Reread the Week in a Different Light

Here is a practice for the end of the week. Sit down with a sheet of paper and write down the three or four things that went wrong, or did not go the way you planned. Be specific. The meeting that was cancelled, the argument, the slow progress on the thing you care about, the tiredness that made you short with someone.

Then take each one and ask Paul's question from Philippians 1:12. What has happened to me, has it in any way served to advance the gospel? Do not force a positive answer. Sometimes the honest reply is that you cannot see anything yet. Write that down too. But sometimes you will notice that the cancelled meeting gave you an hour with a friend who needed it, or that the argument revealed something you had been hiding, or that being tired made you ask for help and someone saw Christ in the asking.

The point is not to make bad things good by relabeling them. It is to train your eyes. Paul could see the palace guard learning about Christ because he was looking for it. Do this once a week for a month and you will begin to look for it too. Keep the sheets. By late summer you will have a record of a God who works inside setbacks, written in your own hand.