Tag: priorities

2026- What’s Your Word Heading into this Year?

Continuing the “Tradition” that began in 2022 with a Bible Study group of friends, I’m adding my word for 2026 to this list from prior years:

2026 Word: Christ

If you’ve been following my website or my podcast, you’ll know that I’ve been studying and learning from the Bible for the past 7 years. It truly changed my life: it awakened me to the truth and reality we all will face at some point in our lives so I decided to prepare now, not leave it to “chance” or wait until “time was up.” This is too important: it’s where I’ll end up forever, eternally. I’m so glad I became focused now because life is different, more peaceful, anxiety about the future gone, confidence and courage have increased, I’m enjoying and simply content living in the moment, rather than focusing on “what’s the next thing.” Just like anything requiring discipline: “if you don’t use it, you will lose it.” If I don’t intentionally focus on keeping the relationship with God, it will end up going away, and distractions will creep in affecting my priorities. Maintaining any relationship requires intentional focus. The podcast has become “my accountability” to “stay in the word” with the goal of a daily podcast: Link to Podcast My word for 2026 is “Christ.” I want to keep focused on Christ, “remaining in Christ” this year, even more so because of dream I had in 2021 where the year “2026” was shown: (Podcast Episode #88) I’ll reflect and see what happens once we arrive in the year 2027!

Here are some verses from the Bible telling us why it is important to “remain “in Christ:”:

But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. Hebrews 3:6

But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ. 1 John 2:27

And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame. 1 John 2:28

These were my words for prior years:

2025 Word: rûaḥ, רוּחַ (Hebrew)

I love what this word represents to me: “wind,” the freedom in Christ, when a person is guided by the Holy Spirit, we truly don’t know what comes next; it is the Holy Spirit who guides us:

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

I don’t know what lies ahead, but knowing that the Holy Spirit will guide me is a true blessing and also promises somewhat of an adventure: navigating the unknown.

I found this word studying the Old Testament, it’s found (378 times– click this for the definition and all the verses) throughout the Old Testament (From Genesis to Malachi) and is the Breath of Life, the Holy Spirit, the “wind” from God. The New Testament word corresponding to this is pneuma (Strongs G4151). The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead can reside within us, when we surrender our will to God’s will.

This year ahead, I truly want to be led by the Holy Spirit, submitting to God’s will. And starting off this year, as it frequently seems to happen with me: “coincidences occur” – I have been praying for God (the Holy Spirit) to guide me for awhile now, since 2017 and it’s been a slow but steady “spiritually refining” process thinking about this in hindsight and knowing that there’s still more work to be done within me, but progress is happening, thankfully. My life has been changing. I chose this word for 2025 and ironically on New Year’s Eve, someone asked me: “What are your goals for 2025?” My response was “Ruah” and then I had to explain that. I think God makes these things happen! The person who asked me this question was someone I didn’t know, but he told me, he had recently given his life to Christ! Wow was my reaction to finding that out! Then another study group I joined in the Fall of 2024 chose “The Fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5) as the first study for 2025. See what I mean? God makes things happen, it’s not a coincidence and this is just the beginning, the first month of 2025!

2024 Word: Love

What gets thrown at us in life and happens in this world can make “doing everything out of love” challenging, but this is important for those who claim to be Christians. I’ll be honest, I feel like 2024 may be a rough year ahead. It would be wonderful if I’m wrong, and I hope I am! But if these bible prophecy events keep moving forward like they have been, that’s going to be the reality; we’re not going to stop what God has foretold. I also know that what we focus on becomes our reality so my focus this year is love. I wish I could fast forward and get to the end of this year right now, honestly if I could fast forward to 2026 that would be even better!

In hindsight: 2024 was a year of more change (which is rough): letting go of more in my life, turning it over to God and finding joy in new beginnings, evaluating what is “good” and how I need to spend my time and truly focusing on being loving towards others. “Do everything in love.“ 1 Corinthians 16:14.

In regards to Bible prophecy: current events still seem to be lining up with biblical prophecy, but maybe they have for sometime and I simply was unaware prior to 2020? Again, whatever is God’s will, will happen, so the most important part is to be led by the Holy Spirit, which maybe why I chose “Ruah” for 2025?

2023 Words: Trust and Obey

Many things in life “don’t make sense” to us, so this is when I need to “Trust and Obey” God. Ironically this was the first faith post I made: Trust and Obey –  I struggled/still struggle with this sometimes, but it’s getting easier! I guess God is making sure I comprehend this, because those words came back to me from 2017- 6 years later! Now, I trust God always, despite the circumstances, I know how it all will ultimately end, so I have peace in knowing what life holds in the future. We just need to get through the “tests and trials” until then. Often when I choose to obey (especially when I don’t want to), some “reward” seems to happen afterwards. I thank God for that when it happens because it is encouraging.

2022 Word: Joy

After the experiences of the prior years, I wanted Joy! I chose the word: ”Joy.” Looking back, God brought joy into my life through a supportive, Christ focused group of friends from this new Bible Study group that I unexpectedly joined in October of 2021. I think God may have had something to do with that too. I continued exploring God’s word through scripture and how it relates to living life (posts 39- 66). I often was inspired to write in the morning just as I wake up from a thought that didn’t seem to leave or from a prior conversation I had with someone. As much as I wanted “joy” to be my entire focus, I couldn’t ignore what I found through Bible Prophecy and it, weighed heavily on me. Too many world events were/are lining up with Bible Prophecy and many people (just like me) didn’t even have this “on the radar.” I didn’t come from a religion that focused on this, so this was all new to me, I only discovered it after reading the Bible. This is why it is so important to know what’s in the Bible: so we’re not blindsided by reality when it happens. There is nothing to fear (if we are “spiritually” prepared in advance- meaning “born again”).

2021 Word: Death

Even though I didn’t have a word for this year, in hindsight, this reflected reality: my 14 month old nephew suddenly died, the mother of my son’s best friend died suddenly, and my dog suddenly died within a span of 4 months. Not only that, but the closest person to me unexpectedly rejected me in a humiliating public way at the time when I needed support the most. (When it rains, it pours!) But only days later, I was asked to go with a friend to this Bible Study group (See what I mean? No coincidences, God provides.) It was a tough year. All the death made me question, what happens after death, for real? I realized I didn’t have a clear biblically based understanding- only what I had been told throughout life. I plan to write about this later because I think others might have this question too. Ironically- in hindsight, after all this “death” surrounded me, late summer when I was on my phone an email came through with something to the effect of “last notice to sign up for baptism”- I felt like it was time I committed and did this, so I signed up and was Baptized on September 12, 2021. Baptism is symbolic of the death of our sinful past and rebirth, a new life, “born again”- it was both symbolic and literal for me. I wrote (posts 22 – 38) during this year. I didn’t post about the dreams I started having the night of my Baptism, I was confused by them at the beginning, but the “name of Jesus” was featured heavily and sometimes verses from scripture and the dreams involved various people in my life: friends, family and former business colleagues. I know there is significance to these specific dreams because I would see something specific from my dream, that day, weeks or months later as I was going about the day- completely unexpected when it would occur, but I would immediately recall: I dreamt that! It still continues but I often don’t have the understanding of the symbolism until I see it happen. It’s hard to explain this to anyone, unless you experience this, you won’t understand, but it heavily contributed to the faith and belief I have in Jesus. Even though my word for 2021 would have been Death, it was changed to Life. Death is no longer permanent because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, death is a transition, a going to sleep because those who believe and turn away from sin will be changed and become immortal when Jesus returns. Jesus said that unless we are “born again” we will not see the kingdom of God. (John Chapter 3)

2020 Words: ”Wake Up”

2020 was a year of isolation for most of us in the world, and as a result, I had more time to explore the Bible. I had so many questions about life, I was seeking TRUTH, in January 2020, I wrote about Love, but abruptly by March 2020, I felt we were experiencing a “Wake Up Call” from God, collectively as the world, but also personally in my life, I reflected on many aspects of life this year (Posts #10-21) but what impacted me most was Bible Prophecy: facing judgement and end times/the last days prophecies.

2019 Words: ”Being Called” (Making God my Priority)

2019 was the year I decided to make God my priority (my last summary post for 2019) after reading the Bible for the first time. I didn’t have “a word” for that year but looking back, it would have been: “Being Called” – this was my 3rd “faith” related post on this website: see “Being Called” link in August 2019. 

I pray for all who read or share this with someone they care about: May God’s love for you be known and may you be led by the Holy Spirit this year! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

by Categories: bible prophecy, bible study, FAITH, FAMILY, Following Passions, FRIENDSHIP, GOALS, God, HAPPINESS, Healing, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, Parents, prayer, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Letting God Guide

I wasn’t satisfied with my life. I continually made goals, found something to look forward to, something to create and work on, but once it was accomplished, it seemed to lead to a “dead end, an unfulfilled feeling” – I didn’t find the happiness, joy, peace and comfort, or sense of accomplishment I hoped for throughout the life I lived. I was disappointed and I wondered if this is all there is to life?

A tragedy lead me to a new quest, a quest for “answers” about life. A well liked, respected, happy teenager died in a car crash on the way to work. This gave me even more questions about life, purpose, why did this happen but it led me back to church in 2015. It also led me to realizing how short life can be and I had a feeling of wanting to make the most of it; to “make it count” as this teenager said it. Only I did it the wrong way “make it count” doesn’t mean “live it up,” doesn’t mean “escape.” (I see in hindsight this is where the “tug of war” started, I was being pulled in opposite directions: towards God and away from God at the same time.) Two years later, I still didn’t have the answers, feel complete or fulfilled but I knew one thing: I wasn’t seeing anything positive coming from my life. Inside I still had hopefulness, but disappointments continued.

One evening at church, I decided to turn it over to Jesus, to surrender my life to Jesus- that was 2017. I didn’t know what that truly meant but what it meant to me was to pray every day in the morning when I woke up and at night before I went to bed: for guidance. And this is what happened, almost immediately bad things started happening to me, but I stuck with it and kept praying. Then I went into a period that felt like a roller coaster ride: big swings of good things happening followed by disappointments over and over again, but I didn’t loose my prayers, I kept praying.

After two years of this, at my lowest point, in 2019, I called out to God in prayer: “What is going on!? I’m trying to do the right things so why is all this happening to me?” Then I opened the bible on my nightstand, the bible I bought but never opened hoping for “something”, and I got more than something! I received insight! “Spiritual warfare” became clear to me; it was the Book of Job that I had opened to, and the first book I read. It then made sense to me what I was going through: I was trying to get closer to God so I was being met with spiritual resistance; God allowed me to be tested. I stuck with my prayer plan but things didn’t get much better and seemed to be getting worse. I had specific questions about how I was living my life, so I decided to try to find the answers in the bible, I started seeking those answers in the fall of 2019, I made the decision and made a goal of reading the entire bible to find out what’s in there: front to back. I did this during every free moment I had and was able to accomplish it in 3 months (August – October).

It opened my eyes to so much. It “convicted” me and made me cry. I knew I had to change things about the way I was living because “sin” separates us from God. I didn’t want to be separated from God. I found out things I didn’t even think were “sin” that I had done in ignorance were sin and did some that I knew were wrong, but made excuses. I decided I wanted and needed to change. This wasn’t a very “uplifting” time of my life, I was confronted with everything “wrong” that I did. It was depressing but it was the truth and I didn’t want it in my life any longer, it had to go. I started making changes and lost people that were in my life as a result, not by my choice, by their choice; they rejected me. Then the 2020 pandemic hit and it affected the world. It made me wonder if this was more significant than the event itself, did it have biblical significance?

I started seeking answers again and arrived at the conclusion that this must be a “wake up” call from God to all of us. I continued studying the bible during the “shut down” of the world and learned a lot about bible prophecy- events that haven’t happened yet. At the same time it became apparent that corruption within the world was being exposed and was greater than I ever could have imagined. Beliefs and trust I had were blown apart during this time. I then realized I couldn’t trust anyone (other than God). People were proving to be more “evil” than I ever anticipated. I was shocked, so I “detached” from most people and spent more time studying scripture and in prayer.

My prayer life then changed. I started asking God direct questions in prayer, starting with a closed bible, asking Him to respond to my question through scripture. It started happening (I was getting answers), but I wasn’t completely convinced, I thought it could be a coincidence. That was until April of 2020, I asked a question and opened the bible but I didn’t like the response, so I shut the bible and tried again, but I opened to the same page. I closed it, prayed again and opened to the book of Job (which is about being tested). I was still not convinced, so I closed the book again, prayed and opened it up to the same exact page I had opened twice before, but didn’t like the response! This was too much of a “coincidence” to be ignored for me: 3 times opening to the exact same page; a page that wasn’t creased, saved or visited probably not more than once before (ie. the first time I read the bible). I called my mom about it and shared it with her; it was not something positive that I read, so I was not going to share it with anyone else. Then a month later, it happened! The response found in the bible happened. It wasn’t what I wanted, but in prayer that day I opened the bible, I had asked God for clarity about what was happening- what the outcome of current prayers would be because this was something that was being prayed about for a long time by multiple people and we were seeing encouragement, then discouragement in response to the prayers, so just like before when I didn’t understand what was happening in my life, I wanted to know about this, so I asked God.

After this, whenever I had questions, I would pray to God, ask Him to direct me to something in the bible that would answer my question and it worked. I say “it worked” because I would get an answer then oddly various God focused people would mention the same subject that very day or within 24 hours, I usually heard the message repeated about 3 times from different sources. This seemed to be confirmation to me. This continues currently.

At this point, in May 2020, I decided I was ready to get baptized. I delayed this decision because I knew I wasn’t living my life in obedience to God and I didn’t want to get baptized and be a “fake” Christian, but I was finally ready, I signed up BUT the annual baptism event that occurred in June at the church I was attending was canceled due to the pandemic restrictions, so I didn’t get baptized in 2020.

In August 2021, I happened to see an email from the church, somewhat of a “last call” for anyone who wanted to participate in the September 2021 baptism. This was odd to me! For years the baptism was offered in June, but now I see one for September? I signed up, but almost missed it! Thankfully I got in and I did it.

September 12, 2021 I was baptized! But this is when more unusual things started happening. The night I was baptized, I had a spiritual dream. It wasn’t a positive one, it was somewhat threatening so I shared it with someone I know who is a true Christian, I prayed about it, prayed for forgiveness of my past, prayed for protection and affirmed my decision to follow Jesus and reject everything contrary. Some time later (weeks or months later), I was alone, it was nighttime and I literally saw the exact imagery I had dreamed about in the sky that evening. I took a video of the sky because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: EXACTLY what I dreamt about. Then after this, more started happening. I started having spiritual dreams which I NEVER had in my life before. They were very detailed and the strangest part about this is that parts of my dreams started happening in my real life, not just once, but numerous times. I wrote down my dreams and recently recorded them on my podcast (Faith podcast link). I decided to record them after things that I dreamt about happened over and over again. It was another point where I thought: I don’t think this is coincidental, something is happening. I had 9 dreams so far, since my baptism, the last one was Mother’s Day 2022. The dreams encouraged me in faith and belief that God is real and the bible is true!

Through these past three years of seeking God, seeking answers and studying the bible, I finally know the God who was once distant from me, who I “knew of,” but didn’t know personally. During this time and through my trying times, God provided exactly what I needed: not more, not less, but just exactly enough. I finally know God better but also believe there is probably still so much more to know. The distant God I learned about in religion, showed up in my life when I started seeking Him. In hindsight I see that He was always there, patiently waiting for me to “wake up” I am forever grateful that I “woke up” in time. God is there for all of us, patiently waiting, loving us and hoping that we seek Him and love Him back. He loved us first, He loves us despite our bad choices in life and longingly, patiently is waiting for all who have not turned to Him. This is my experience, and now my prayer for you: that you may “wake up” and get to know the real, living, communicative God who loves you and wants you in eternity with Him when this all transitions from a broken world to the perfect world God has prepared, waiting for His Children.

The bible reveals God’s nature, His love for us. He created each of us out of love, He delights in us (those He created). He is saddened by our blindness to Him and the sin we choose that separates us from Him. He wants us back, but leaves the choice to us: do we love Him back? Will we seek Him? He made it easy for us to be with Him in eternity: it is a simple choice: do we choose Him in return? He took care of the “law” and judgement of us through Jesus. Jesus specifically came for sinners (all of us) to enlighten us about God, the future kingdom, during his years of teaching and then he provided the way for us to be in eternity with God. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life- the only way to the Father (God). The “law” (the 10 Commandments) teach us what is right and wrong. The payment for breaking the commandments is death. Without Jesus, that will be our future: death/eternal separation from God because God is Holy and sin can’t be in the presence of holiness, whatever contains sin dies in the presence of holiness (we find this information in the bible). But Jesus provides protection from judgement through his death on the cross. Protection for those who accept, have faith, believe and trust in Jesus. That’s what it means that “Jesus paid the price” for us. He gave his life in exchange for our death. Jesus, the Son of God, was sinless and obedient to God the Father. He was the only “acceptable” being that could pay for the enormity of sin of all mankind, because he was and is perfect/without sin. He willingly suffered and died specifically to save our lives through satisfying the law of justice. This is a spiritual law that we may not fully understand, but God is just, the law is just and God took action to save us from the law of death because He loves us and want us with Him. This is something many of us can’t truly comprehend completely: the extent of His love and willingness to do whatever it takes. God is love.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-13

If you haven’t already done this, please seek God, get to know Him, it is worth it and will change your life, make your life complete. I am praying for all who read or hear this. God is compassionate and forgiving. Life is complete when we are connected to Jesus. Jesus is our protection and our way to an immortal life once God gives us His Spirit which happens when we ask Jesus for this and He sees our good intention by our response to His love. Jesus told us the way we show God our love back to Him is through obeying His commands. He is so encouraging to us, He even gives us His spirit to help us where and when we are weak but seeking Him. The flesh is weak but God’s spirit is strong. God’s spirit fills the gap of our weakness and give us love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Completeness) When we choose to surrender to God, we become a brother or sister to Jesus and a spiritual child of God. We become “born again.” Jesus told us that we will not be in God’s kingdom unless we are “born again”- born of the Spirit. Have God’s spirit residing in us. We are promised an inheritance with an eternal immortal life with God, so incredibly beautiful and fulfilling that it can’t be adequately described by any of us, but there is this revelation of the presence of God that happened to me in my dreams that I can’t describe well enough either, but I will assure you: you want this in your life, you will be grateful in the future that you made this choice to love God back- to be “born again”!

by Categories: bible study, FAITH, FAMILY, Following Passions, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Eyes Opened after Looking Back

The end of the year is a logical time to reflect on life: What did we learn? Do we notice a pattern? What good happened? What are we grateful for? What do we want to change? What will our goals be heading into the New Year?

If you’ve read any of my prior blogs, you will understand this: our lives have a purpose, we are where we are for a reason. Do you know your purpose? Do you know the reason your life is the way it is right now?

I went through most of my life not thinking about this until my life was “shaken” in 2015 by an untimely death. That caused me to question everything in life: purpose, reasons, etc. I had no answers, only questions. I was confused about life and wanted answers, started searching. It led me to evaluating and making significant changes in life, taking action, but without knowing my purpose or the answers to the “reason.” I was lost, but moving, aimlessly, seeking, wanting life to be better but not knowing how to make it better.

2016 was continued seeking, transitioning to a “changed life.” I began praying more than I ever did in the past and in 2017 “surrendered” my life to Jesus, wanting his guidance. I was lost, I needed guidance, I didn’t have the answers, but I knew my way of doing things wasn’t effective; it was lacking. 2017 was a year of mild turbulence: ups and downs and I was wondering why since I surrendered but I kept my trust in God. 2018 seemed to be the turning point, everything seemed to be falling in place and I was grateful. 2019 brought a noticeable “dark cloud” into my life but I still trusted in God and went to Him for answers. I was led to the Bible and read it front to back for the first time and it literally made me want to change my life even more. My eyes were opened. I realized I was not living as God wanted me to. I decided to try to live better. I was hopeful heading into 2020. (LOL) I don’t need to explain 2020 to anyone; I think we all had the same year! But that’s when I “woke up” I realized what was happening in the world. I continued to go to God for answers to my questions and He revealed the answers in the Bible. It was amazing to experience this “communication” from God through prayer and the Bible.

2021 in summary was probably the worst year I’ve experienced in life, but not in every way: God was all I had to help me through it and He did. God is truly all I needed. When the Bible says God is faithful, God provides, God protects – all that is true. Throughout these past 6 years, I’ve learned to fully trust God. I’ve learned the answers to most of my questions (through the Bible). I have a different outlook on 2022, than I have in past years. In past years I looked forward to the hope of a better year. I don’t have that outlook this time. I don’t expect a better year. I actually expect a more challenging year, but I have all I need: God.

I have a mindset very different from a few years ago. I foresee the years ahead as getting tougher, but I KNOW (not just guess) this is only a transition to the greatest years of all time ahead, and I look forward to that with much anticipation. This is a time for endurance and perseverance. I don’t yet know how many future years ahead, but my intuition is that it won’t be too far away. Stay strong, stay connected with God and we will make it through.

by Categories: Face Fear, FAITH, God, Improvement, Make It Count, prioritiesTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Should We Trust our Feelings?

Should we trust our feelings? My guess is anyone reading that question will have a number of reactions, such as: “YES!!!!“or “NOOO!!!!” or “I have no idea; I’m confused, help!” So what is the Truth? How do we know which answer is the correct one? These answers are provided below.

  1. Should we always trust our feelings? The Truth is NO.

2. Are there times we should trust our feelings? YES. Then, when? See below.

3. What if we are confused? How can we determine the correct answer? See below.

When Trusting your Feelings is Wrong:

Let’s be honest. Since the day we were born, we started out selfish, self-centered, right? All of us were born that way. If and when we grow and mature (emotionally, not in years), we become less self centered/selfish, but it takes intention and effort to grow and mature, it doesn’t come naturally, just like growth in anything else (such as working out, eating healthy, growing a business, relationships) : “no pain, no gain.”

So a simple question to ask ourselves is: Is my feeling motivated by self-centeredness, selfishness? If the answer to this is “yes” then trusting your feelings is wrong. Spend time being honest with yourself about the answer to this question. Don’t lie to yourself, be honest.

When Trusting your Feelings is Right:

With the same question above, we can know if trusting our feelings is right. Is my feeling motivated by selflessness, driven by loving , contributing to or helping others? If the answer to this is “yes” then trusting your feelings is right.

What if the motivation behind the feeling is selfless, driven by love, contribution or helping others but FEAR is holding me back? Fear can a blocker to something good or it can be something that protects us. If the reason behind the fear has to do with a life or death situation then trust your fear! But if not, do not let fear guide you, it is BLOCKING YOU from growth. Say you are motivated for the right reasons and you don’t submit to fear, you proceed, then something doesn’t work out as you planned? That was still the right thing to do because it is growth. We grow when we go through tough times, we come out better! As many say: if we’re not growing, we’re dying! We can’t be doing neither, think about it. Don’t let the wrong kind of fear hold you back.

When your Feelings are Confusing you:

This is the hardest one! Confusion is telling us to: WAIT, HAVE PATIENCE, but most of all PRAY! If the answer isn’t clear after reading the above testing question to know if trusting our feelings is wrong or right, then our situation is more complicated (based on the bible, confusion occurs when unrepentant sin in involved) and we need may need forgiveness and guidance from God. Waiting does not mean do nothing, it means slow down, pause, be patient but take action in prayer right away. Talk to God about it from the deepest most honest, vulnerable part of ourselves. This is between you/me and God alone, no one else. God will give us clarity eventually. But don’t “do nothing” during this time of “waiting and patience” pray about it often until clarity is received, not “a feeling,” but unquestionable clarity. Confusion is due to sin, according to the Bible. So where do we get this clarity? From God’s word, the bible. This is the coolest, most awesome thing to discover! It seriously has all the answers to the complicated questions and it is the truth.

I wasn’t taught to go to the bible for answers to questions until recently. I didn’t use it as a resource (ever) quite honestly, but once I discovered this, I am so thankful because it answers so many questions. Today, there is no excuse for not having this resource, if you have access to the internet. Some of the bible is hard to understand the first time reading. To truly know the meaning behind a quote you see, you need to read it in context so you get the full understanding. Even when you do that for the first time, there may be questions. This is where other people can help. Not necessarily by giving their interpretation of the bible, but by directing us to other passages that answer our questions. Be VERY cautious of people who interpret the Bible, don’t take their word, but ask questions, pray about it, then you will know. There are many people today who give their opinions, don’t trust “opinions” only trust facts. Facts are found by reading the bible and through prayer. Many people are misguided but can be convincing so they will give us the wrong information and lead us down a path of destruction. Sometimes people truly have good intentions, but are still not correct. Look for answers in the bible and through prayer.

I hope considering these simple questions helps. I’ve added resources and references next:

RESOURCES

A few different FREE online bible resources (check them out to see what you like best):

Selfishness “Wisdom” from the Bible:

THE “RIGHT” FEELINGS TO FOLLOW ARE MOTIVATED BY SELFLESSNESS AND LOVE- FROM THE BIBLE:

FEAR ADDRESSED IN THE BIBLE:

HOW TO DEAL WITH CONFUSION AND TIMES OF CONFUSION (CAUSED BY SIN) – FROM THE BIBLE:

FIRST SEEK GOD – FROM THE BIBLE:

by Categories: Dating, Face Fear, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, God, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, Marriage, priorities, RELATIONSHIPSTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

What Marriage should be…

It’s interesting how one idea leads to another when there are no other distractions! Yesterday I wrote “Marriage doesn’t exist in God’s Kingdom” and after I finished, I thought more should be said about marriage because it truly is something very important, it is a union envisioned and created by God, but in our culture, marriage is viewed as “disposable.”

Why should I write about this?

Because many people, even strangers surprisingly, have asked for advice and I’m not even a psychologist! I think back to when I was a teen, after my parents’ divorce, I was on my own quest for relationship advice, I didn’t know where to get it, so I kept reading books. But even in books there is a lot of bad advice out there, as I’ve finally learned, but now know the truth. So who can be trusted? There’s only one trusted source: God. So what follows is NOT MY advice; this is from the Bible, summarized here:

What marriage should be:

  1. Two people honestly focused on God as the priority

This point is the most important part of a marriage, and the emphasis is on “two,” both people, not just one person. If you both aren’t focused on God as a priority there is a very high probability that you will go through a divorce. If you’re not married yet, you should hold off and save yourself the headache, if both of you are not God focused; that should happen first. So if you choose to get married without taking this step first, then plan on giving away whatever you accumulated and be prepared to live a more simple life than you are right now because that is reality.

So how does having God as a priority make a marriage successful?

Marriage is hard work. Each person will need help with marriage because no one is perfect and we truly can’t do it on our own; we will need God’s strength at some point to continue, or to change. Because honestly some situations are just too challenging to deal with on our own. Trust in God.

If a couple is God focused, they commit to obeying the 10 commandments. These are the laws from God that should not be broken.

If both people are focused on God and follow the ways Jesus instructed, then each person will NOT be focused on:

  • sexual immorality
  • impurity
  • lust
  • evil desires
  • greed
  • anger, rage
  • malice
  • slander
  • filthy language
  • lies
  • getting drunk

But they WILL be focused on:

  • compassion
  • kindness
  • humility
  • gentleness
  • patience
  • forgiveness
  • love
  • peace
  • thankfulness, gratitude

2. Two people should know what “LOVE” truly means and be prepared to make that commitment to each other

I wrote about this in detail recently: “Real Love”

3. The husband should desire to do/be the following in marriage:

4. The wife should desire to do/be the following in marriage:

I truly believe that if people followed these guidelines from the Bible, there would no longer be divorce. All the underlined text above has links from the bible for reference. I hope this is helpful to someone who reads.

by Categories: Dating, FAITH, FAMILY, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, Marriage, RELATIONSHIPS, SexTags: , , , , Leave a comment