The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of our Lives by Ravi Zacharias was another great opportunity to read and marvel at God’s faithfulness and goodness. There is a lot in this book that speaks specifically to what it means to understand God’s calling in the life of the believer.
I highlighted a ton of notes while reading and posted those notes below…
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To allow God to be God we must follow him for who he is and what he intends, and not for what we want or what we prefer. p. 11
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Once you begin to see God’s hand in your life, you will know that his workmanship within you and through you was tailor-made, just for you. His design for your life pulls together every thread of your existence into a magnificent work of art. Every thread matters and has a specific purpose. p. 18
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Accepting and celebrating the thread of your own personality is the first grasp of the Grand Weaver’s design in your life. You are not a number. He knows you by name. Every stage of the process may not look picturesque, but every detail will come into focus and possess its share of beauty. p. 32
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God does not display his work in abstract terms. He prefers the concrete, and this means that at the end of your life one of three things will happen to your heart: it will grow hard, it will be broken, or it will be tender. p. 39
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God the Grand Weaver seeks those with tender hearts so that he can put his imprint on them. Your hurts and your disappointments are part of that design, to shape your heart and the way you feel about reality. The hurts you live through will always shape you. There is no other way. p. 40
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What Is a Calling? A calling is simply God’s shaping of your burden and beckoning you to your service to him in the place and pursuit of his choosing. Finding your home in your service to Christ is key to noticing the threads designed just for you. It gives you that hand-in-glove sensation and provides the security of knowing that you are utilizing your gifts and your will to God’s ends first, not for yours. When your will becomes aligned with God’s will, his calling upon you has found its home. p. 58
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God reinforces his call as we respond to his nod. p. 60
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The Christian’s walk involves all three areas of life — the spiritual, the practical, and the logical — which are not mutually exclusive. God is an immensely practical being who also guides us with reason and wisdom. Let us see how the threads of your hopes, your dreams, and your calling come into place spiritually, practically, and intellectually. p. 63
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Our First Call And what is the first call for each one of us? It is to understand God’s primary description of who and what we are. All the other accolades that people want to thrust at us are secondary at best. The fact that someone writes, another speaks, still others invest or play sports, is merely the means to express the greater end. p. 65
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Humility is the touchstone of serving God. p. 71
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Live out your life in humility of spirit that serves for the right reasons. Seek the counsel and example of godly men and women. Finally, exhibit a commitment to the preeminence of Christ in all things. These are the components of a call. Self-glory, power, sensuality, and the seduction of material gain impede such a call. God is the author of my call. He has the plan in mind, and I must respond to his nod. Take the thread of wanting to serve wherever he wants you and add it to the mix. The design will thrill you one day. p. 74
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Jesus does not offer to make bad people good but to make dead people alive. p. 82
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As a young man, David Living-stone prayed, “Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the tie that binds me to your service and to your heart.” p. 119
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A conviction is not merely an opinion. It is something rooted so deeply in the conscience that to change a conviction would be to change the very essence of who you are. p. 127
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Worship is exclusionary. You cannot compromise on worship. p. 133