He speaks but are you listening?

Through scripture, words, conversations, sermons, books, people, places, songs, podcasts, nature — the list goes on — God uses a plethora of ways to nudge our hearts, stir our thoughts and inspire our lives, but are we paying attention?

Five years ago I began a challenge to intently focus on what I was allowing into my mind, heart, soul and ultimately, life. I called this project, Top Ten and it was a personal challenge for me to start paying attention to the various ways God was speaking to me.

Whether it was through a song I was singing, a book I was reading or a sermon I was hearing, I started noticing a common thread of themes and messages that were resonating with my heart day after day and I (finally) pieced together that they were God’s way of trying to connect with me — promises He wanted to remind me of through the chorus of a song, hope He was offering to help get me through the day spoken through a podcast interview and long forgotten dreams He was resurrecting through the very pages of scripture.

He was revealing Himself in patterns and pieces amidst the everyday avenues of my life, but I had to be intentional about listening, thinking, noticing, finding and placing the pieces together. I had to have a place to record, capture and collect these pieces or I would soon forget their significance and be unable to assemble the bigger picture.

Finding Pieces is an invitation and an opportunity for you to collect the creative ways God is speaking to you. It’s a journaling guide that helps you gather scriptures, words, conversations, sermons, books, people, places, songs and more, helping you collect and gather all the ways in which God is nudging your life with themes, messages, promises, hopes and dreams.

• What scripture keeps popping up in your days and weeks?
• What song lyrics can you not get out of your head?
• What books have multiple people told you to read?
• Do you have a favorite quote you find yourself repeating?
• Is there a word you seem to notice everywhere you go?
• Are there themes to the conversations you keep finding yourself a part of?

Each of these pieces provides insight to and for your life.

God gladly uses inspiring and creative, but practical and relevant ways, to talk with us, interact with us, engage with us and meet us where we’re at, but we have to be paying attention in order to find the pieces and piece them all together.

He speaks but are you listening? Are you paying attention?

Welcome to Finding Pieces.

How This Guide Works

Part One.

Each chapter is broken down into a creative avenue that God uses to speak.

• Chapter 1 — through music
• Chapter 2 — through books
• Chapter 3 — through scripture
• Chapter 4 — through people
• Chapter 5 — through places
• Chapter 6 — through conversations
• Chapter 7 — through lessons
• Chapter 8 — through community
• Chapter 9 — through words
• Chapter 10 — through quotes

Finding Pieces is a journaling practice that’s simply about noticing the things that interest you and then living expectantly for how God can use that interest to speak to you through it.

Don’t feel limited by the avenues I’ve highlighted. In fact, use what I’ve arranged as a simple starting point as you build your own repertoire of thoughts and experiences.

Perhaps God speaks to you through movement or serving or art. If so, that’s amazing! Write that down. Embrace that that’s who you are and how God speaks to you. Use the blank pages at the end of this guide, which are precisely for those kinds of imaginative ideas.

Part Two.

As you go about your day-to-day activities and routine, all you have to do is notice the words you’re singing, the conversations you’re having and the people, places, words and things that catch your eye and write them down. It’s as simple as that. Find your pieces.

When something resonates, note what it is, find the corresponding chapter, record it and at the end of the week, review your moments.

At the end of the month, go back over every week to note what themes have unfolded. What have you learned? What stands out as extraordinary? Ask God where He’s leading you the next month and pray about what it all means.

Then at the end of the year, assemble your top ten pieces and compose your own collection of Top Ten.

• What was your top song — a song that always seemed to be stuck in your head?
• What was your top book — a book that changed you for the better and left a lasting impression on you?
• What was your top scripture — a passage that hit you at the most perfect time and revealed deep truth to you?

On and on this goes until you have assembled a list of ten profoundly personal ways that God has revealed Himself to you
throughout the year.

Finding Pieces is about sitting back and taking note of all the beautiful themes, patterns, messages and supernatural ways in which He moved in your year. You will be astonished, trust me, to see what messages have guided your focus, what words have fed your spirit, what truth has carried your soul and what experiences have shaped
your character.

Note: I’ve included an example of one of my own top ten’s so you can see what pieces have left significant impact on my own faith journey over the years.

Also note: At the end of each chapter I’ve included a fun colouring sheet that corresponds with the chapter’s theme. Cause why not? Faith adventures should be fun.

So here we go. It’s time to begin.