a pattern of wise choices in the ordinary paves the road to a demonstration of wisdom in the extraordinary.

What's a decision you are in the midst of making? Chase it down. If you do this, where will it most likely lead? And then what? And then? Keep going until you walk it all the way out.

When all of life feels like an urgent rush from one demand to another, we become forgetful. We forget simple things like where we put our car keys or that one crucial ingredient for dinner when we run into the grocery store. But even more disturbing, we forget God. We say with our mouths that we are trusting and relying on God, but are we really?

God will handle this, and even if you never see how God handles it, you know He will.

prudent man or woman understands that all of life is connected. He is aware of the cause-and-effect relationship between what he chooses today and what he experiences tomorrow . .

Trading God's truth for what the world said was a better plan.

famine and cry out for comfort and security. We may even turn back to the mud puddles we left behind. All the while, ahead of us are the pure rushing waters our souls were designed to dive into. A sweet place of complete trust in God, great faith, and dreams come true is out there. And inside of us something calls us to dive in and experience the riches of the deep.

I think C. S. Lewis said it best: "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."1

I can find security for today even as I face uncertainty about tomorrow. Rather than trying to predict the future, I trace God's faithfulness from my past. He was faithful then. He will be faithful now.

But disappointment isn't proof that God is withholding good things from us. Sometimes it's His way of leading us Home.

When I am struggling and considering a compromise, I will force myself to think past this moment and ask myself, How will I feel about this choice tomorrow morning?

I may not like all the circumstances from my past, but I can see I survived. God was with me. God has used parts of what I walked through for good. God used some of it to protect me. God has certainly used it to teach me lessons and make me more empathetic for others walking through hard things. And God has used some of it to position me for where I needed to be next.