 is the author and the finish of your faith and he is writing your story even right now. We're so glad that we're part of your story today on Hope Today here with Tom and Angela. Such a joy to be joined by all three of you and we have a great guest coming up Tom. We do. I like being part of people's stories. I hope it's a great story that God's writing today in your life but you know are you going through anything right now? Maybe you are. Are you having trouble getting a big picture perspective on God's work in your life? Boy that so often that's exactly what we struggle with but maybe you're even in a dark place and you wonder where God is. Well coming up we're going to have a great discussion with Joel Mom. He's been through those places and he's going to help us clarify the unique mission and message God has for each one of us. Guys this is going to be a great discussion Angela and I love Joel's got such a great way of expressing this and a perspective on these kind of things. Yeah I mean difficult times come for us all so it's great to be able to listen in and lean into what he's learned from his journey and I know it will fill us all with a good perspective for sure. Good perspectives are so important and you know a lot of us are walking through different seasons and times in our lives and we just want to bring to your attention about one family who is in desperate need of our prayers on behalf of their two-year-old little girl in Atlanta Erica and Blake Selah's daughter Skylin. There she is right there is battling a rare brain cancer called metablastoma. Now Skylin has spent more than a month in the ICU unable to see and feel sunlight and we just want to show you this video that's coming up that's her father right there that you can see sunlight holding her that was the first time he was able to hold her just in weeks and so we just want to show you this coming up this video of her leaving the ICU and heading into a new room with the window take a look at this. So sweet they had a little parade for Skylin you know just like she was leaving the ICU we just want to you know Skylin is one of the loved ones of cornerstone television networks HR manager Deb Goodman and her family is asking everyone to pray for Skylin as she continues on this journey we just want to take a moment today to lift her up her parents she has siblings and their entire family and prayer and we also just want to know like let you know that they are having a spaghetti dinner that they're hosting here in Pittsburgh and so if you want to donate and help this family because we know medical bills are so high just give us a call we'll get you connected at our prayer line at 888-665-4483 so we just want to say Deb into Erica and Blake and the whole cellar's family and little Skylin that we are here for you we are praying in their seating and can you pray Angela for a Skylin and just lift her up yes I would love to father we thank you for Skylin we thank you that God you are the creator who knit her together in her mother's womb we thank you that your hand is able and willing to heal because that's who you are so we ask even now father God that you would heal Skylin's body from the inside out you would touch every cell within her God that you would minister to her day and night father we pray for her parents and her entire family that your peace would surround them that you would consume them with the light of love and life that you are do what only you can do mend heal and deliver in Jesus name amen amen amen thanks for praying Angela and please continue in prayer for Skylin I know she's a she's a twin so her you know her twin has unique challenges facing this but uh you know when we think about things like that what what if everything that has ever happened to you has prepared you for your greatest work what if those confusing uncomfortable seasons when you feel like you're walking in circles or actually the path that God was leading you on to fulfill the destiny as planned for you well Joel mom is our next guest and in his book connecting the dots he's going to help us understand what God is doing when life doesn't make sense Joel welcome to hope today hey good to be with you well let me ask you you know we uh you know many of us every one of us have gone through those dark times and it's natural to ask the question why but you say there's a better question we we should ask what is that well as a counselor a master degree in counseling I found that when you start asking why it doesn't tend to lead good places there may not be an answer for why right now the better question is how am I going to respond right now to what's in front of me and that's one of the goals of the book is helping you see look God hasn't forgotten you he's right here with you he's working behind the scenes most of the time we don't see it or understand it until later though so the question why isn't going to lead anywhere good the question for right now I say why is for later how is for now how am I going to respond to what has what is happening right now trusting that ultimately God is going to work all things together for good including this situation you know you have what seems like to me a pretty unique take on the path that we walk in life we tend to think linearly you know we tend to think start from point A go to point B to point C but you have another take on walking kind of circular we don't like the idea of going around the mountain but could you just explain how what God has shown you through that yeah so I lead hikes around the world and one of the things that Psalm 23 when I was in Israel one time a guide said you know that Psalm 23 that Hebrew word it says the Lord is my shepherd he leads me in paths of righteousness that Hebrew word path it's word my goal it actually means paths made of circles and there's all sorts of you know theories on what that means I'm convinced what it means is God leads us in an ever widening circular path getting us to where he wants to go and you probably experience that in your life where you find yourself going we're doing this again but it's just a little bit different or we're here again or this time frame again maybe every three or five or seven years you've got a shift in your life and you go we're doing this again I'm convinced that that's our gentle shepherd leading us you know we're kind of poofy sheep we can't necessarily get straight up a hill so he gently leads us up the hill in circular paths getting us to the good stuff where he wants us to be and and I'm I believe it's a circular path more than a straight line but it's an ever widening it's like a spiral ever widening getting us to who he wants us to be you know I I'm in the book I read that where you talk about going that way up a mountain my wife and I are bicyclists as everyone who's watching this show knows that you do that to get up a mountain on a bicycle too a lot of times and but what is the spiritual one you know when you're not kind of going directly towards you want to where you want to be and it's you kind of can get impatient so what has God taught you what are some of the principles God's taught you as you're on that path well I in the store in the book I tell a story of a crazy year of my life that I felt like was a waste it's one of those things you know when you're writing your resume and you leave off that year and people are like what happened here you're like yeah we don't let's not talk about that and it was a year that I just couldn't explain it it felt like a waste of my life but as I'm further down the road now I look at it and go that was one of the most transformative seasons of my life and as I started looking at my story and listening to stories of hundreds of other people and counseling I started to see there's a really consistent pattern there's about nine stages in every season of life that people go through it actually follows what's called the hero's journey where there's a there's this transition this this moment where life life changes and then you have to have some courage and then a guide shows up of course our guide is the Holy Spirit there's a decision you have to make to go all in on the season and fully commit then there's a series of challenges there's a dark cave and ultimately you emerge with a different perspective because of what life has done and I really believe that the ultimate goal of each season is for God to give you more of a mission and a message well let me ask you about some of the things you've noticed as you have been on these journeys you talk about some gifts gifts of discomfort I don't want that gift you know I don't I don't want to have anything to do with the gift of discomfort or the gift of limitation could you talk about those gifts and what how God uses those things yeah I mean if God really is working all things together for good we have to believe all things actually means all things and one of the things he'll often do is when a transition point is coming when you when you need a turning point in your life he'll kind of prepare you by making things a little uncomfortable you know when a when the mother eagle decides it's time for the baby eagles to fly she starts pulling those soft feathers out of the nest so they start kind of feeling the poke and they you know they're not made to hang out in the nest they're made to soar and I believe God sometimes will do that for us in his grace oddly enough he'll make things a little uncomfortable so that we're not looking back like King Solomon says don't don't look back at the days of the past and say oh why were those days better than today he makes it a little bit uncomfortable to get us where he wants us to go and I'm even convinced he uses our enemies those people that would try and do us harm if you look at the story of Joseph you know at the end of the story the guys that did him the most harm his own family they're they're freaking out worried about what he's going to do to them he's like oh no don't worry God sent me ahead of you for the saving of many lives and oftentimes God will he'll take you through a journey and at the end of it the purpose is for you to rescue the very people who cause the harm to you but he uses the enemies to push you right to where you need to be do I just love this whole like the story of just like our journeys and God's purpose and everything and I just want to ask you this question and curious you know as a counselor how you've even counseled your clients but how do we transition well because I think we all hit these moments in our life for like it's exciting transition can be really exciting it can be terrifying and it can be challenging so what are some practical things that we can do as we're in the midst of the transition getting to that new place that we can do in our day-to-day well I tell a story in the book about when my family moved to Central America when I was a kid as soon as we got there we experienced an earthquake and then the volcanoes started erupting so the sun is kind of blacked out and I thought did we arrive at the apocalypse and I talked to one of the local missionaries had been there for 30 years he goes ah no it's just a season change he said when we shift from the dry season to the rainy season this always happens it just means seasons are changing I think one of the important things to recognize in a turning point is it's probably going to come with some discomfort so what the best thing you can do is is have courage and courage is is GK Chesterton says courage is a contradiction in terms almost it's like a willingness to die accompanied with a desire to live so you have to kind of throw yourself into the adventure trusting I really do believe God is directing my steps and this within the adventure I would have chosen but hey you know it's not an adventure until something goes wrong it's an if it's on your terms it's not really an adventure and what I tell people is there's going to be courage required but and and if you'll just go all in commit to the path that it's like Tarzan swinging through the jungle if he doesn't let go of one vine to grab on to the next vine he's not going to keep his forward movement he'll just kind of be hanging there in the middle of the jungle stuck between two vines so you have to go all in you have to fully commit Jesus said that he said he said those who don't basically he says if you don't go all in you're not even worthy of the call here there's a verse where it's one of those savage Jesus things like wait that's not very nice Jesus he's like you got to go all in going all in is really critical but I think that a lot of times people sometimes want to forget those painful or traumatic moments in their life so what would you say to the one who's saying I just want to forget about that well first of all you're probably never as a counselor I'm just going to tell you this you're probably never going to forget it you know but we do have to forgive as Christians we don't forgive and forget we forgive and remember with forgiveness so when you've properly processed it what I've seen is when you've properly processed the hurt that's happened and oftentimes it takes a couple years to get around a certain grief is more of a spiral again another spiral than a straight line we hear of the stages of grief and we think oh click click click I'm over it but if you've ever lost something really that you love it comes back in waves and you know wake up a year two years five years later and it's just as bad as the moment it happened but every time it gets further and further apart and you just remember nope I forgave what happened there and as you do that the memory becomes less and less painful and and then that's when I think the power happens when we're willing to tell the story of what happened with forgiveness there's a verse in Revelation it says they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony the blood of the lamb is that forgiveness that Jesus offered us and he asked us to give to others but the power really gets ignited when we're willing to tell the story of what happened without bitterness and then that's when our survival story becomes somebody else's survival manual I say man I've been through that too but listen you can make it through this and that's where you God's given you that mission and that message through that season and everything that's happened to you has prepared you well I love that because it's it is so easy to suppress those stories and to and to not not be willing to tell them but you tell some great stories in the in the book I I love the story about your friend asking you to come to Mexico not for a week but to take over his ministry and you told him that I love where you said you said I'll pray about it which means leave me alone right that's kind of what I'll pray about it means but could you tell me tell us that story and what God did through that well I was looking for a change but the change that got offered to me wasn't what I wanted I wanted to be climbing mountains and we got offered to take over a ministry down right on the water in Mexico and I love Mexico but that wasn't the part of Mexico I necessarily wanted to be in so my friend called he said I want you to take over his ministry I was like I don't I don't think that's my calling he's like well I don't agree I agree that that it's not your calling but we feel like you're the one that's supposed to do it he kept hassling me and I said you know I dropped the Christian prompt card like let me pray about that brother you know which translation that means leave me alone well my friend he he called me back two weeks later and he said what'd you hear and I'm like about what he's like you didn't pray about it like dude you don't follow up when somebody says I'll pray about it you'll leave him alone and then he goes what did Emily your wife say about it I was like oh man I didn't I didn't tell her because I knew she actually would pray about it so we ended up long story short we ended up going but it was it was a crazy thing because I knew it was something we were supposed to do but it's still I I kind of went kicking and screaming but the Lord just kept blowing doors open where it was clear that was what I needed to do and then we went and it was just as bad if not worse than I thought it would be but I now see it was probably one of the most transformative seasons of my life yeah again I love that you're you're willing to be open about things like that so what what is the you know I was I was uh asking some friends of mine whenever I read a book I like to read it like straight through I don't I don't look for the back but you said you have a friend who always reads the back of the book I know there's a lot of people that do that they jump right to the last page try to see where things are going where are we going with this what's what's the last page here the last page is this God is going to waste nothing in your life if you'll redeem if you'll give your whole story to him to redeem if you'll hold on to nothing surrender to him and say Lord I'm gonna rejoice in my suffering for I know that suffering produces endurance endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put me to shame I'm not gonna lose heart though outwardly I'm wasting away inwardly I'm being renewed day by day this light and momentary affliction is preparing for me an eternal weight of glory which is beyond all comparisons so I'm gonna fix my eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen for what's seen as temporary what's unseen as eternal I didn't come up with that it's too eloquent for me that was the apostle Paul but that's where we have to that's the power of his word we're trusting that ultimately he's gonna bring good from this and the cool thing about it is when he brings good from it we walk out with a mission he's given us a unique problem to solve and a message to share for his glory and for our fulfillment and as we share that message man we become lights the world around you let your light shine in this dark dark world where people say how do you have so much hope you say well it's because God's love has been poured into my heart as he's been walking in my story his story his story in my life I love that phrase by Paul light momentary affliction it's always one that you know you really have to think about knowing what Paul went through would you take a moment I know this is really hitting someone out there would you take a moment to just speak to that person and pray for that person yeah I'm gonna pray speak we'll say this uh man I want to declare in your life that God is accomplishing all things for your good and for his glory uh he's he's got skin in the game here this is his glory is at stake and he is going to accomplish good things in your life so if you are if you are struggling right now know this you're probably not gonna understand it for a while uh you're gonna you're gonna look back and you're gonna go oh that's what that was about and and honestly some of the stuff we're dealing with we may not understand on this time of the space time continuum uh this side of it we may go and I don't get it and I've joked that when I stand before God I'm gonna I'm gonna ask him some questions but all indications are when we stand before God we're gonna drop to our knees put our face to the ground and go true and just were your judgments hang on to that hope true and just were his judgments he is going to accomplish good things in your life even through what seems like the worst possible thing right now yeah the book is called connecting the dots what God is doing when life doesn't make sense joel mom thank you so much for being with us today thank you you well guys this is uh you know a tremendous uh you know uh aspect on those difficulties and we're gonna we're gonna take a quick break when we come back we're gonna talk some more about this we're gonna have a scripture we're gonna have a time that uh ministry just for you when Laura called our 24 seven prayer line she had so much fear that she didn't want to leave her house she had lost her husband of 54 years just six months earlier laura was flipping through tv stations when she came across cornerstone television she felt compelled to call one of our prayer partners talked listened and prayed with her for 45 minutes at the end laura said how much the ministry had helped relieve her fear praise god for how he's using ctv and when you give you become part of what he's doing this month when you give we'll send wild expectations as our way of saying thank you this book will inspire you to live your life as god intended to give and request your copy visit us online at ctvn.org slash donate or call us at 888-665-4483 hope happens here today we have a beautiful scripture that in our interview with joel joel he alluded to and it comes from psalms 23 one through six the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down in the green pastures he leads me beside still waters he restores my soul he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i shall dwell in the house of the lord forever no matter where you are in this journey of life we read clearly from the psalmist that even if you find yourself in the valley of death be assured god is with you i love guys how in this scripture he begins first kind of declaring like this is the lord he is my shepherd and then he turns his attention to god and doesn't just keep this conversation going horizontally like yeah this is about my lord he says no god you are with me you anoint my head with oil no matter what you're going through god will truly use it for your good it doesn't mean it feels good or that it is good but he will use it for your good and i love that so much and you know one thing that when i was studying this scripture a while ago did you know and it's like it's the connection points because even joelle mentioned it when it was talking about that circles with the past of righteousness did you even know that when you look up the Hebrew the shadow of death it's not shadow of death it's deep darkness you don't if this isn't talking about dying it's talking about being in this pit being in this place of despair being in a place of hopelessness but that's why it's on the other side because i've always thought about this scripture i'm like if we're talking about being the shadow of death and there's imminent death that is present but why but there's so much hope on the other end and it's because we're in this pit of deep darkness and we've all been there but god has a hope for us that he is the good shepherd that he is leading us through the valley and i remember even hearing somebody say that things only grow in the valley that it's in those hard places it's in those places when you want to give up and you feel like you're surrounded on all sides just what joelle was saying that was such an incredible revelation i'm just sitting in my spirit it's like it's a circle and it all makes sense it's like okay we're going around this again but it's enlarging god is doing something in the midst of that tight and that hard place so if that's you today take hold of this is the promise that you can stand on you can declare decree this right over yourself this is a short promise and you will watch god do that circle around you dancing around you you know i i want to talk about five words and it's for thou art with me i still think of it in king james you know for for you are with me uh you know when you think about difficult times when you're a kid uh guys this is the way it was for me when i was a little kid if something was scary as soon as i saw my dad it wasn't scary anymore you know because dad was going to take care of it okay dad was big god was strong he could take care of anything right and you think about that the shepherd you know jesus the god our father he can take care of the thing you're going through you know we want to get to that place where we're at in the green pasture love me some green pasture love me some still waters i want to be there i want to sit there i want to relax there but we're going to walk through that dark place in fact maybe i just got this picture of someone seeing a light far off seeing the good place far off but all of a sudden you kind of descended when you descend down into that valley you don't see that anymore you're like hey where's that nice place i saw god where's that place you were leading me i don't see it anymore no you're down in the valley but it's all right it's still there and god's with you he's going to lead you through that so hang on to that promise whatever that promise was it seems like it's not coming to pass hang on to it gods bring that to pass for you today guys i've seen this in my own life i've seen promises where i was i felt like i got a promise from god and then all of a sudden i was in a place where hey the promise is nowhere god i must have misheard you you must be lying to me you know you went somewhere but no he's bringing us through bringing us to that place yeah and i think that's how david felt in this moment here he was the anointed king knew that well and yet he's running for his life and why the psalm says you know why are the wicked prospering god and and here i am trapped and stuck but david found that in the middle of the valley is where his head was anointed with oil it was there that he saw the lily of the valley it was there that his cup runneth over so whatever valley you face today or maybe the one that is coming you know if we're not in the valley we're going there at some point hold on to the fact that god will use it to anoint your head with oil and it's not just to take you to a place of preparedness but it's to prepare a place in you for his spirit to dwell for his glory to be made known in you and i know something we were talking about like yesterday like we had like behind the scenes was that sometimes i think even god tests us because are you going to worship him for the promise or you're going to worship him for who he is sometimes that's what the test is all about he wants to see like who are you going to worship are you going to bow down to that promise and say like you know god if you don't do this i stop believing in you but if you say you know i will though you slay me yet i trust you there has been seasons in my life where i came to a point where i had all these words all these prophets said this this this and i said god either these are all false false prophets or this is your word but i'm going to trust you i'm going to stand by you and i'm going to worship you and so even when you're in that dark place one of the most beautiful things that you can do worship your heavenly father get on your knees it may not be pretty it might be ugly there's been times i've been weeping and crying but i just lift my hands up and i say you are good you are my father you are adonai you are my prince of peace you are my all in all and no matter what i walk through and no matter what i go through god you are with me he's a manual god with us he understands the pain that we are walking through and so many of us right now have burdens but you know what i love that jesus has cast your cares and your burden on me my yoke is easy and my burden is light that's the god that we have that's the god that wants to walk with you in the valley that's what makes him better than any other god because they're not real he's the true and living god he will step in the midst of the situation because even in the hard times even in those dark places he wants to make himself known to you today so do you know jesus today as your manual as your god with you because that is the greatest hope that we have him and it's in him alone today on tomorrow's hope today learn how to conquer shame and rest in the one who has taken all shame away author and podcaster jasmine l holmes opens up about her own battle with shame and shares how god can break the chains of shame in your life through the power of the gospel that's tomorrow on hope today cornerstone television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible