Because I take what God has revealed about Himself and His relationship to all of His creation seriously, I've been making continual progress in viewing all things through that truth. To help myself do so, I've developed a "grid" through which I filter what is taking place in my life. This "grid" looks like this:

1. Since the God of the scripture claims that He is in control of all things and He is trustworthy

2. Then whatever just happened to me, He has permitted

3. And even though I may not understand it right now

4. The fact that He permitted it to happen means that it serves a purpose in my life

5. And that in some way, it provides an opportunity for me to glorify Him

--I define glorifying Him as reflecting and revealing or unveiling in some way His character, nature, worth and value.

6. So I consistently ask Him to reveal to me how or in what way this can glorify Him

7. And what my role is in bringing glory to Him in response to what's happened

I've found that when I use this "grid" as the lens through which I perceive things taking place in my life, I'm able to see the bigger picture much more easily and His fingerprints on all things are much more visible.