problem, it's the answer!

Faith changes whatever needs to be changed; it faces winds from all directions. Faith proves itself by what it does, not by what it says.

Quit complaining about the changes and set your sail. Prove you have faith. Make it so.

And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him (2 Corinthians 3:17-18 MSG).

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team

God in the boring Stuff?

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways (Psalm 139:1-3 NIV).

Preparation

For the believer, life is a growing collection of God stories. You have more than you know.

God is there in every new page of the adventure, whether we feel His presence, or not. We trust the promise, "Never will I leave you ..." (Hebrews 13:5). Embedded in each trust experience is a faith story. That means I choose to live life believing that I'm connected to the God of the universe, even when I don't feel like it, or understand it.

A few days ago I watched the movie, UP, again and I saw fresh insight -- "Story-teaching" hidden -- inside the scenes. For instance, toward the end of the movie, Carl and Russell are escaping the clutches of Muntz, while dragging Carl's house behind them. Along the way a meandering conversation emerges:

Russell:
"You know what Mr Fredericksen? The wilderness isn't quiet what I expected."

Carl:

"No, how so?"

Russell:
"It's kinda wild...I mean, it's not how they made it sound in my books."

Carl:
"Um, get used to that kid."

Russell launches in to a story about good times with his dad. Then concludes:

Russell:
"That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff, is the stuff I remember the most."

Adventure happens in the unexpected and scary times, in the grieving times, in the risky times, and sometimes in the boring stuff.

After we've lived awhile, God helps us understand. He opens our eyes. He validates our trust. He reveals new truth, new stuff. And, we have a story to tell.

Our life is filled with His fingerprints and times when He shows up. He weaves together these faith events and grants us moments of understanding, epiphanies of meaning and direction and wisdom. He encourages our spirit of adventure.

God has known all along what we are only now discovering: that without these stories, we get lost.

Inspiration

The movie, Up, is primarily about the spirit of adventure living inside Carl and Ellie. The first 10 minutes of the film is great storytelling, even in the 4-minutes of silence. Hint: You don't have to have words to tell a story.

Carl dreams of adventure, but he is very comfortable keeping the adventure inside his fantasy world. After all, he's just a kid. Then he meets Ellie, a sassy little would-be adventurer who lives every moment with an infectious spirit. From that moment on, they are inseparable. They marry and make the old club house their home. They share joys and tragedies, ups and downs, dreams and disappointments, and the "cross-your-heart vow."

Someday, they will go to South America, to Paradise Falls. It's in her "Adventure Book."

But, something always keeps them planted in their little house. Carl and Ellie grow old and never visit South American jungles. And, then, Ellie dies leaving Carl with the house filled with beautiful memories of the way it used to be.

He thought the adventure was buried with Ellie, then young Russell interrupted Carl's boring life ... adventure takes a deep breath and a new chapter begins ... headed UP.

Motivation

Start this year with a journal that collects your faith stories. Look back on your pictures and search for God's fingerprints. Write down what God reveals. There is more hidden in the past than you remember.

Listen for your story in silence ... even in the boring stuff.

Close your mouth. Open your eyes. Silence is the prerequisite to imagination. We must be present and observant to the world around us, the world within us, and the movements of God in both. See beyond your vision.

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team

The Secret Reason for Thanksgiving

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600

Preparation

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, sneaking in under the radar. Has its uniqueness been co-opted or compromised by our economic rush toward Christmas?

"Yes!"

From the beginning, this American holiday was not about food and football, as much as it was about reserving a day to celebrate the spirit of thankfulness. It was, and still is, a national reminder to be grateful, and, yes, a calling to reconnect with grace.

Although defined by many as an emotion, I believe thankfulness is a choice -- a life choice. Followers of Jesus choose gratitude because they have experienced an undeserved and unexpected outpouring of grace.

The Bible reveals Paul's often overlooked teaching:

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:15 NIV).

In short, choose thanksgiving, whether you deserve it or not, it's a God thing.

When grace reaches people, lives changes. That personal, undeserved and unmerited gift changes everything. The overwhelming response is gratitude. So, here's the nugget of truth: If you haven't really accepted God's grace, especially grace wrapped in your pain, then you will have trouble really enjoying this holiday.

God turns pain into the kicker:

God blesses us with tears for moments of pain, so that we will reach out in grace and touch the hurt.

God blesses us with anger and rage at the craziness around us, so we will work for justice and mercy and compassion.

God blesses us in spite of bad choices, so we grow and learn and work miracles when others least expect it.

God gives us mystery, so we will enjoy the wonder and stand amazed.

When our world is rocked with the unexplainable, God steps in, not with explanations, but with closeness and comfort. He leaves fingerprints on our hearts and healing in our future. In the middle of heartache, He provides, because He wants to. His giving grace makes our thanksgiving a celebration of HIS fingerprints.

Look beyond the marketplace. Don't reduce Thanksgiving Day to turkey, football, and a nap.

Inspiration

She was fully alive and focused; there were mountains to climb and children to save. Dreams, big dreams, overflowed in her vision for the future. It was her life-plan to be part of a team providing clean drinking water to underdeveloped countries around the world. Anabel Reid, 19, was only a sophomore at Abilene Christian University, majoring in environmental science, but she was wise beyond her years. Her future seemed filled with green lights and favorable winds, until Friday afternoon November 4, 2011.

Anabel was one of the 19 members of a mission group headed to Medina Children's Home in Medina, Texas. The service project had been planned and tasks assigned. This project was just the beginning of bigger and grander times.

Then, sudden shock! The driver lost control, the bus careened off the road, hitting a concrete culvert and overturned on U.S. 83 between Ballinger and Paint Rock. The top of the bus was sheared off and passengers thrown clear. Everyone was hurt; most were taken to nearby hospitals, but Anabel wasn't taken to a hospital; she died there on that lonely Texas road. But, she didn't die alone.

The news of her death spread like a shockwave across the ACU campus. Hurt and pain and loss were undeniable, but grief was not the only spirit on that campus. On Monday, the students gathered in their daily chapel service and were joined by Anabel's family, her boyfriend Alex Wann, and other close friends. It was solemn, but punctuated with gentle smiles.

During the service, University President Phil Schubert spoke of his initial meeting with the Reid family shortly after they received the news of Anabel's death. He was amazed at the gracious spirit in the room. Shelly Reid, Anabel's mother, had one very intentional request, "I want to meet with the driver. He must be feeling unbearable heartache. I want him to know this wasn't his fault."

Mrs. Reid was unwrapping the gift of grace in the middle of grief. Her faith in the middle of pain became a light shining in the darkness.

And in an interview with the Abilene Reporter News, Alex said, "We will have moments where little things remind us of her, but I think that sadness will be peaceful. In the midst of this great shock, we're finding strong comfort. I think we've had more smiles than we anticipated."

The fingerprints of God bring smiles out of impossible moments. It's a God thing.

Motivation

Muse a moment or two this week.

Take a walk and thank God for his grace.

Think about the gifts God has given you in spite of, and in the midst of, your pain and grief, your frustrations and failures, and your mess-ups and bad choices. Your impossible times are more than enough reason for the Thanksgiving season.

Thank HIM for growth and change and understanding that has come through watching others show grace and faith in the middle of adversity.

Thank God for the good you have experienced, especially the good you didn't earn or deserve.

Look for the fingerprints of God in the strangest places and share the spirit of thanksgiving with at least one other person.

Do something that encourages others to be grateful. It's infectious.

Write an unexpected "Thank You" note, or send an email. Unwrap the gift of grace and find the power to choose thanksgiving.

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team

More Than Religious Jargon

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600

Preparation

When Jesus was walking the streets of Judea and Galilee, he talked of glorifying God, bringing God glory, and being glorified. Is that some mystical religious rite or ritual? Is it an event? Can you buy some of it?

Christians are taught to glorify God and bring glory to him. So, how does that happen? When does it happen? Have we fulfilled the requirement when we sing, "We will glorify the King of Kings, we will glorify the Lamb, we will glorify the Lord of Lords, who is the great I Am"? Is that all there is?

No, this is more than singing a song. Instead of living to make our parents look good or playing the game to make our coach proud, or manipulating circumstances so that we look good, glorify means we live and work and talk so that God looks good. We behave in a way that makes the creator look good -- we demonstrate and illustrate his reputation.

That's glorifying God! So, how are we doing?

The apostle Paul put it this way:

For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:11-13 NIV).

Truth is, we all still need encouragement, comforting, and urging.

This may be our greatest faith challenge: to make God proud, to live like the believers he called us to be.

We seem to get easily distracted. Too many believers have kept the "glorifying God" stuff locked up inside Sunday morning worship, while living the rest of the week complaining, arguing, protesting, finding fault, and grumbling. For some, nothing is ever good enough, and no one is ever right enough. How does that make God look good?

So let me offer a little encouragement, comforting, and a touch of urging.

Inspiration

Sometimes we have problems living so anybody looks good. This obituary of a 79-year-old woman ran on August 16-17, 2008, in the Vallejo, California, "Times-Herald." It was placed there by one of the deceased's many daughters.

Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by a host of family members.

Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed, and there will be no lamenting over her passing.

Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her, and perhaps we will think of those times, too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had—a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself.

As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again. There will be no service, no prayers, and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us,

GOOD BYE, MOM.

Motivation

Encourage:

What do you hope people will say about you in your obit? What do you need to do to make that happen? Set some goals. Write them down. Make it happen.

Comfort:

Does your life need a turn-around moment? Enlist a prayer partner. Confess a struggle or distraction, share prayers, and ask for help seeing the answers. Begin each day praying for your prayer partner. There is comfort in a shared adventure. Focusing on someone else always makes God look good.

Urge:

After all, we are on the team, part of the plan, and players in the story. Grab a partner, get off the sidelines and be the story. Bring out the best in someone else.

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team

Tired of the Ugliness?

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ... (Philippians 2:15 NIV).

Preparation

I'm tired of the ugliness. The financial struggles this year are ugly. The 2012 election cycle promises to be one of the ugliest campaigns in history. Public discourse is punctuated with disrespect and foul language. As news breaks from day to day we are exposed to all manner of creative ugliness. In the last few months I have witnessed ugly weather, ugly moods, ugly situations, ugly architecture, even ugly truths.

Uglyism lives! It appears when we least expect it. Instead of staying just below the surface, it's popping above the surface and hanging around. This week, even with your eyes closed, you will see ugliness. Without trying, you will be exposed to ugly comments, ugly injustices, ugly squabble, ugly arrogance, ugly attitudes, ugly confrontations, and a few ugly messes.

What do you do when faced with ugliness? I see 4 possible options.

You can run; run as fast as you can.

Ignore reality and go straight to Denial.

Condemn the ugliness and talk constantly about how bad it is and how sad it is that we live in this mess.

Become an agent of transformation.

Hidden somewhere in the middle of ugliness is blessing and beauty, put there by the Creator. He continues to allow ugliness so we can get introduced to new beauty. It's there, unseen, but there.

This is not the time to run. It's time to be the story of blessing, to see the unseen beauty growing wild in this culture of ugliness.

Inspiration

One of the most thought-provoking movies in my DVD collection is "The Green Mile." It's a story of ugliness and pain. Most of the movie is set in a death row prison of the 1930s. In a cell, toward the end of the hall, is an innocent large black man named John Coffey. He has few words to say, but he is the reason for the movie.

They say he committed a brutal crime, but as the story unfolds you learn he is innocent. And, more than that, he has miraculous gifts of healing and prophesy. Just by touching the arm of a fellow inmate, he can see the rapes and murders that the man has committed.

Tom Hanks plays the head guard who finally comes to the truth: John is innocent. He asks John if he wants him to fight to get him off death row.

In a weeping response, Coffey explains:

I's tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world ever' day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?

Tom's character did. Do you?

Motivation

You have a gift, maybe not one of Coffey's gifts, but you have a gift. The God of transformation has given you eyes to see the unseen, to see beauty when all around you is pain and ugliness. You CAN see the good when it's covered in badness, the hope in hopelessness, the healing in pain. There is beauty in the middle of ugliness.

Now, the question: Do you choose to open the gift, or run with the ugly crowd?

For one week, just one week, try seeing the unseen.

Pray for eyes to see beyond the ugliness, to see hope and goodness and beauty. It's a gift from God. Believe it. Live it, for just one week and you will be transformed. Your mind will be renewed. You will become an agent of transformation.

Look for it!

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team

Looking for a Sacred Job?

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Preparation

For generations we have found it convenient, even reassuring, to make a distinction between the sacred and the secular. For many, the church campus is sacred and the workplace is secular. For most, the Bible is sacred and Michael Crichton's novels are secular. That's leaves "What's So Amazing about Grace," "The Shack," and "Blue like Jazz" somewhere in the middle, if that's possible.

Most of us have extended this distinction to vocations, making the work of local preachers and pastors sacred and "Scott the chicken guy" and "Bob the builder" secular. This attempt at creating two separate worlds is an extension of a worldview that values prayer, worship, Bible study, Sunday School, and evangelism as spiritual activities; while work, personal finances, politics, music, education, the Internet, sports, and shopping stack up in the secular category.

Haven't you heard someone say that preachers and pastors have the "highest calling"? Sorry, but that's just not so. Just because a church or ministry issues your paycheck doesn't mean your work is more sacred than a mother raising God's children, or a person working the register at Safeway. This is God's world and everything in it is sacred.

Everyone works for God, period. Honest, honorable work of any kind is sacred.

Inspiration

Tom began his company in Texas, and it quickly developed a national presence. His character and competence meshed in a way that grew his reputation in the community and beyond. He was especially pleased to see how God was using his business to grow faith in both employees and customers.

Then a misguided pastor suggested, "Tom, have you ever considered really giving your life to God and working full-time in the kingdom?"

The pastor continued, "There is no doubt that God has used you in amazing ways. But the work you're in is secular; I think God has been preparing you for work on a higher level, a spiritual mission."

Eventually Tom sold his business and accepted a position as administrative pastor in a local church. This was supposed to be a perfect arrangement. Now Tom could use his abilities for God full-time.

It all sounded so good and so right, but someone forgot to tell Tom's heart. Before long, Tom was wandering in a wilderness of depression. Something was missing, but how could that be? He was working for God.

That Thanksgiving the whole family came to Tom's house to celebrate and feast. After the meal he and his dad took a walk. Along the way, Dad asked, "Son, are you sure you're doing what God wants you to do? You don't seem to be having any fun. Do you enjoy what you are doing?"

Tom thought he had been hiding his anxiety, but his dad could see behind the mask. "Dad, I think God had me where he wanted me in my business. Do you think there is a difference between sacred work and secular work?"

"No! I think the real difference is between sacred and secular people. For believers nothing is secular. We all work for God, regardless of who signs the checks."

The God who made us says, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you ... so have no fear. What can mere people do to you? So, whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord."*

God didn't make this promise just to pastors; the words are intended for all of us.

Motivation

So, when you go to work, whatever your official job description is, you are really working to serve others, not to get others to serve you. We are not working to gain power over others, but to empower them.

Go to work for others, not for yourself. When we have this kind of focus, God shows up and when God shows up, depression disappears.

Your greatest influence for the kingdom may be right where you are. The workplace is the real world and it is sacred. Believe it!

And, new jobs give us fresh beginnings, new people to serve and empower, and an expanded impact on the world just beyond our new doorstep.

*	This is not a direct quote of any one passage, but a loose paraphrase of Hebrews 13:5-6 and Colossians 3:17.

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team

Find the Plot to Your Dots

ron@faithteam.org (Ron Rose) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations (Psalm 33:11 NIV).

Preparation

When I was a kid we were so mistreated. No one had portable DVD players, iTouches, Leapsters, or PSPs. When we traveled we had to settle for coloring books, comic books, and puzzle books. Occasionally I got a treat, a Connect-the-Dots Book. I loved them, especially if the numbers went over a hundred and the picture was detailed and complicated. Connecting the dots became an adventure, it was like dots with a plot.

God must have loved those old books, too. At times my faith journey has taken me from dot to dot and I still haven't seen the connection, but I keep searching. Then, as I get closer to the finish, the plot takes shape.

Faith means you keep going, anticipating the outcome without knowing it. You don't stop, even when you're not certain where the next dot is, or if there is one. Sound crazy, maybe it is, from our point of view, but God has a plan; he has a design, he put the plot in the dots.

Inspiration

During her first pregnancy, Julie discovered she had a heart shaped uterus. After 24 weeks, her first child, Madelyn, was stillborn. We agonized with her loss and shared her grief, but Madelyn has become more than a sad memory.

Despite her high-risk womb, within a few years Grant was born. He was perfect and smart and fun and filled with energy. Two years later Garrett was born. He was and is a sensitive adventurer who is over-flowing with curiosity and wonder. The family settled in at four. Everything seemed as it should be, then ...

Out of the blue, Julie had a miscarriage. "It was unplanned," Julie said, "and I was on birth control, so it was quite the mystery. I had blood work done and was told that it had never been a thriving pregnancy. What this did, though, was awaken in me the desire for another child, specifically, a daughter. The daughter we lost left a whole in my heart that I had learned to live with, but this incident seemed to make it more pronounced."

From the beginning of their marriage, Scott was totally against adoption. It was a personal thing. Julie, on the other hand, graduated with a social work degree with emphasis on adoption. It would take the fingerprints of God for adoption to be a "dot" on their path.

When Julie told Scott how she was feeling about another child, he shocked her. "How about adoption?"

God changes things!

Then, one night, when Julie was putting Garrett to bed, he turned to her and said, "Mommy, God wants us to pray for a baby that's way too far away."

A few days later Julie was at a bookstore looking for children's books on adoption. The lady in the children's department recommended "Little Miss Spider."

Julie said, "I looked at it, carried it toward the check-out counter, but then decided to wait, and put it back. That night at home, I was checking Grant's school backpack. He had library day at school on Friday, and I wanted to see what book he had chosen that week. I pulled the book out, and was amazed at what he had chosen -- "Little Miss Spider."

It took months, but now they are five. Young Halle Grace is a thriving part of their family. She came via Ukraine. Julie states, "Only God could devise such a plan and show us the way!"

Motivation

So, have you found the plot in your dots? The task for this week is to look back on your life searching for flashes of God's hand. Remember, He sees the whole journey, but only reveals dots to us along the way. So look for his dots, moments that fit together now, that make sense now.

Take your time. I am confident you will be able to see God's hand in your life, flashes of his presence that have shaped you and transformed you, without your knowledge.

Now, your task, should you accept it, is to find the dots in your future and watch God connect them. Find his plot, his story, being worked out in your life. He's not finished with you yet. It's His story in your life.

Dots tend to come attached to stories. Go to Story Status on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/groups/StoryStatus/) and share one. Or, leave a comment on this Post.

Ron Rose is a noted author and leader of Faith Team. His new email ministry, Faith Notes, provides practical resources for growing faith. Email Ron!

Website: Faith Team