WalkerFamilyLife Blog

Stayed home from church this morning trying to kick a cold I picked up while at the Biblical Counseling Training Conference in Lafayette, IN. It was an inspiring and instructional week but after 49 hours of instruction and the 11 hour drive home I was exhausted. I found myself in one of those places where my fatigue caused everything that’s going on in my life to look like an insurmountable obstacle. Ever been there?

So, honestly I was really looking forward to having some quiet hours alone this morning to do business with God. I started by going over some of the key Scriptures we covered at the conference and let them minister to my soul. Then spent some time meditating on Colossians, including a verse that has ministered a lot to me over the past few months. In Col 1:29, Paul speaks of his ministry and says, “For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.” That’s a perspective that I need to be reminded of repeatedly. Our work here is often a struggle and toil, but it is done with energy that is provided by God. Even just now I was reminded to stop and pray for God to provide the energy that I need for each day because otherwise I’ll be overwhelmed.

There are so many exciting things happening at FamilyLife and some days are truly inspiring. Others are just work. That’s what Paul said even his ministry of the gospel was like: toil and struggle. That’s normal. It isn’t all easy just because you’re walking with God.

So what should I do about it? Part of it I’ve already mentioned: realize that it’s normal and ask God for the strength to persevere. But I also think about Jesus’ words to the church of Ephesus that had lost its first love. In Rev 2:4-5 he counsels them about how to reverse that spiritual apathy by saying:

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

So what does Jesus tell the Ephesians to do:

1. Remember where you have fallen from
2. Repent
3. Do the works you did at first

I think that’s not only something we need to do when we find ourselves bored with the gospel (God forbid!) but also when the work of the kingdom seems arduous and unpleasant. We need to think back to the times in the past where we had a passion for doing His work and repent of the wrong thinking that has led us away from that point. Then, we need to get busy doing the things that we did back then. Notice that Jesus addresses a lack of love by a call to repentance and action. When the actions are right, the feelings will come.

So pray for me that I will be able to live in this truth. I need it often.

What have you learned during times when God’s work seems like drudgery? Share your comments.

The battle against cancer can be one of the most difficult journeys for a marriage. Unfortunately, the divorce statistics are very high for these couples, yet I just came across this video of a couple who persevered and leaned into their covenant to make it through. Though it’s not part of this video, a Weekend to Remember they attended while he was undergoing treatments was a significant part of their story. We will all face adversity. Will it push you toward your spouse or away from him/her? toward God or away from Him?

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of my first date with Karana. To celebrate I shared 25 of my top memories with her on Twitter and Facebook, one every 25 minutes. If you missed them, here was the list:

1. The first date and the first kiss. My what a wonderful life that day started!
2. The first day we reported for work at FamilyLife and how thankful we were for God’s provision
3. Rose petals
4. Sitting up all night in the Orlando airport waiting for a 6am flight to get home to our kids after the tornado.
5. Coming back to our hotel room to learn that a tornado had hit our home but that the kids were safe
6. Driving you home from working together at Sonic so your Dad wouldn’t worry
7. Lots of “Surprise Christmases” when we’d wake the kids up early on a random December day to open gifts
8. The way Rebekah screamed whenever she first saw us in Korea
9. The look of shock on your face when a friend told us a stranger wanted to give us the adoption money
10. Praying over a list of costs for out last adoption and asking God to provide if it was meant to be
11. The way Kyle smiled and laughed at everyone on the plane
12. Calling you when God answered our prayer for guidance on our first adoption by Dennis Rainey asking “Do you have room?” on FLT
13. The curly-haired smile of our little “Sweet Potato” and how it lit up our hearts
14. When Christine was born and the nurse said, “You just gave birth to your best friend.”
15. When Gene was born face up and the Dr bent him at the waist and said “Hi Mom!”
16. You pulling my hair in a contraction with Gene when I was trying to remind you we had decided no drugs.
17. Giving my parents mugs for Christmas 1989 that said “Grandpa” and “Grandma.”
18. Our honeymoon at Disney World as two kids who couldn’t believe we were really married!
19. The way you kept the kids away when “Daddy was working on his thesis.”
20. Coloring a FamilyLife logo divided into 100 parts each time we got 1% closer to reporting
21. When you agreed to take IBS classes with me then I abandoned you because my boss said I had to withdraw
22. Watching “Sabrina” together at the Arcadian Inn
23. Wandering through NamDaeMun street market haggling for Hanboks in Korean with calculators
24. Arriving at our hotel room for Ministry Preview full of questions and expectancy at what God would do.
25. Buying our first house together and being amazed at how God had provided so well

I have been blessed with a wife who has joined me on the amazing adventure of following God where leads. It has been the a rich life full of the best that life has to offer.

I am also very thankful for the teaching that we received from parents, church and through the ministry of FamilyLife. If you’re looking for a richer marriage, now’s a great time to learn what we did at the Weekend to Remember because through Monday it is Buy One Get One Free!

In the midst of all the talk of economic hardship, and I know it’s real, here are a couple of things to balance the negativity.

FamilyLife found itself with the largest December match opportunity in our 33 year history, more than twice any previous match. A group of donors had pledged $2 Million to match donations in December. Well, this email just went out:

GREAT NEWS from FamilyLife!

Dear Friend,

We are thrilled to report that through the generous giving of FamilyLife friends and partners like you, we fulfilled the history-making $2 million Family-to-Family Matching Challenge. Thank you for the part you played in this tremendous effort!

Then, our family had personally asked our donors and friends for help with an $11,000 need and, on December 31st, God provided in His own unique way. In fact, we just learned of the gift that fulfilled the goal yesterday and were once again overwhelmed at God’s kind and unmistakable provision.

Isn’t it just like God to take a time when the world is pulling in the sails to provide in such abundance to His work? Blessed be the Name of the Lord! Never doubt His ability to provide for your needs as well. He is more than able!

This post today on FamilyLife’s Fan Page on Facebook

Amber Roth DeGrace I wanted to say that my husband and I recently welcomed a daughter, Lotus, that was a baby ‘dreamed up’ at a FamilyLife conference at Skytop Lodge in PA last April. Thank you for helping us renew our relationship with each other, we were so blessed by our weekend together and have such a beautiful little lady as a memorial to our renewal! Blessings to you and your families in this new year.

“Not deciding is the number one cause of all the clutter – physical, emotional, and spiritual – in our lives. And if we can’t decide what to throw out of our clothes closet, how in the world are we going to decide what to throw out of our mental closets – closets that are overflowing with the debris of indecision?”

–Gail Blanke from “Throw Out 50 Things” via GTD Connect

Don Whitney has provided us some very helpful questions as you think about 2010. The original can be viewed here: http://biblicalspirituality.org/newyear.html

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

This from a recent Weekend to Remember conference guest:

“It has refocused us.  Christ has the victory this weekend.   Amen.  One weekend at a WTR does more to save our families, our churches and our nation than a year of legislation in the House and Senate.  FamilyLife and God can turn the tide of this culture.”

Visit http://www.familylife.com/groups/walkerfamilylife to join our group and save $80 per couple on a Weekend to Remember marriage conference near you.

FamilyLife has just released the latest resource from Dennis and Barbara Rainey and it is a great help for parents of young children on the issue of discipline. Best of all, it’s free online. Here’s how it’s described:

Your blender probably came with more instructions than your child, but here’s help.  Parenting experts Dennis and Barbara Rainey give straight talk on applying biblical principles to the daily grind of parenting and the often exasperating, exhausting job of training and disciplining young children.

Whether you feel clueless, or could just use some encouragement, these easy-to-understand video sessions and viewer’s guide will equip you to raise kids that you like, and who honor God. You’ll find tried and true principles, strategies, and insight for getting it right … from the start.