Storyline Finding Your Subplot in God's Story

I got this about a month ago and worked through it in the following two weeks. I'm in my early sixties and have the majority of my physical and earthly spiritual life behind me. Still, I found the workbook helpful. It has not been a "reset" for me but going through the exercises definitely helps me focus on applying the years ahead to follow and collaborate with God to "save many lives."The book helps the readers see our earthly lives as subplots in God's eternal storyline. God's purpose is to "save many lives"; ours should be the same.Miller skillfully leads the reader through a series of exercises to review his or her life to-date, and note the ups and downs. The reader is to describe a "theme" for his/her life. Then, reviewing the "downs", Miller helps the reader discover the redemptive perspectives, i.e. how God uses the major negative events for redemptive purposes.Then it's a big step forward to note our roles. A role may be a parent, husband, worker, employer, or whatever role we see ourselves playing in God's storyline and in our subplots among our spheres of influence. We are then asked to list our ambitions or goals, followed by a number of exercises, all done prayerfully before God, to result in the visualization of the achievement of the goals (celebrations) and an action plan (inciting incidents) to take us there.The "methodology" is not earth-shatteringly new but its spiritual context is what makes it really useful for those who seriously pursue deeper meanings and more worthwhile purposes in life than just living out a life driven by self-centered and temporal desires. Miller consistently urges his readers to pursue the steps in his workbook prayerfully before God, so as to establish ambitions that are in line with God's purpose to save many lives. Through this focus, the readers learn to apply themselves to things that are more gratifying not only for the readers but also for those in their spheres of influence in the long term.Last but not the least is the online tool that Miller provides for each reader to record our roles, ambitions (goals), inciting incidents (action plans), and our celebrations when we achieve our ambitions. Each role will include one or more ambitions, and each ambition will have its own "story" comprising the above components. When an ambition is celebrated, the story can be archived. The reader can create many roles and stories, although Miller cautions against creating more than five roles at any one time. Using this tool, the reader can work out their lives' storylines forever and ever, or as long as Miller maintains the website. Each role and story, by the way, can be marked private or public, depending on whether one wants to share with the Storyline 2.0 community.I recommend this workbook for those who would like to pursue a life in collaboration with God's purposes for humankind. It will help us focus on what really matters, assess our ups and downs of life in the context of a loving and purposeful God, identify through what roles we can contribute to God's purpose and find meaning for our own lives, establish worthwhile goals, and develop a plan to get there.I like this so much that I have convinced my weekly small group to go through it with me.

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge changed my life dramatically. At the same time, the book ended abruptly and without a guidebook for the future. It was descriptive and therapeutic. Donald Miller has remedied that with Storyline. Some of the themes are similar, "an adventure to live, a battle to fight, etc." But they themes are put into practical terms with an ACTION PLAN. I bought the book via amazon.com though it wasn't clear how to do so. Go to the other sellers and you'll see Donald Miller LLC as the seller.The book won't arrive for a couple of days, but I listened to the whole audio book today in a few hours. At times I felt like was reviewing the Steven Covey Franklin Planner course. But it was so much more than that! A relationship with God is at the center of this framework.I am anxious to get started at mysubplot.com (don't need to buy the book to join this free site). First, I want to let all of the input settle down into my mind and spirit. The next phase of my life is writing memoirs before I leave this earth. Now I have more guidance on how to write with a purpose that transcends the therapeutic aspect of the process.The 100+ pages may appear to be a poor buy for the price. With the audio book and the mysubplot site, it's a bargain. I feel like I just went to a conference with him presenting - without the cost of airfare, hotel, wasted time, etc. Now I can sit back and reflect as he suggests. I am so grateful for the complete package. I am looking forward to where God leads me in this process of using these tools.

This book, and audio book, has really been helping me get through my transition period after graduating college. Yes I've been in a job and make good money, but it isn't following my passions and ambitions. This book came at the perfect time. I am at the process of discovering what it means to be Story Formed, how to live with an overall goal in mind and not just live today. While again I've been on this discovery process for the last 4 months, this book has been a good reflector to tell me that, yeah this is totally what God wants me to do.Don Miller is a funny, sarcastic and probably one of the most influential authors of my generation, when I was attending college we gave his book 'Blue like Jazz' to every freshman that came to Western Michigan University that said they wanted a gift bag with Swag. And Swag is what Don Miller provides, this book included.Yes this book is $30, that was a high price tag for me, but the content from this book is well worth that, the content from this book is conference level that I would easily pay $200 for. At a time where the economy is considered poor, and a generation is graduating but not attaining jobs that satisfy, this book builds that decision filter to live a life worth living, live a life worth getting up for, living a life where you don't have 3 alarms to wake you up, but just one. The decision filter is life changing, and I can't wait to see how this book changes the world.This is the start of a journey, that we all are living it together.I am William Bales (and I am Second)[...]