My Top Ten Lessons Learned, episode 46 (rebroadcast)

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal.

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And also some help and hope for your own life journey.

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Today on When You Love a Prodigal, you will learn vital truths to help you through life, including life with a prodigal.

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May I encourage you to be listening for the truths that God might be speaking to you.

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Be sure you jot them down. At least I need to do that, or I will have forgotten them by the end of this podcast.

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So it's Happy New Year!

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But first, I want to talk about a birthday.

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In my family, we have always celebrated birthdays, our physical birthday and our spiritual birthday.

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And I just celebrated my spiritual birthday on December 31.

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62 years ago, I received God's amazing gift of salvation, reconciliation, and eternal life on what became my spiritual birthday.

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On New Year's Eve, what an adventure it has been.

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I have met remarkable people. I have been amazing places. I think I've been to 75 countries.

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I've done exciting things, all because I chose to follow Jesus.

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But of course, there have been many challenges.

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And without a doubt, the hardest challenge, the most difficult one, was 15 years of prodigal wilderness.

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But even there, Jesus has been with me.

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And as wonderful as the life he has given me has been, clearly the best is getting to know him, to love him, to obey him, to learn from him.

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Now, I'm kind of a slow learner and a stubborn person.

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And so I have a hard time remembering some of the things God teaches me.

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And I really get tired of having to repeat lessons because I've had too many times.

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And so I began to make little slogans or sayings to help me remember the things that God has taught me.

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And I have a lot of them, but I'm only going to do 10 for you, maybe the 10 that I think have been the most helpful to me.

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My brief explanation of each one represents only a tiny fraction of all that God has taught me through these lessons.

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I have whole messages on each one, but we're only getting a few words.

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OK, so here we go, my top 10 lessons to help me start out the new year by remembering these things God has worked into me, pounded into me, whatever was necessary.

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One, God is God and God is good.

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When circumstances are difficult or uncertain or painful or scary or just not to my liking, I remember that God is truly God.

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He is sovereign. He's in control. He is aware.

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He's not so busy with some war over here or some starving people over here.

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He's aware of all of it and he is able to do something about it.

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So it's very good to know that he is also good.

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It would be pretty frightening if this powerful God were evil.

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Jeremiah tells us, now listen to this, Jeremiah says God is always looking for ways to do good to us.

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Have you ever heard that before?

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I hadn't for years and years.

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And then I read it and went, he's always looking for ways to do good to us.

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What an incredible blessing.

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And it helps me a lot when things are not happening the way I like.

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Second, God is more committed to my character than to my comfort.

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Yeah, I can testify to that.

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But gratefully, he comforts me while he works on my character.

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Even after many years, God still has work to do in growing me into Christ-likeness, to live and love and act and speak and care for people as Jesus would.

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From his gentle, transforming work, I can learn how to help those in my care, especially my prodigal, to grow and be transformed and experience God's love.

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He's working on all of us.

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We don't get there until we get there.

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That is when we get to be with God for eternity.

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While we're on this earth, we're all in a growth process.

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And the most important part is, yes, he's going to teach us how to do things and how to the gifts that he's given us and the ways he wants to use us.

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But most of all, he's committed to making us like Jesus.

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And for me, that's been a long journey and probably for you and your prodigal.

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And he says, I'm working on your character and it won't be comfortable, but I have ways to comfort you in the process.

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Three, God, this is so fun.

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God is singing a love song to each of us.

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So have you ever heard it?

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Yeah, you're living it.

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You're living out his song.

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One of my favorite words from God is in Zephaniah 3.17.

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It says, He quiets us with his love.

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He rejoices over us with singing.

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And I've pictured that for each of us, God is writing a love song of our life.

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And each of the various days of our life and the opportunities and the hard things and the wonderful things and all of that,

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each one's a chapter in a book because I'm a writer or it's a verse in this song that God is singing over you and me and our prodigals.

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He's singing a love song.

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Sometimes that song is joyful and bright and lifting.

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And other times it's a little dark and sad and everything in between.

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But it's always coming from the everlasting love of our Father.

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So what song has he been singing to you lately?

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Four, the work of God is done on our knees.

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Then we find out what happened.

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Now, most of us pray, some more than others.

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We often pray in the morning or in the evening and often we'll pray at meals.

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Or when we have a desperate need or when our prodigal is who knows where.

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We pray about a lot of different things.

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And then we think we need to do something about it.

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Maybe.

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Yes and no.

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Because you see, prayer is not the activity before my work.

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Prayer is my work.

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What's going to happen happens when we are on our knees before the Lord.

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That can be literal or figuratively on our knees.

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Listen, when I'm desperate for my prodigal, I was on my face a lot of times.

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But the prayer is where we engage God and bring him into it and give him the opportunity to work and do the thing.

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So the fruit that we're looking for, the changes in life, the things happening that we're hoping will happen,

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they are discovered as I get up and go to live my life and do the things that God has been equipping me to do and preparing for me.

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But the work first happens on our knees.

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Fifth, the greener grass was spray painted by the devil.

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I like that one.

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All of us are addicted to the greener grass syndrome.

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We desire something that is newer or better or more fun or more satisfying.

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Or we think some other place or job or person would be more meaningful.

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Or we envy another's life or their children who are so good and obedient or the success that they have.

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So we're always looking somewhere else for the satisfaction in our lives.

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Sometimes God uses that discontentment in our lives to spur us onto new opportunities.

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But mostly he urges us to be content, to rest in his provision.

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The evil one loves to distract and attract us with his right spray paint.

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We need, as Paul suggests, to choose contentment.

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I was communicating with one of our staff in an African country, a very poor country.

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He's going out to show the Jesus film in some villages.

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Three of them are riding across basically desert-like, all three of them on a motorcycle to cross this dusty desert.

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A two-day trip.

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I said, you know, if I put pictures on Facebook, I could maybe find someone who would like to donate something for a better vehicle.

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And he says, oh, no, this is our reality.

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We know how to do it.

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And I thought, OK, that's a contentment that I don't know if I could have unless God called me to it.

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But God says, be content where I have you.

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Make sure you're listening for where I want to take you.

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But learn contentment.

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The greener grass is spray painted by the evil one.

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Six, thank God even for the hard stuff.

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Now, if you've listened to this podcast very much, you have certainly heard me say, give thanks in all things.

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And that that, learning that and applying that has transformed my life, especially on this wilderness journey.

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Saying thank you in hard times when your loved one once again breaks your heart, when everything seems hopeless,

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expresses trust to God, opens your mind and your heart to his perspective and opens the door for his good to come in to this current situation.

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He says, give thanks.

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Just hear me.

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It works.

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I practice this.

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It's become a way of life.

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I still don't do it perfectly, but it is a way of life for me to say thank you, Lord, even when I don't like circumstances.

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And if nothing else, God gives me peace.

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And that's worth a whole lot.

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But he often then comes in and does amazing things in that negative situation.

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Seven, the devil is a liar who masquerades as truth.

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Now, maybe you've noticed how naturally we lie.

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Little children learn quickly how to avoid getting in trouble.

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Bigger children perfect it.

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And you and I, well, we're usually a little more subtle about it.

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But how easily we fall prey to the devil's scams.

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Jesus is the truth.

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And the devil has learned to masquerade as truth.

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He whispers convincing lies to us.

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He did it with even Adam.

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He did it with Jesus.

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But Jesus rebuked him.

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And he plies his trickery with us.

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But we also can resist and rebuke, as Jesus said, because we have the Spirit of Christ living in us.

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We have big open skies when it's not summer and thunderstormy.

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And there'll be these beautiful big birds flying high in the sky on the wind.

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And for a long time I thought they were eagles.

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But then I discovered they were buzzards.

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And in a sense, that's what the evil one does.

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He comes looking as much like Jesus as he can, telling us things, inviting us to things that seem good.

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But he's just tricking us.

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It's a scam, just like the phone calls you get.

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It's a scam.

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And we have to have discerning ears and eyes and heart and mind to know that this is not God, but this is.

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And he will be there for us.

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Oh, here's one of my very favorite.

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This is eight.

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God remembers that I am dust.

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You remember that God made us from dust.

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And he hasn't forgotten that.

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And this assurance in Psalm 103 encourages me day by day, every day, when I have despaired or lashed out at my prodigal

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or shaken my fists literally or figuratively at God, when I know I have fallen short of what he would like for me,

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when I have failed, when I have really blown it,

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he reminds me not that he's judging me for how bad I've been or what a failure I am.

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He says, no, I know you're made of dust.

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And I accept you.

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And we're still working.

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He's taken then the broken pieces of my life, and he makes them into something beautiful.

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He's an amazing God.

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Nine, this is one of my main mantras.

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Never settle for less than God's best.

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God tells us in Ephesians 2 10 that he has already prepared good works for us to do.

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And though he provides all that we need through his Spirit,

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we still need to choose the right things to step into his opportunities, to work hard for his glory.

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Sometimes I'm just too tired and I don't want to do it, or I have too many things on my plate to do any of them well,

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or perhaps something else looks more desirable.

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And I've told my children and myself many times, don't settle.

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Don't choose the easy way.

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Don't do what others say you should do when God has said something else.

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Never settle for less than God's best.

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I've had a lot of single friends that I've been able to encourage with that

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because they want so much to find the partner for life that they're willing to settle.

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And now in a job, in a marriage, in an opportunity, in relationships, hold out for God's best.

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And then the last one, my last of the ones I'm sharing lesson learned to remind me as I move into a new year.

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His way is always better than my way.

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When I came to Christ on that New Year's Eve 62 years ago, I didn't fully understand what I was doing.

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But this I was sure of.

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I was choosing God's way instead of my way for my life.

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I would love to say that that choice settled it, but in reality every day I have to make choices.

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Will I demand my own way?

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I am a person who likes to have her own way, maybe some of you too.

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Will I demand my way or will I believe the truths that I've just been sharing with you

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and surrender to God's way, to His will?

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Hopefully I will continue more and more to choose His way over mine.

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I hope these few highlights from my years of seeking to walk in the light will encourage you as they have guided me.

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May your next spiritual birthday be a great reminder of God's creativity, His love, and His faithfulness.

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So what about you?

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Which of my lessons spoke to you?

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Which one could you begin to apply today as you seek to walk with God and as you seek to love your prodigal?

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Because you see, God's always, He's always working.

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He's working on us and He's working on our loved ones.

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But we can cooperate and say, okay Lord, what do you want me to focus on?

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Maybe it's giving thanks and everything.

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Maybe it's not looking at the greener grass elsewhere.

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Maybe it's being content.

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Next week on January 11, we will pick up on the promises that God has made to us that are in His name.

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We started out in November with the first two and we will do three more in January

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to understand all that God has promised.

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Now we've been talking last week and this week about a lot of those kind of promises.

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But there are even more promises in His name that we'll look at.

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It's going to be an exciting time and I hope a real blessing to you.

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So let's look forward to that.

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The promises we'll see are that He is a good shepherd, that He is always with us, and that He keeps His promises.

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God is a promise keeper.

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Those are going to be great times.

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Happy New Year.

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May this be the best year of your life as you seek to walk well with the Lord

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and learn to let Him work through you to love your prodigal in ways that woo them back.

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God bless you.