The Christmas season is almost here! Many people are getting excited. How about you? Christmas tree, lights, candles, beautiful music, gifts, special foods, and Advent. In fact, Advent starts in just a few days.
Incidentally, have you wondered what Advent is about? What’s the purpose? What value does Advent bring to your modern, extremely busy life – especially during one of the busiest months of the year?
I’ve known a handful of people who know just what to say in any given moment. Their words are refreshing and fitting. Afterall, “The right word spoken at the right time is as beautiful as gold apples in a silver bowl.” (Prov. 25:11) But I’ve also known people who definitely do not have that skill. So, it’s reasonable to conclude – your words matter. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to express words of strong gratitude to family, friends, to God, and into your own soul. Today’s content explores how your words matter.
“I’m just so tired of trials and challenges!” I’ve heard that exclamation, and I bet you have, too. Maybe you’ve said it. One thing is sure – we’ll all have trials and challenges in the future. We live in a broken world. But you can choose hope even in trials. This is today’s content.
Recently, we published “To Fail Is Not To Be A Failure.” I encourage you to read that article – or take a listen. It featured the life of Abraham Lincoln. He failed many times. But he wouldn’t give up. And he refused to think of himself as a failure. But today we consider a unique twist on failure. If you’ve embraced – “I’m a failure” – you need to know how to rise up when you’re down.
Every person I know has lived through some pretty tough challenges. So many stories, my own among them. And I bet you have stories, too. So, a question for you: when everything seems tumultuous, when you can’t see, or when you feel overwhelmed and tired, how do you get through tough times well? There’s help by exploring two ways to live.
I want to share an incredible story about a man who figured out – To Fail Is Not To Be A Failure. See if you can guess who this person is. He failed many times, yet had critical impact on history.
Well, it’s time! The last two Scripture dissections, God’s Timing and God’s Humor, we left something completely unresolved. The famine! And really – that’s an important development. We built up to it, showing how people suffered intolerably for three years. Now, Elijah introduces he’s back! And then introduces it’s God’s timing to end the famine. So, here is the amazing story – with a couple of twists and some teaching points.
Have you had the joy of watching little kids when they get in front of a mirror? They have heart-warming and sometimes hilarious interactions. These little ones have such authenticity and vulnerability as they interact with “themselves” in the mirror. What about you? When you look in the mirror, who do you see? Do you value the reflection of that person? Are you authentically being “you” each day? It’s time to treasure your valuable life like God does.
Feeling down is a common, yet challenging condition to manage. Whether over-tired, mistreated, discouraged, or even struggling with depression – being on the “down side” is real.
Surely you’ve wondered at least once – “what’s the deal with God’s timing?!” He seems to be on a completely different time schedule. Admit it with me: there are times you’ve wondered when God is going to answer your prayers. Whether it’s personal or global tragedies that happen without warning, waiting years for God’s intervention in a difficulty, healing a relationship, providing for a need, or personal matters of the heart – all certainly involve God’s timing.
