A
thought by Mark Batterson (2016-09-06) from his book, Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small (Kindle
Location 464). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. . (Click on the title of the book to
go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Now within
every movie, every book the writer starts with a storyline and in these
storylines there are defining moments. It
makes the story so much more interesting doesn’t it? And the same is true in the storyline God has
for our lives.
Mark says, “The
technical term, in terms of plot structure, is ‘inciting incident.’ It’s a
turning point, a tipping point. It’s a point of no return. Inciting incidents
come in two basic varieties: things that happen to you that you cannot control
and things you make happen that you can control. Of course, even if something
is out of your control, you still control your reaction. You might not be
responsible, but you are response-able. And it’s the ability to choose your
response that will likely determine your destiny.”
He goes on, “Some
inciting incidents are perceived as positive, like a college scholarship or a
job promotion. Others are perceived as negative, like a pink slip or a positive
diagnosis. But don’t be too quick to judge a blessing or a curse by its cover.
What we perceive as positive sometimes turns out to have negative side effects,
and what we perceive as negative often turns out to be the best thing that ever
happened to us.”
As a
sidelight, Mark, the writer of this book has a very influential church in
Washington DC. He goes on, “After an
unsuccessful attempt at church planting in Chicago, I felt like a complete
failure. But if that church plant had succeeded, we never would have made the
move to Washington, DC. So in hindsight, that failure was one of the best
things that ever happened to me.”
He then
says, “Mismanaged success is the leading cause of failure. Well-managed failure
is the leading cause of success.”
Proverbs 3:5
is my life verse and it says, “Trust in the Lord with all you heart, lean not
to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your
path.” Remember, He is the writer and
director of your life’s storyline. So
trust Him. Trust Him by following His
direction. He knows what He is doing.
Does that
give you a better perspective on how your storyline is going?
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