Fingerprints of God

About 25 years ago, Steven Curtis Chapman recorded a song called “Fingerprints of God.” The lyrics stirred me then, and as you read them below, I pray that they’ll speak to your heart (To listen to the song, click HERE).  I’d encourage you to personalize this message to yourself.  

Fingerprints of God:

“I can see the tears filling your eyes

And I know where they’re coming from

They’re coming from a heart that’s broken in two

By what you don’t see

The person in the mirror

Doesn’t look like the magazine

Oh but when I look at you it’s clear to me that

I can see the fingerprints of God

When I look at you

I can see the fingerprints of God

And I know it’s true

You’re a masterpiece

That all creation quietly applauds

And you’re covered with the fingerprints of God”

Here at Crossroads Career, Ephesians 2:10 is our vision’s verse, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” We believe that through Jesus Christ as the anchor of our identity, we truly can accomplish all things through Him!

Yet over the years I’ve met with hundreds of people who aren’t clear where God wants them, and at times, find themselves even wondering what they possess that God can use to warrant calling them a “masterpiece.” I’ve also had those thoughts roosting in my own mind at times.

Fingerprints of Calling

So, to leverage last week’s blog entitled, “Do You Have What It Takes,” (Click HERE to read), I’d like to follow it on closely with an exercise from our Hear God Calling You workbook entitled, “Fingerprints of Calling Exercise,” that we use for our Work Calling online group. Here’s how we set up the exercise:

“See your life as a book to read, “ says Todd Wilson, church strategist. “As you look at the chapters God has already written in your life, pay particular attention to those moments you recall with vividness. These are often turning points in our life that can give solid insights into who we are at our core. These turning points are like the fingerprints left at a crime scene ready for discovery.”

Let’s take a moment and look at some of the fingerprints of God’s calling, or crucible moments in your life. A crucible is defined as a “place or situation in which people or ideas are tested severely, often creating something new or exciting in the process.” You may refer to such moments as “life changes,” but these effects could also be forged over a period of time, such as how your parents view you, or an important relationship with a friend or loved one.

Take just 15 minutes to brainstorm your fingerprints or crucible moments. You may find it helpful to plot some of these dates on a timeline as you continue reflecting on them.  Here are some topics to get you started. Feel free to get creative as you feel led!

• Significant life events (e.g. births, deaths, marriage, spiritual conversion, etc)
• Jobs and work experience
• Moves (especially the ones that changed the context of relationships)
• School / education 
• Awards, achievements, certifications, promotions, and notable affirmations 
• “I remember when” moments (the vivid ones you remember even years later – maybe not of any note to anyone else on the face of it, but what the situation meant to you was significant)
• Health issues and illnesses
• Seasons of spiritual highs and lows
• Volunteer and community service activities 
• Hobbies and extracurricular activities 

After writing down your initial answers in each of these areas, reflect on what patterns or “fingerprints of God” begin to come to light. Do you see any hints to when or where God may be calling you? Any patterns that emerge?

God Can Use All Things

I’d encourage you to set aside your pen for a day or two and then come back to this exercise and see what new thoughts come to mind, or where your thoughts turn deeper on something you’ve already thought about. Are there any of these events that you vividly and easily recall above others? Which ones do you find yourself thinking back to repeatedly? What feelings come to the surface as you reflect on these moments?

Pastor Chip Ingram comments, “God’s going to use all these things. Those weren’t random things that happened to you. He has been working all things together for your good, for you who are called according to His purposes, because He loves you. It’s all part of that tapestry that is His workmanship that is you, that He prepared before the foundations of the earth that you should walk in those good deeds.”

Whenever I find myself losing sight of who God created me to be, I remind myself that God is faithful, and His plans are perfect. So while I may not fully understand everything God is doing, I know what He’s done, and I can rest in His promise that He’s not done with me yet.

Blessings!

Dave

Dave Sparkman currently serves as the volunteer Crossroads Career board chair and local ministry leader. He is also the founder and managing director of Spark Your Culture, a corporate culture consulting firm. Prior to that he worked at UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune #5 public company, serving in the role of Chief Culture Officer. His unemployment experience came from the implosion of Arthur Andersen, where he served as the West Region Managing Partner, People.

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