Welcome to the October 16th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
This week was a bit emotional for me.
And I knew what I needed.
Emotional healing.
Some get it through therapy, some get inner healing counselors to help them out.
Me?
My years of spiritual walk with God have taught me how to get it.
I go to God.
It's one of the effects of growing my faith as a lone guy when I could not have the support of a community around me.
As I stayed with God to go through my emotional healing.
One more thing was needed.
Someone to make a prayer of agreement over me.
I sent a message to one of my oldest friends to let me know when he would be free.
A few hours later, I told him what I need him to do.
He prayed over me and I was on my way to healing.
More than just healing, I got the inner strength to win over the very thing that caused me to hurt.
With a surrendered heart and a prayer, God causes grace to heal and live.
Above the hurt.
A life of freedom.
Things I Learnt
1-Transitioning into Season Groups: I was on the phone with a friend whose wife had just had a miscarriage. During the conversation, a couple of things came up.
He blurted out that there were so many things that they didn't know during the whole pregnancy process that he thought should be covered in pre-marital counseling.
I understand his frustration.
At a point when the ambulance came to pick them up at a critical point, the technician asked which hospital they should go - they were confused and didn't know what to say. Thank God for the technician. He responded, "if she were my daughter in this situation, this hospital is where I would take her." And that's where they went.
He wished they had known all those information. He wished the church had a helpful guide on that. He wished they knew more about the problems that may come with pregnancy.
It's one of the challenges that come with living in a new country with little or no family support.
I had a different perspective on the matter.
I told him that no pre-marital counseling could prepare them for everything that happens in marriage. The best option is to do life with a group of people that are going through the same season of life.
From their stories and experiences, you'll pick a thing or two.
For example, after getting married hanging out with married couples in different seasons of life would give opportunities to hear stories that prepare other couples for that season.
We used to lead a Couples & Families community group.
We had different stories for different experiences we all had.
But we were learning from each other.
Because we had a thing or two in common - we were either married or separated with kids.
And we provided support to each other.
2-Helpers in Your new Level: I was speaking with a friend who had recently come into the leadership position of a large not-for-profit institution. We are talking about an organisation that serves about 15,000 people every week.
In addition to this, several people in the team had also relocated to new countries.
I asked him how he was thriving in the role.
His "as-a-matter-of-fact" response was poignant. According to him, he discovered that there were so many other people who wanted to take responsibility and do new stuff in the organisation.
And so he empowered them. He also provided training opportunities.
By doing these, he was carrying less workload by himself and focusing on helping the guys who were taking the workload.
His story reminds me that God provides us with the gift of men and women so that we can work without undue stress to our personal lives for every new level.
The problem is when we decide to keep to ourselves what we should be giving to others to do.
A lesson for me to learn and live by.
Postscript
May you never overwhelm yourself by carrying the workload that God has given you gifts of men to carry with you. May you be wise to trust in the capabilities that God has given to them to help you. Amen.
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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