Learn to kiss the wave that throws you against the rock of ages. By doing so you will find strength through life’s storms - Mark 4:35-411.We have a choice in life, and that choice is this: we can either let obstacles destroy us, overtake us, and knock us down, or we can use them to our advantage.2.In Mark’s Gospel we find the account of when Jesus calmed a storm.3.Often, when we go through seasons of suffering or pain, we are eager to get out of those situations. 4.“Sometimes, God delivers us from suffering. More often than not, He delivers us through it”5.When we let the past control us, we surrender ourselves to unhealthy coping mechanisms that keep us trapped in time.6.God can heal you of past trauma and pain, and through that season of suffering allow you to grow healthy attributes along the way.

If you want to change your life, start by changing your story. - Numbers 11:1-6If you are not satisfied with your story, or if you do not find fulfillment in the way you have lived your life up tothis point, you are not alone. We all write a story with the lives that we have built, but it is not necessarily thestory God has for us. When we find discontentment or dissatisfaction in our lives, it is usually due to beingunhappy with the way our story is unfolding. The good news, however, is that God wants to rewrite your story.God wants to flip the script of your life and give you a new name—and a new story1.The story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt is a story of change and renewal.2.Changing our story involves facing obstacles.3.It’s important to understand that is one-sided: God’s grace does all the work.4.Everyone has a past, and the past holds us back from the future God desires forus.5.One of the biggest hurdles holding us back from flipping the script are the thoughts that weallow to play and replay over and over in our minds

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy ... 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:14-15You can’t control what people do, but you can control how you respond.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

It’s better to have less of what doesn’t matter and more of what does.Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 4:6“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

If you are around the wrong people, listening to the wrong voices, and living for the wrong values, what seems right will often be wrong!

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me really sucks. God let me down. I’m overwhelmed with anxiety, depression and hopelessness. Because of the hell I’ve been through, I’m quitting and never going back to church. Philippians 1:12-13 BPV