Our minds are a lot like our bodies. Just as physical strength varies from person to person, mental strength varies as well. Two people can experience the same type of problem; however, how they handle the problem can be completely different.

Recently at Emmanuel Church, Pastor Danny completed a weekend message series on marriage and relationships called Making It Work. During the series, he was joined by his wife of 21 years, Jackie Anderson, to share insights and principles on how to cultivate a healthy marriage. This series included a Q+A with questions submitted by Emmanuel Church attendees. In this episode of the Breakthrough Podcast, they answer more of your questions.

Intensity is not always easy to grasp and cultivate. Almost all of us can get excited and make progress for a short period, but maintaining it consistently to the finish line can be challenging. Contrary to what we might believe, we don't stay in one place when we stop moving forward. We start to slip backward.

2020 has come to an end. Many of us are ready to turn the page and look forward to a new year of possibility and opportunity. The prospect of a fresh start motivates us to set resolutions, goals, and aspirations for the year ahead. But if you want 2021 to be the year you push past your setbacks and have the breakthroughs you desire, don't start by setting goals and making resolutions.

As 2020 ends, the world feels chaotic and unstable. With a global pandemic, racial tension, economic uncertainty, and political divisiveness, data shows that many people are struggling to cope. 45,000 Americans are committing suicide each year. 72,000 have experienced an overdose. And for the third year in a row, the average lifespans for Americans has shortened.

Our culture is all over the place when it comes to what is acceptable and unacceptable sexual behavior. Our world is hyper-sexualized and many of us walk around with temptation right in our pockets in the form of our cell phones. Pornography use is skyrocketing and leading to broken marriages and relationships. 20 million new cases of STDs are transmitted each year. And, arguable most tragic of all, sex trafficking is an epidemic in this country and all over the world.

It’s a safe bet that you have to deal with a difficult person at some point during your day. Whether it’s someone negative, pessimistic, aggressive, passive-aggressive, doesn’t follow through, or gossips, we all have to interact with people who can sometimes make life hard. If we don’t figure out how to navigate these relationships, we’re going to live a life filled with high levels of frustration and an absence of joy and peace.

Are you nervous? It’s easy to look at the state of the world right now and feel anxious, overwhelmed, and even afraid. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, upcoming U.S. election, economic uncertainty, racial tension and unrest, and chaotic fall school semester, many of us are feeling on edge.

There is so much negativity in our world today, and it’s easy to get swept up into the flow of negative news, opinions, and media. Optimism is difficult. Staying positive means we have to swim upstream to break through the current of pessimism. The good news, though, is that we have a choice. While it doesn’t come naturally to most of us, we can choose to be positive.

Are you intimidated by prayer? Do you struggle to make time to pray consistently? Do you feel unworthy of talking to God? Has disappointment over unanswered prayers in the past kept you convinced that prayer doesn’t work?