The moment you wrap your heart around the fact that God knows what you need and promises to meet those needs, your life will radically change. The question that needs asking is, “Who - or what - is your master?” God loves and takes care of us. The idols we put in His place demand that we spend our lives taking care of them.

God wants us to keep pushing forward. He calls us to push past our fears, insecurity, and our convenience. When we live in the desert of the unexpected, there will be giants in the land of freedom. We have to keep pushing forward, to make room for God to show us real life, after the unexpected happens.

Here’s the truth:  we’re all infected with sin sickness. Without Jesus, our sin keeps us far from God. He can do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. He knows how easily we settle for what is easy and how we tend to live a smaller life that what He’s called us to.

Unexpected events can condition you to live a life of fear. When we live in anticipation of the worst, we no longer live the way we were designed. God made us to trust Him every minute of every day. When we start to trust Him, we begin to live in anticipation of the best that He has for us. 

The facts can change but the truth never does. Truth can move us from hopelessness to hoping for what can be. When we choose to be prisoners of hope, we exchange the prison of our own hopeless thoughts for the strong fortress of God’s truth and anchor ourselves to His perspective.

Every parent has asked these questions, and every parent has gone in search of the answers. We feel like we have the daunting task of figuring it all out by ourselves, but we don't. The church is here to help you answer those questions as you rethink your family.

When someone criticizes us, our first response is often to fight back or run away. It’s important to gauge whether or not the source of the criticism can be trusted. If God isn’t in someone’s words, then let them go. The only true safe place is right in the presence of God.

Is there someone in your life that constantly makes mountains out of mole hills? It’s hard to know how to give the right amount of help to needy people. Sometimes it’s difficult to discern what is a real need and what is not. It’s sometimes difficult to love needy people, even as they face their consequences. 

Is there someone you can’t say no to? Is there someone who always makes you feel guilty? If you’ve ever been manipulated, you know what it feels like to have your rest stolen.  Controlling people often manipulate out of fear. They are the source of their own strength - not God.

Unbelief forfeits rest. Losing faith will begin to steal your rest, until it finally wears on your faith in God, if you don’t learn how to stay strong in your relationship with Jesus. St. Augustine said it best, “God, You have made us Yourself, O Lord, and our soul is restless until it finds rest in You.”