So today is the day that I had planned for weeks to go hiking with some friends. We were ready to hike and summit a 4,000 foot mountain in the Presidential Range in NH. Doesn’t it figure that three days before that I end up with fluid on the knee and cannot hike. I refuse to let my friends down. I will go and take up the support role! I will drive them to and from and help out however possible all the while enjoying the camaraderie and stories from their adventure.

I was quite dissatisfied that I was not able to hike and enjoy that time of work and camaraderie. It was at that moment that I realized that dissatisfaction was a theme is several areas of life. I guess this will turn out to be a time of personal reflection and gaining perspective of God’s vision for my life. It’s not much different than a 30, 60, 90 day plan for your business. If you do not have focus and purpose, you are wandering and you are lost achieving nothing.

So I went for a 4.8 mile walk and talk with God along a gated road from the Crawford Trail to the Edmands Trail. It is amazing how walking through a forest filled with noises from God’s creatures relaxes the mind, body and soul. As I walked I began to inquire of his purpose and vision for my life. I began to thank Him that He has never relaxed his hold on me or my family. I am confident that it is by God’s grace and our focus on Him that my family is well adjusted and functioning well in life. The challenges and hurdles that were meant to trip us up have proven to be just speedbumps along life’s highway. We have had to slow down and get over them, but they have not stopped us in any way.

As I listened to that still small voice inside me I began to understand my purpose and calling a little better. God intends for us to assist the men that around us, to come out from under the oppression of the world. Out from under the expectation and pressures that the world has placed us under. This does not come without it’s own challenges. The challenge that lies ahead is to be sure that I have brought me and my family out from under that same oppression and not allow life to dictate my path and success, but allow what God’s word says about us to dictate that path.

That sure is easy to say, but how do I get there? What is the first step to breaking the power of the enemy and the oppression on my life. These are all answers that we are probably familiar with if we have been around the church very long, but I will reiterate for my own benefit.

1. Time in the presence of The King! It is critical that we take time to talk to God, worship Him and thank him for all he has done. Take time to just thank Him for who He is. It is more important that we be grateful for who He is than what He does. It is high time that we seek the face of God and not his hand all the time. If we are seeking his face, His hand is not far away.
2. The words that come out of our mouth are what get us in our own crazy situations. Dr. Phil says, “Never miss a great opportunity to keep your mouth shut.” This is what we need to do while we are learning to say the right things. The things that God says about us. Start off with the Family Confessions over you and your family and then begin to create your own confessions out of The Word. If you don’t start somewhere, you wont make it anywhere.
3. Listen!! We just don’t listen enough. This can tend to be a foreign concept for us at times because we obviously know it all and if we don’t, we can just Google it and find it out. NEWS FLASH!! There are things that you will only find out through talking to your Father, your friend, your God. Our generation misses the point of sitting down with parents, grand parents and even Great Grandparents and listening to the wisdom of the years. But we have the opportunity to listen to the wisdom of the ages! Our Father God. It will not be a loud booming voice, but it will be a still small voice. An inkling, a feeling a thought that never crossed your mind until now.

It is critical that while you are working on the things above that you are walking in the love of God. You will find that when you are dissatisfied and unhappy, it is because you are losing your sense of purpose and not spending the appropriate time with God. If you are losing peace and focus, it is time that you stop what you are doing and re-focus before you drift too far off course. Do not allow yourself to get worn out and beat down before you find a way to recharge your spiritual and emotional battery. Plug in every day. Consider it hooking up to the power source.

You are not just doing this for you, you are doing this for your family and all that are around you. Many people are affected by your demeanor and attitude. It is critical that you put forth the love and acceptance that you are looking for. For when you are putting forth frustration and anger, you are giving off signs of rejection and not caring. It goes without saying that is especially true in your family.  Learn to be like little children. Slow to anger and quick to forgive. Children love so deeply that they will forgive the most egregious hurts without a second thought. This is love. God’s love in them.

Practice this and you will see a difference!!