Warm up: Out of the Shallows

This may be your year — the year to claim your faith option. That curve ahead may lead you smack dab into the Twilight Zone of the unknown and impossible. You may find yourself facing the greatest struggle of your life. What would you do?

You could play the victim card, spiral downward in despair, grow bitter and negative, or take the faith option. Trust that God is bigger and stronger than any curve, or roadblock, or failure you may face. The faith option changes everything. It empowers you to face the challenge regardless, to get beyond yourself, and see into a new world of wonder, and opportunity, and hope. It opens the door of divine opportunity.

This faith option has transformational power; your struggles and failures and difficulties become divine opportunities for morphing into a new version, a better version, of the person you are meant to be. After a while, you will find God's fingerprints all over you and that feels great.

So, trust the Maker. Take the faith option; it will rock your world.

Inspiration: Into the Deep

Richard began, "Two weeks after the credit company took our farm, I lost my job as ranch foreman. Our family moved into a compact rental unit, and my wife and I began working a series of minor jobs. We were barely making enough money to provide food, yet we faced a $100,000 debt. The Credit people had seized all our assets — our land, our equipment, our home, and our bank accounts. Others might have seen our situation as hopeless, but we just looked for God to take us in a new direction."

It took eighteen months for the new direction to appear. Richard and his wife were asked to manage an exclusive 2,600-acre hunting club in northern California. As they served at the club in numerous ways, they got the opportunity to share their story. God had rocked their world, and they were better for it. It didn't take long for them to introduce a new spirit to that snobbish old hunting lodge. Their perspective on life and value was infectious.

"It's not a secret!"
After a year at the club, the head of the credit company that had taken their farm visited with Richard. "A friend of mine," he began, "recently lost everything he owned and his wife has just committed suicide. We at the office have noticed that you and your wife have handled your loss with grace and dignity, so I've come to find out what your secret is."

"It's not a secret," Richard explained. "We believe God never deserts us. In fact we believe he turns every struggle into an opportunity and we live like it."

"I've heard about that religious stuff," the Credit boss said, "but this is the first time I've seen it really make a difference."

Game Plan: Living Beyond Yourself

You have choice now!

Make it a personal decision. Make it public. E-mail me and tell me you are committed to take the faith option, regardless of what happens: ronrose@sbcglobal.net

Your world is waiting to see the results.