The other thing we get from our families of origin is our relational patterns. Our primary caregivers gave us our templates for relationships and attachments early on in our lives. Though they may have loved us deeply, they were equally broken and so they hurt us alongside that. That gave us a warped view of love and formed our relationship patterns. Discipleship calls us to investigate our relationship patterns and find out where they are not in sync with the way of Jesus and seek healing and growth.

Sin, done by you, to you, or around you, impacts you and those around you. And unless dealt with some of these impacts go from one generation to the other. Who you are today is a direct product of your family of origin, key events in your life, and where you grew up. To move forward you need to look back to identify key events in your family and generational line that have impacted and formed you, identifying where you need healing.

One of the things we inherit from our families of Origin is blessing. All families derive their name from God and He has put something of Him in all of us and some uniquely in each family.

For Jesus, it was common practice to withdraw from the crowds, go to a lonely place, and quietly be with God. This is one of the core practices of the way of Jesus. It is one of the places we get healing for our souls as we just sit beheld in the father’s loving-kindness.

Through Lent, in pursuit of radicle discipleship, we will learn to develop a rule of life that matches our rule of faith. We will be equipping you and our community to attempt to order your day and rhythms of relationships in a way that matches your faith in Jesus and is geared to creating room for God to do what only He can do in transforming you.

Lord, hear my prayer,

    listen to my cry for mercy;

in your faithfulness and righteousness

    come to my relief.

Do not bring your servant into judgment,

    for no one alive is righteous before you.

Did you know a decision can be both not wrong and unwise at the same time? Paul encourages us to live life wisely, redeeming our time. Nothing in this culture will necessarily call you to wisdom or follow Jesus. Nothing will necessarily encourage you to live life better to be better at life.

Our lives are an unfolding story. We write this story one decision at a time. When living out current moments we can oftentimes become myopic and unable to see the ultimate and end up making decisions that are good for the immediate but leave us with stories we are not so proud to tell. How can we turn this around? Is it possible in the heat of the moment to make decisions that are better for the ultimate and leave us with a story worth telling?

Our Culture's best advise is to follow one's heart. But that is never helpful as we have all experienced when later in regrets we ask ourselves, "What was I thinking?". That is because we easily deceive ourselves when our minds are made up about something. Of our hearts, scripture says they are deceitful above all things.How then can we make decisions better to make ourselves better? Learn to make yourself tell yourself the truth about each decision you make. You owe it to yourself.

Joy is a gift from God, it is also a practice we need to have. As the year ends it is easy to be aware of the disappointments from the year and where you did not see God in the ways you expected. To find joy we need to learn to see the unexpected King. The one born in a manger instead of a palace. The King has come. We need to be full of expectation while abandoning our agendas and picking God's vision and story over our own and the one from our world.The intentionally choose joy over worry and practice themselves into being joyous people, like our God is.