Life is best lived when there is a goal in mind. There is no need to impress or achieve in order to gain the favor of God the Father or Christ the Son. Our standing is perfected, secured, and solidified. If we live out our purpose, run the race and fix our eyes on Jesus we will achieve the goal.

Always having to fight is so tiring. Being anxious and depressed is draining and leads lots to seek a way out. But we can rest in the God, who works on our behalf and wants good things for us.

Christ is with us. The biggest fear of a Christian being separated from God. In the midst of my struggles I felt like I was separated from everyone and everything, but mainly God, and knowing God, but feeling like he isn’t with you is devastating, but we are not alone.

One of my biggest struggles is feeling like I needed to earn God’s love. My being depressed and anxious somehow meant that God was unhappy with me or that I wasn’t in his favor. But we are made new creations in Christ and accepted by God.

There is a misconception that Christians shouldn’t struggle with depression or anxiety. Yet, we see main characters all throughout the bible who felt such despair that they thirsted for death.

Reading our Bible on a regular basis isn't just something to check off our list. It helps us build a foundation in our lives built on purpose. We can be confident that Scripture is the very Word of God. And we won't become everything God wants us to be without listening to his Word - in fact, we need Scripture to become mature believers.

The Gospel isn’t just the Good news, it’s the best news. The Church should never be ashamed of what we have been gifted. Rather we should take every opportunity to share and celebrate the gift we have graciously been given.

This is a specific instruction to Timothy himself. But it applies to all of us, we all have a gift, we all experience the moving of the Spirit. It is sinful to sit and let Church pass you by. The abled bodied do the work that those who aren’t physically able can’t. We should all lead in the area we can.

A successful church prays. We must pray and do so purposely. Our success is determined by our connection to God. Prayer is that means of connection.

As Christians we have the power of the truth. As the old superhero adage goes, with great power comes great responsibility. How we yield the truth is of ultimate importance. Our actions, and discourse must always come from love.