Category Archives: faith

Good news In Our Community

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I can’t tell you how proud I am of our church.

Last night we saw 50 children show up for our yearly Midnite Madness event.  About half of them are connected with our church either as members or regular attenders to Pioneer Club, but that means that half of them had been invited.  That means our children are being good news in our community.  They believe the church is important and want their friends to be there.  This is huge!  I hope we adults appreciate this and encourage it!  That is how the gospel is spread, telling people as we go, being the good news!

We had about 15 youth both from our leadership team and extra who signed up to be helpers come to facilitate the event.  Our leadership team plans it from start to finish.  They get the activities together, they tell us what supplies we need, they are in charge of the show when the kids show up.  Marty and I and the other adults just step back to jump in if needed.  Then we asked the entire youth group, any that would like to help to stay and be trained, and they did a phenomenal job of interacting with and ministering to the children.  They played games, gave piggy back rides, sat with them during worship, ate dinner, and decorated cupcakes like champs.  We couldn’t have done it without them.  I am so proud to be blessed to work with these teenagers.

And last but not least, Ms. Kathy Davis and Ms. Marla Ernest were invaluable last night.  They are faithful to use the gifts God has given them whenever they can.  Ms. Kathy helped with our crafts and loved on some children with the best of them.  Marla helps us kick things into next gear.  She believes everything should be done with excellence and encourages us in that direction.   Without these 2 ladies I would have been lost last night.

Thank you parents for sending your children, you should be proud of them.  Thank you Reach 1 for continuing to surpass my expectations for you.  Thank you church for supporting us always.  We love you and thank you!  Let us all be good news in our community!

Accountable?

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All my life, I’ve need someone to tell me what to do.

From my earliest memories, I have always worked best from a list.  If you write down what I need to do, then I can usually look somewhat successful.  I’m constantly writing myself reminders and lists, leaving them where I can find them. I verbally process in lists, which greatly annoys my wife, as she feels like it’s me telling her what to do, which I”m not.  I just need to say it out loud.

Recently, I’ve noticed that this isn’t just true for my professional life, but it’s also true for my faith.  I’ve told the teenagers that I minister to many times that following Jesus isn’t just a list of rules or checkboxes that you must fill to be in standings with Him, but oh, how I wish it was.  I wish it was just something that I could go through each and every day, merrily checking boxes until I achieve the ultimate relationship with God.  But, that can’t happen.  What can happen, however, is that I can find someone that will get into my life and talk with me about the things that are going on there.  What I need is an accountability partner, which regretfully, I don’t have right now.

So, this week, I’m going to try and fix that.  I’m looking for an accountability partner.  I need someone who is going to walk with me through my highs and lows, through the best times and worst times.  I can’t be my family.  It can’t be my wife.  It can’t be a member of the opposite sex.  I need a man who will guide, teach, mentor, correct, and love me through all the stuff I think, say, and do each day.

Do you have an accountability partner?  If so, how did you find them?  And now that you have one, how do you maintain that relationship?

Reflecting on Wednesdays

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As I am sure it is in every small town, Bible Belt, southeastern youth ministry household, Wednesdays are rough (or the midweek service time -I’ve learned not everyone does it on Wednesday)  This mid week service is game day, what you’ve been preparing for all week, what the prayers have been focused on, what the extra candy has been bought for, what we’re hyped up for.  It’s the equivalent of the Pastor’s Sunday morning.

While yes, we’re fortunate that our children are in mother’s day out on most Wednesdays, I am spending that time doing laundry, dishes, cleaning, going over my own lesson for the night, getting ready for my afterschool job.  When I’m home from work it’s quickly getting ready and out the door to be there at 5 to help with the bus rider kids, set up my classroom, eat supper (Praise the Lord that we have meals at church on Wednesday nights, not just for the fellowship but the service it provides to our families!) get upstairs for Pioneer club worship, teach, and come back downstairs to stay with the kids whose parents are in the choir.

By the time we get home by 8:30-9:00, depending on what the choir is working on, I feel like we have fought a battle.  Before we stopped drinking soda, every Wednesday night we stopped for the Baptists’ only allowable vices, Rte. 44 Coke Zeros and a chicken strip sandwich from Sonic.   We were so drained, it felt as if our systems needed a little reward. Now, its a glass of water and a Reece’s peanut butter egg.

Maybe we have fought a battle.  I believe we have.  God is using us (by us I mean everyone who teaches, helps, interacts with the students who attend) to teach His truth.  Which often goes against everything else they are hearing.  Last night our lesson was from Job, he was praising God for making his body, which I totally don’t get because it appeared to Job’s friends that God had cursed him (covered in boils, whole family dead, riches gone)  But Job said, I know that God has made me and showed me kindness!  Kindness!  Can you believe it, in the midst of all that, he praised God for showing him kindness!  I was blown away.  The point we tried to get across though was that God made our bodies, He made them good, and that we thank him by taking care of them.   Since we know that His word never returns void, it always accomplishes His purposes,   I pray that someday, when one of the beautiful girls in our class is doubting that, she will remember that God made her.  He knit her together in her mother’s womb, He curdled her like milk (yep, Job really says that!) to make a wonderful cheese.  I pray the boys will know that God created them for a great purpose, to do His will.  Because His plans are good, to prosper us, not to harm us, to give us a future and a hope.

Lessons From a Dance Class

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Again I apologize for the lack of posting, but sleeping til 9, getting up to make breakfast, lounging in pjs and playing video games just took precedence.

A couple of months ago during fall break I got to take Annaliese to dance class.  Marty usually does that because I work every afternoon.  I was so excited because there was the promise of getting to see what Annaliese was learning; the fruits of her labor.  Jennifer was so gracious to let me watch even though she hadn’t really planned on it.

I took my seat and pulled out my phone, all eyes on my baby girl.  As I was watching I began to notice some things.  First of all my daughter has my rhythm, bless her heart, but secondly, there is a lot to be learned from dance class.

1.  If you take your eyes off the leader, you will mess up.  The girls did pretty good as long as their focus was on the right spot.  If it wandered to the wall, a spot on the floor, or the person beside them, they were going to mess up.  They might stumble, they might get behind, they might run into the person beside them.  In my life, if I take my eyes off what guides me, I will mess up, I will stumble, I will get behind, I might even hurt the person next to me.  That’s why we have to have a relationship with the leader as well.  Those girls trust Jennifer, they know she will not lead them down the wrong path.  It’s not about the rules, it’s about the trust they have in her.  Sometimes I wish my faith were a list of rules, but it’s not, it’s a relationship.  I have to trust that God and His word will not lead me down the wrong path.  I am a fallible person, I’m going to screw up.   Jesus said the most important things are to Love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves, that all of the law was summed up into those two things.  It’s not a list of rules, it’s relationship.  When we have the relationship, we’ll know what we’re supposed to do.  Just like Marty and I and the other parents encourage our girls to listen to Mrs. Jennifer and trust her, we have to do the same with others in our faith.  Encourage the relationship, make disciples.

2. You cannot focus on the faults of the person next to you.  Yep, that one hit home.  Annaliese did pretty good, but there was one girl next to her who was very concerned with what everyone else was doing.  Her eyes got off Mrs. Jennifer, and she ended up having to be corrected… a lot.  Now, I know that we are supposed to help those along the path with us, but sometimes we focus on their faults instead of what we’re supposed to be doing.  Just like this little girl, we get so concentrated on the others that we don’t see what we’re doing.

3.  Sometimes you have to freeze so you can refocus.  There were a couple of times that the girls just got too distracted and Jennifer would say, “Freeze.”  The ballerinas knew that this was a time to stop and refocus.  This was made clear to me last night, I came in from my first afternoon back to work, dropped off some kids, listened to their mother vent 15 minutes about life, picked up PePe’s pizza, and ate quickly so that Marty could get to Bible Study.  The kids wanted to play a game that involves me doing a lot of set up.  They began to argue about the pieces, whose turn it was, and were making the noises of the video game it’s based on…I wanted to scream!  So I put them in the bath, poured in some bubbles (thanks Mimi for the stocking stuffers!), shut the curtain and pulled out my Kindle.  I needed to freeze.  I needed the 20 minutes of letting my mind refocus and calm down.  I never understood that about my mom, but now I totally get it.  The noise and distraction had just gotten to be too much.

We’ve done a retreat twice with our youth ministry called Enjoy the Silence.  We go to a remote cabin, with no cell service, we don’t take video games or tvs or electronics and we have 2 days of silence.  Marty teaches, we have reflections, the youth worship through singing, art, prayer walks.  It is the best thing ever, and I always come back refreshed, refocused.  We need times of silence in our lives in order to refocus on the important things, and most importantly, not go insane!

4.  It’s good to come together for encouragement.  At the end of class the girls all come together and Jennifer gives them a sucker, gives them positive reinforcement, and they put their hands in and say, “1,2,3 Princess Snakes!”  Don’t ask, I don’t know where it came from.  But, Annaliese loves it!  She loves those girls, and she longs for Thursdays at 3:30.

When I was younger, I totally didn’t get the need for church involvement, I mean, I was involved!  My dad took me to Father/son work days at church because I was the oldest of 3 girls.  Seriously.  If the doors were open, the Foleys were there.   I totally get it now.  If I didn’t have my church family, I’d be lost.  I need that time together, I need encouragement, I need positive reinforcement (even if it hurts sometimes).  I need these people to be my family, my friends, my community.  That’s what we’re supposed to be. Now, I just think we need a really cool chant.

1,2,3 Baptist Buffaloes anyone?

Saying Goodbye

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In 9 and a half years of ministry in one church we’ve said goodbye a lot of times to a lot of people.  And that’s a hard thing to do, whatever the situation.  When you’ve poured yourself into people, loved them, called them family, anytime they’re no longer with you it’s hard.

Sometimes people leave for good reasons, situations that bring joy along with the sadness. Every time a group leaves for college, a piece of me mourns for them as I am rejoicing that they are following God’s plan for their life.  We’ve had 2 families leave because God has called them into ministry, celebrating mixed in with the sadness.  We’ve had people leave to join our Father in their eternal home, unbearable loss it feels but also ultimate joy that they are with their creator and there is no more pain, cancer, age, sickness, sadness……

Sometimes people leave because they get mad, hurt, frustrated, scared, and the list goes on.  I’m not gonna lie and say that I haven’t been all those things.

We sing a song at our church, I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God.  And yes, we’re singing about being in the universal family of God, we’re also singing about being in the local body God has placed us in.  The family of God.

We don’t abandon our family when the going gets tough.  We pull together and fight for our family.  You don’t get a divorce over burnt toast or the color of the carpet, you talk it out and let the Lord bring you together in unity.

When a family member leaves because God told them to, there is sadness, but God fills that emptiness.  When they leave and there is emptiness that’s not filled, it feels like a divorce.  You know that feeling when you see somebody in town and you’re not sure if you should talk to them or not so you just try to avoid eye contact, you drive by their house and cry. Yeah, these things should not happen in the family of God.

So what do we do?  We try to work it out, with God in the lead.  We follow the example of scripture.  If it’s sin, we go to them and confront them, pray with them, encourage them on the right path and hope that they will turn back to God.  If it is a disagreement, then go to that person, speak to them in love, they may not realize they’ve done anything wrong.  Give them a chance to apologize and make amends.  If they do, then we have to forgive them.  Do you know scripture says that our own sins will not be forgiven? (Mk 11:25, Matt. 6:14-15)  I don’t know about you but I need my sins forgiven!  Jesus also said we forgive them 70 x 7 times, which is basically saying infinitely.   How many times do we forgive our children? our spouses? our parents? siblings?  Should the same not be with our church families?

I’m not perfect, I’m gonna screw up, I need grace.  I’m part of a family that’s not perfect, that’s gonna screw up, that needs grace.  And I bet the same could be said for each one of you.

Let’s be faithful to our families.  To bear with, to forgive, to forget, to encourage one another for righteousness sake, to be unified with.  It’s never going to get better unless we work together.  And I’m pointing all 5 fingers at myself.  I’m guilty.

And I’m not even going to get into leaving the church because another one is better.  That’s just wrong.  It’s not a competition, we should be working together to bring those who don’t know Christ into the body, not competing to get saints to switch sides.  And I am speaking to myself here, I have such a competitive nature, I want to be the best, doing the most, and attracting everyone.  And I’m wrong in that.  Will you forgive me?

A few words about “Xmas”

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(I originally posted this blog last year around Christmastime, and actually the year before that,  but I thought it was still pretty relevant, so I decided to share it again.  I hope it makes you think.  Merry Christmas!)


I’m probably going to make some folks mad with this post.

I realize this early on, and I take full responsibility for it. But, part of doing what I do is calling it like I see it, even when the truth isn’t sexy (thank you, Derek Webb). By now, if you’re like me, most of your Christmas shopping is done, presents are wrapped underneath the tree, and you’re just ready for the whole thing to be over with. Well, except for that last part. Part of why I feel the way about what I want to write about today is the fundamental shift that has occurred in my life over the last few years regarding Christmas, and what it really means. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Savior, my Savior, Jesus Christ. It is about how God came to earth in the flesh to ransom the souls of men by breaking the power of sin. Over the last few years, the full gravity of this has come to bear on me, and I have wrestled with it, trying to justify selfishness over the message of the tiny baby in a manger. Guess what? I lost.

Yesterday, as I was leaving the house to go to church, I noticed a sign in my neighbors yard which simply says “We say Merry CHRISTmas.” I shook my head at it and continued on, but later I learned the origin of those signs. Our local high school is selling them to fund their Project Graduation. This bothers me on so many levels. Not just because the name of Christ is being used as a commodity to pay for inflatable games and pizza, but because it also fans the flames of those who loudly declare “CHRISTmas” instead of “Xmas” or “Happy Holidays”. This is wrong, and I want to explain why.

A few years ago, I first noticed the hubbub in the news because some national chain stores had stopped using “Merry Christmas” in their advertising and were instead using “Happy Holidays”. The opponents of this used, “It takes Christ out of Christmas!”, as their main argument. That’s an understandable argument. But, to assume that Christ has been taken out of Christmas just because one department store or another chooses to say “Happy Holidays” or “Xmas” is a huge leap into false logic. In fact, a better argument might be that these corporations, and us to a larger extent, have taken Christ out of Christmas by the way we’ve turned the celebration of the birth of  the Christchild into a consumeristic bloodbath to get the best deals on the most stuff so we can all fake happiness a few more days. If anyone, ANYONE, is to blame for taking Christ out of Christmas, it’s anyone who chases stuff more than Jesus during this time of year. People lined up at our local Walmart at 11:00 p.m. the night before Black Friday……when is the last time you saw someone line up outside the doors of the church on Saturday night because they couldn’t wait to worship?

It bothers me so much that some people want to hold the name of Jesus high during the holidays, screaming “It’s CHRISTmas!”, but the rest of the year everything else seems to be more important. I think the best way Christmas is declared is by a life that is thankful for Jesus year round, not just one month, or one day. Let me break it down even further….

The symbol that I used at the top of this post is called a labarum, or the Chi-Rho. It is a symbol that is used in churches, and represents Christ. Chi is the pronunciation for the Greek letter “X”. The “X” in Xmas is from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Χριστός, Christ in Greek. So, the first letter of Christ, when used in Xmas, is actually correct! Now, we can argue that there is some kind of agenda against Christmas, but the agenda isn’t with the church! It’s outside, in the consumer-driven holiday that we’ve allowed ourselves to create! I don’t understand why we think that corporations like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, or whoever, have to say “Christmas” when the rest of the year they don’t exhibit qualities of being a so-called “Christian” business. We can’t expect non-believers to act like believers. That only comes from a renewed mind and a regenerated heart.

As for the signs, we’ve turned Christ into a nothing more than a material thing. A name that’s bought and sold. And in doing so, we continue the feed the consumerist monster, only this time we give him the Messiah to snack on. In the long run, does it really matter, what we say? We can say Christmas/Xmas/Merry/Happy/whatever, but do our lives reflect that the child in the manger has changed anything about us? Do we only celebrate CHRIST in this month, or is he capital letters in our life all the time? I want to leave you with this except from an article on the secularization of Christmas, and the wisdom of C. S. Lewis:

In the early 20th century, Christian writers such as C. S. Lewis had already noted a distinct split between the religious and secular observance of Christmas. In Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus, Lewis gives a satire of the observance of two simultaneous holidays in “Niatirb” (Britain backwards) from the supposed view of the Greek historian and traveller. One, “Exmas”, is observed by a flurry of compulsory commercial activity and expensive indulgence in alcoholic beverages. The other, “Crissmas,” is observed in Niatirb’s temples. Lewis’s narrator asks a priest why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas. He receives the reply:

“It is not lawful, O Stranger, for us to change the date of Crissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left.” And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, “It is, O Stranger, a racket… “[64]

Merry Christmas everyone….let it be in our hearts as it is in our words.

The word “No”

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I hate the word “no”.  Who doesn’t?  I hate hearing it, I hate having to say it 20 million times a day.  I hate that it means I can’t do what I want to do when I want to do it.  But I’ve heard it a lot, from my parents, from Marty, from my kids, my church, my friends, and my God and it hurts my pride when I hear it.

But deep down I know it’s good for me.

I know that often, no means yes.  No to what is good, yes to what is best.  No to what is momentarily important, yes to the future.

If everything had been a yes that I’d prayed for my life would have been so different.  I would have been married to specifically 2 different people that I know now would have been totally wrong for me.  I don’t even like to think about that road, but I was so sure that was what was best.  I wouldn’t have married a man who still makes me laugh, that I don’t want to go anywhere without.   I wouldn’t have my 2 amazing children, who are patiently waiting for me to finish so we can have “B” day and do a worksheet.  Oh, they are my children.

Starting out, Marty and I interviewed at FBC Medina, and they rejected us, hard.  10 years later, I still feel the pangs.  But we wouldn’t be here, we  wouldn’t have seen God use us in amazing ways.  Mission trips, Frontline, Romania, 10 youth surrendered to ministry, we would have seen none of that.  None.  We have traded the good for the best.

There have been times I’ve prayed to leave this church, I know I’m probably not supposed to admit that, but ministry is hard.  It’s frustrating, not everyone is nice to you all the time.  But if we’d gone, we wouldn’t have seen the 5 youth join the church in the past month.

We went to see a gospel band Sunday night, The Red Roots.  Not my cuppa normally, but very talented teenage triplets.  They had a song called “What if God says No” which sparked this whole post.  It made me think.  It made me remember the scene in Bruce Almighty when he said, “yes” to everyone and the chaos it caused.  Anyway the lyrics have been stuck in my head, so I leave you with the chorus.

What if God says no
It don’t mean He loves us less
It just means He knows what’s best
What if God says no
It’s enough we have His grace
So don’t let go of your faith
What if God says no

The Lonely Road

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I remember when I first told my parents that I thought God was calling me to be a youth pastor.  In my mind, the scene I pictured was much like the scene in A Christmas Story, where Ralphie, in a daydream, visits his family after being blinded by soap poisoning from all the times his mouth was washed out with soap.  His parents, greatly affected at the predicament of their boy, fall to their knees with lots of overblown wailing and crying.

That’s what I wanted, minus the wailing and crying.  I expected loud prayers of thanksgiving accompanied by lots of pats on the back and encouragement.  Instead, all I got was “You won’t make any money doing that!”

Deflated.  Shot down like a rogue Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon that’s on a crash course with Times Square.

Of course, since then, my parents have accepted my fate and even become proud of me, showing people my card and pictures and all those things that proud parents do.  But, in those early days, it was hard.  I learned early that ministry is a long, hard, lonely road.  I felt like I was carving a road out on my own, blazing a trail to my future like the people from Oregon Trail.  If my family didn’t understand my decision, then I reasoned that other people wouldn’t either, so I felt truly alone as I started toward college and eventually decided that full time ministry was what I was called to.

I thought that as I got older that ministry might get easier.  Surely, with a little bit of experience under my belt, I would know everything to do, and everyone would love me.  I’ll pause here so you can stop laughing.  I know.  I get it.  I was naive and silly, not to mention young and stupid.  I walked into my first full time ministry job (which I am still at, by the way) with the kind of wide eyed wonder that a kid has the first time they go to Disneyworld.  I had arrived!  Accept, I hadn’t.  And soon, when problems arose, people expected me to know what to do.  They wanted me to take care of them.  And suddenly, I realized that I had no clue how to do it.  Again, I felt alone.  There were times during that first year that I just went home from church and sat in a dark room with tears running down my face.  Here I was, newly married, new in town, and new to the world of ministry and our church, and I felt like I was the only one who’d ever dealt with what I was dealing with.  From the beginning, I felt like a failure, because I didn’t have all the answers.

And that’s exactly what Satan was telling me:  You’ve failed.  You’ll never last.  You won’t ever get through to these kids.  You don’t know enough.  You’re a terrible minister.  Isolation is one of Satan’s most powerful tools.  It’s there that he takes every circumstance and magnifies it until it’s all we can see.  Someone giving you a suggestion turns into them hating everything you’re doing.  Someone giving a bit of constructive criticism becomes them stabbing you in the back.  Needing to learn how to do your job becomes a study in your deficiencies.  Each and every attack is brutal, and each and every one is designed to destroy your confidence as a person and as a child of God, so you turn your back on Him.

In Matthew 28, Jesus ends his time on earth by telling his disciples “I will be with you always, even to the end of the world.”  The road of ministry is lonely, yes.  It causes us to make decisions for our families and ourselves that often people don’t understand, and are even opposed to.  It causes us to be far away from friends and relatives.  But….that promise again: Jesus will be with us always.  And though He’s not there in the flesh, though He does not speak with an audible voice, He walks with me and He talks with me.  He carries me when the road is too rough.  He points the way on the narrow road and asks that I not run ahead on my own.  And yes, there are times that I stray off the path, but He is always there.  He never fails, and on the lonely road, He is all that we can cling to at times.

So, wherever you are on the road, be it the road of ministry or your own personal journey, be assured today of one thing: Jesus is with you.

What to do when what you love breaks your heart.

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Maybe it’s your wife.  Maybe it’s your kids.  Maybe it’s your friends.  Maybe, like me, it’s your ministry.  Sooner or later, something that you love is going to break your heart.  It may not mean to, but it’s going to happen.  Your plans, your time, your effort, they are all going to fail.  I know I sound incredibly depressing here, but I’m just trying to be honest.  Nothing in this life, not even Jesus, lives up to the expectations we place on it.  With that being said, let me tell you where this post comes from.

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you know that I don’t pull punches when it comes to talking about my life.  Today will be no different.  Right now, I’m experiencing one of the hardest seasons of ministry that I’ve ever faced in my 9 years of being at my church.  Kids seem largely uncommitted to the youth group.  The vision is there, but few seem to buy in.  The more I try to teach them about following Jesus and understanding their faith, the more worldliness I seem to see.  There are few older ones, and many younger ones.  When we sing, no one sings, just lots of standing and talking with friends.  We have discussion in Sunday School and no one talks.  I’m going to be honest here: I don’t know what to do.  I look at what I see on Facebook and Twitter and it, along with the other things I’ve mentioned, breaks my heart for these teenagers that Jesus and I dearly love.

So what do you do?  I wanted to share some things that I’m doing, that I have to remind myself of daily as I walk through this valley time, things that are helping me to stay sane as I work.

1.  Remember that YOUR effort isn’t ever going to be enough.  This is a big one.  I have to remember this on a daily basis, whether I’m in the middle of one of the best seasons or one of the worst.  What I do on my own is never going to be enough.  For a lot of people, this is exactly where heartbreak comes from.  You can’t be a good enough husband or wife.  You can’t be a good enough father or mother to your children.  You will never be the perfect friend.  You might not ever have a great day at your job.  You cannot do these things on your own, but through the power of Jesus, you can.  Our peace in our roles is directly dependent on our dependence in Jesus’ presence.  I can’t turn our teens around, but Jesus can.  I have to remember that.  I’m not enough, and I never will be.

2.  Trust in the promises of Scripture.  If you are in the middle of a crisis, and you are not in the Word, don’t be surprised if you feel like you can’t find the answers.  Scripture speaks to every emotion, every stage of life, and whatever you and I are going through, we can find something that speaks to it in the Bible.  When your wife doesn’t respond the way you want, when your kids seem out of control, when your friends leave, and your job sucks….where do you turn?  You aren’t enough, remember?  We must turn to Scripture and lose ourselves in it’s pages, realizing that God’s word is His love letter to us, and that He still speaks to us from it.  Take Scripture with you, write it on your hand, post it on your walls, whatever it takes to be able to see and remember what God has said.

3.  Seek Godly counsel.  When you are brokenhearted, nothing helps sometimes like a friend who will listen  But, may I suggest that we don’t just need friends who will listen, but friends who will listen, pray, and give us advice when we need it, not just when we want it.  The point here is that we need to surround ourselves with Godly people who will invest in our lives and point us back to Jesus in a loving way, who will help us hold on to what we believe.  These people become mentors of a sort, even if they are our own age, a person who is holding us accountable for what we say and do.  These are the people who will keep us from getting lost in our own despair by being there for us and not allowing us to wallow in the depression of “If I’d only done……”  Find these people, they are vital!

4.  Lastly, realize that you might be under spiritual attack.  Some people don’t like to talk about this, frankly because they don’t understand it.  We like to imagine nice plump cherubs floating through the air above our heads, playing their harps and shooting little arrows with hearts on the end of them, but we don’t often think about the demonic influences that are at play as well.  Before you back away, let me say this: if you believe in the existence of God and angels, you must believe in the existence of Satan and demons.  There is no one sided coin.  There is not just light, there is also darkness.

Let’s be honest, ok?  Satan hates any kind of victory in the Kingdom of God.  He is reminded of his fate with every step the Kingdom advances into this world, or into the lives of believers.  Therefore, he will do his best to attack the church, and individual believers.  Spiritual warfare is real, and holds real consequences.  So, those kids who don’t listen, that job that goes wrong, that spouse that seems argumentative and irritable…..sometimes it’s not just a bad day.  Satan is described in Scripture as a roaring lion looking for who he might devour.  He and his demons prowl, looking for ways to disrupt the work of God.  Satan’s chief way of hurting God is preying on his children.  So, recognize that the potential for demonic attack is there.  Not “invisible ghostman who drags you out into the woods and kills you” type of demonic attack as Hollywood has tried to glamorize, but real, disruptive forces that cause you and those around you to fight, bicker, stop loving each other, ignore the truth, and turn away from what’s real.

Every day I am reminded that I’m not enough.  And I’m glad I’m not. Seriously, I’m glad that what I can do is not enough.  Because if this were just up to me, I’d have packed it in a long time ago.  Walking through difficult seasons is hard, but if we are faithful, God has rewards for us at the end of them.  Perseverance always produces strength.  Just make it to the end, and you’ll see.  If you are facing a difficult situation, I’d love to pray for you today.  Leave the details in the comments below or send me a message at Google+ or Facebook.  I’d love to connect with you.