Your Mileage May Vary - 44

Your mileage may vary" is an idiomatic phrase is relatively new that was first used in car sales now is used as your experiences may be different than others. In your faith journey. You will be using the amount of faith you have been given by God. And in your lifetime, you have the opportunity to grow your faith based on the trials, tests and situations that will happen in your life. Jesus taught that it doesn't take much faith to move a "mountain", but we take a lifetime to learn that. In your life you will experience things that will test your resolve, your faith, your strength, your loyalty, your character, who you really are. When you get closer to God, those shortcomings will be more evident. As you grow closer to God, the enemy will be allowed to throw things at you. It will be different for each of us. What caused you to fall or fail is different for me. Common challenges include personal issues like financial stress, health concerns (physical and mental), and relationship problems, as well as professional struggles such as work-life balance, career uncertainty, and workplace issues like communication gaps or lack of motivation. Other challenges involve coping with loss, managing stress, and dealing with life changes, which can lead to loneliness or other mental and physical health difficulties. On a global scale, challenges include climate change, poverty, and human rights violations. It all depends on who you are, where you are, and what God has plans for you. Mixed with how you cope, deal, overcome, or choose. So what is the message here. Everyone one has a journey. Everyone will have some issues. We have to learn to not respond to the sin of our neighbors like we don't have any. We have to listen more than we talk. We have to open our hearts to God more. We have to listen to Him. And when we don't hear Him, realize it is us, not HIM that has turned down the volume. What must I do to be saved? What must I do to change? What must I do, Lord? Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. Becoming a Christian doesn't make you immune to bad stuff happening. You might get more than your neighbor. There is a lot of negatives in this world. A lot of people are in dark places. Misery likes no it loves company. It motivates, inspires, and cultivates staying away from the Light of God. You will seem foolish for kingdom thinking. And on your good days, it is easy to get full of yourself and look down on others. Which will knock you off the path you were on. It is precarious. It is easy to fall off. To take the wrong path when you are on the right one. And just as easy to talk yourself into continuing to walk off the yellow brick road right to a witch. We stray very easily. We get full of garbage and then repeat it. Someone cosigns on it and off we go. Tearing others down. Only you can save yourself. You can't pray your kids into heaven. They have to make it on their own. Your parents can't go to church and serve God for you. But here's the worst part. You can play a part in another persons destruction. You can encourage, chase away, hurt and harm someone that trust your words. You can make them lose their faith. How? Your actions. I have seen the enemy and it is us. That phrase came from a comic strip by way of the War of 18112 but it applies. Right now I am trying to overcome me. I have a battle inside. The good news is, you can't win a fight you don't know that you are in. It's like the frog that went to sleep in the hot water and didn't realize that although it felt good, he was slowing being cooked. Some of the stuff that is going on in your life is self sabotage. behavior or thoughts, especially of an involuntary or unconscious nature, that are harmful to one's own interests or development. We talk negatively, to ourselves. You know that there is "life and death in the power of the tongue". This means spoken words have the power to build others up, foster healing, and bring joy, or to cause deep emotional wounds through gossip, criticism, and harshness. Don't forget to speak life to your situation. Speak life to yourself. Speak life to your children, spouses, friends, family and when you mature enough, even to your enemies. I am learning in the midst of the trials in my life right now, I still have choices to make. For good or evil. For prosperity or destruction. I can still have and do have a future at 63. setting new goals and reinventing yourself at your age is beneficial because it promotes a renewed sense of purpose, boosts physical and cognitive health, and increases overall life satisfaction. This phase of life often comes with more clarity, accumulated wisdom, and fewer constraints from raising a family or building a career, making it an ideal time for personal growth. Think of yourself as a classic car. ...