Category: God

Loving During a Crisis

In times of crisis, our true character shows. When we feel like we are backed into a corner, our real intentions, actions, and our hearts will show. Don’t believe me? Can anyone give a reason as to why stores are still selling out of toilet paper? Or why people were fighting in stores? Your true nature will show in times of crisis. So during this time of crisis, are your true colors, your true character showing?

We are showing our true colors in our marriages right now. We say we love our spouses but many couples during this time find themselves arguing, and not handling the confined space of togetherness well. 

In the Bible 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what love is. I think that there is something that we can learn from this and apply it to this time.

 

  • Love is patient and kind

 

More than anything we have to show our spouses patience and kindness. Patience in that you have to work through the adjustments together. Kindness also comes into play because making adjustments is not going to be easy and we should go the extra mile to be kind to each other. 

 

  • Love is not jealous, boastful or proud

 

Feelings of jealousy, or being boastful are ones that you have to be aware of during this time. In a confined space what may have started as a little thought can grow into something bigger where you become jealous, or boastful or proud. 

None of these feelings are going to work in a marriage, but in this type of environment, those feelings will get amplified. Actually acting on these emotions will destroy your marriage. 

 

  • Love Does Not Demand It’s Own Way

 

Getting through any tough situation requires that everyone work together. Each marriage is going to face hard times. There are going to be situations that you’re going to be difficult. How will you handle them? Demanding your own way is not the right way. That will cause a divide in your house and can cause a rift in your marriage. 

During a quarantine demanding your own way isn’t going to help you or your spouse get through it any faster. You’re going to have to learn to work together. 

 

  • Love Keeps No Record of Being Wrong

 

Keeping track or keeping score in a marriage is one of the fastest ways to destroy your marriage. 

Every marriage counselor will tell you that keeping a scorecard of rights and wrongs will destroy your marriage. 

Truly loving your spouse means being able to see past 

 

  • Love Never Gives Up

 

What I’m not saying here is that you stay in a relationship that is abusive in any way. What is important is that most marriages fail because of money and/or communication issues. 

There are times that we give up to early in life. We quit things before we get a chance to see if they pan out. In our relationships, we can give up. When things get hard or we have to have difficult conversations, we want to leave the relationship.

Don’t give up. 

 

Discussion Question:

What has this crisis revealed to you?

See Beyond The Situation

Where do you see yourself in five years? Raise your hand if you’ve heard this in an interview before? Okay, put your hand down. Do you know why employers ask this question? It’s all about vision. When you close your eyes what do you see? Can you see your family, your job, yourself? 

While everyone is dealing with the quarantine and how to handle the day to day, have you started to think about what will come next?

Have you read the story of Joseph in the Bible? Start in Genesis 37 and just start reading. You’ll see that he had to deal with his brothers selling him into slavery, then having some success while in that situation and then being put in jail. Have you ever noticed what happened before all of that? Joseph had a set of dreams. God gave him a vision. I truly believe that this played a key in him being able to get through all of the adversity that he faced. He always was able to see the destination in the end. 

Having a vision will allow you to see past what currently is Click To Tweet

That’s the importance of vision. It allows you to see past what you are currently dealing with. So can you see past the corona-virus? What will your life look like past this? How will you kids look? What about your marriage?

Here are three reasons why you need a vision:

 

  • Vision will Keep You Encouraged

 

Let’s face it, we are going to deal with hard situations. Dealing with everything going on right now can be hard. Life in general can be hard or have difficult situations. 

You have to be able to see past the hardships. That’s what a vision will do for you. When you’re going through a hardship or a difficult situation, sometimes that’s all we can see. All we can see is the problem that we’re facing. Vision allows you to see past the hardship. 

Being able to see past the hardship will keep you encouraged. It will give you a place to hope and put your faith. Encouragement is something we all need. There’s just something about being able to imagine how different things can be on the other side of the hardship. 

 

  • Vision Gives You a Destination

 

Have you ever been driving, forgot to turn on your GPS or didn’t because you knew that you knew where you were going. You drive for a couple of minutes and then you realize that you don’t know where you’re going. But you could have sworn that you knew where you were going. Why? Because in your head you could see yourself driving the route and pulling into the destination. Eventually you will make it. 

That’s what vision will do for you. Even if you aren’t sure of how to get through a problem being able to see the destination will help you to know if you are at least going in the right direction. Being able to see the destination also lets you know when something is wrong. It lets you know what you don’t want or don’t want to go. 

 

  • Vision Brings Everyone Together

 

One of the hardest things to do is to get through a hard time by yourself. That’s how we usually approach the hard situations in our life. We think that we need to buckle down and get out of this situation by yourself. 

We all need people around us. You need a team, you need those that will encourage you, believe in you, and hold you accountable. This is where your vision will come into play. Vision is the vehicle for you and your team. It’s what will keep you connected during the hard times and it’s what you will celebrate during the victories. 

Vision is important for you and for those around you. Speak vision all the time. Especially during the difficult of hard times, you have to intentionally speak vision. 

 

Discussion Question: 

What vision do you have during this time?

Having Special Days

During this time it can feel like all the days are running together. Do you know if it’s Thursday or is it Saturday? Are the days just streaming together into one long week? Most people are finding themselves feeling like this. Either because they are quarantined at home they find themselves with long blocks of time or they are working from home and putting in long hours trying to navigate their job in this new space.

Father and Kids
Loving Father

I recently started a new job right before my state, Michigan, went into shut down/quarantine precautions. I bring this up because I’m currently training on said job from home, which has been interesting. 

Everyday can be special with the right attitude Click To Tweet

This past week was my son’s 6th birthday and there were challenges that me and my wife were trying to make sure that his day was a special day. Are you able to make your days special? Can you break up the monotony and have special days in between? Here is what we did and what you can do to have special days during this time.

 

  1. Change up the Morning

 

What is your morning routine? Even if it wasn’t written down most of us have a routine that we go through when we wake up in the morning. 

To make the day special, change up the routine. For my son we made sure to have a special breakfast for him. As a way to change up what he normally does, but to also let him know that this is a special day. 

 

  1. Socialize How You Can

 

Can you go to or have a birthday party? Probably not during this time, but what you can do is find different ways that you can socialize. There are plenty of apps and websites that will help you to be able to see the faces of your friends and family. It may be a little weird for you, but being able to see a friend’s face and hear their voice can be good for you. 

With my son, we  called all of our family members and he was able to talk to them. Then we tried a virtual party on Zoom where he could see some of his friends. It was really nice.

 

Discussion Question:

What are you doing to break up your days?