Welcome to the August 22nd 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.
The Story of My Week
We went for our first family holiday alone for almost two years.
The COVID lockdown was a different time of family bonding. We were together but we couldn’t decide where we went.
We are now bonding on our terms.
In reality, we were bonding on the terms of the kids. If you have kids younger than 8 years, you know you are always negotiating and insisting throughout a family outing.
They don’t always get with the program.
Those times end up becoming part of the memories we create as a family.
As parents, a holiday is only fun when we bring our biggest weapon to the game - adaptability.
Nothing is fixed in stone except the overall idea that this is going to be a holiday that the whole family will enjoy.
Once that is on the table, everything else moves around it.
I’m loving it. Even if it includes chasing after and negotiating with toddlers.
These are the memories that last a lifetime.
Things I Learnt
1-Making Room for Everyone’s Lifestory: During our holiday, we met a family.
We met the wife first then the husband.
The wives got talking.
Later in the evening, my wife was telling more about the couple. They were on holiday with their only child - a 10-year-old boy.
I remarked to my wife that I thought their kid would be older.
Later that night as I went over the events of the day, I thought that was an unsympathetic remark. It didn’t take into account what their life story could have been.
Some people think we are a younger couple because of the ages of our kids. Our kids took their time before they decided to say “here we are”
As it turns out, this couple also had something similar.
The next day as she and my wife talked more, we discovered their son did not show up until almost 10 years after they married.
There were miscarriages along the way before the handsome boy showed up.
Lesson learned.
Let people tell their stories before creating conclusions for them.
So help me God.
2-Even if God Ignores we Remain Responsible: I was listening to a podcast interview with a respected pastor in the US. He is in his eighties and has had a lifetime of success on the pulpit.
Most people who know him commend his devotion to God.
But there was one thing he didn't leave a good mark on. It was his marriage.
The situation got so bad that the wife filed for divorce.
When this happened, even his son who was also a pastor told his dad that this was a wake-up call for him to resign and face this.
The pastor did not - he continued to pastor.
Despite his devotion to God, this did not translate to a better marriage.
This is one thing that continues to amaze me.
God will bring power and grace to you in whatever area of life you bring to Him. If you "hide" your other life areas from Him, you will not experience the grace you need to be fruitful in those areas.
David was a man after God's heart but he didn't exercise enough restraint when it came to women.
God already laid it out that "the king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the LORD" Deuteronomy 17:17.
David was already multiplying wives before Bathsheba showed up on the scene.
If we refuse to bring God's power to a life area, we will still be responsible for how we live in that life area.
I have read about people who had great ministries but failed in their personal lives or personal relationships.
God works with what we bring to Him.
Postscript
May we never hide any part of our lives from the transforming power of the cross of Jesus Christ. May we always live in surrender to the change that God can bring to every part of our life when we bring them to Him. Amen.
Tata,
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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