It's the time of year to reflect on all our blessings. It's good to be reminded of what we have and what God has given us. But years ago, I was challenged with a thought. Can we be thankful and still be rotten towards others? Can we say we are thankful for our marriages, our families, our jobs, our children and do a remedial job? If the people were are thankful for don't know we are thankful....does it even matter how we feel?

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Can you imagine what it would have been like after God parted the Red Sea and all the people on the other side sat frustrated at how sore their feet were from walking? How frustrated would you be to see the Israelites complaining as they are literally standing in a miracle? The Israelites are not the only ones to do this. We can get so focused on our complaints, frustrations and annoyances that we don't even stop our rant to see what God has done in our favor. Is it possible for us to see God move mountains in our life and yet keep on moving through life as if it never happened?

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This world is full of comparisons these days. You can't go a few hours without seeing someone on social media, at church or the store that has a bunch of what you don't have. Do we all wish we were more confident? Maybe more disciplined or talented or put together. We all have our flaws and places we can work on. But can I ask a question? If we had it all together....would we need God? I mean, Jesus was PERFECT and He still desired and craved communion with God. We are not Jesus, no where close. We all have our flaws. So how do we get the confidence to be bold in our faith or to start a new endeavor or make new friends or whatever. We need to realize that we need to not rely on our selves, but on our God who has everything we lack. We need to grow in our GOD-confidence. 

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Let's be real, it isn't easy to receive help from others. Each one of us scoff at the idea of asking for help, especially when it comes to something hard, gross or takes a lot of time. But we are called to serve right? I mean, isn't that who Jesus was? A holy and divine servant. Isn't that what the body of Christ is supposed to do? In the early church of Acts we see that they shared all things together as one body. So if we are all too prideful to accept help, how can the body live out our calling to serve? 
If there is no one to serve, then how do we serve? 

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It's normal to feel moments in life when God feels distant, inactive, or even alive in other people's lives but not our own. Stepping in Judges 6 we are introduced to Gideon who asked God the very question that has weighed on our own hearts. "If the Lord is with us then why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about?" We are going to take a deeper look into this exact question. Today we look at Judges 6:1 to find out answers. 

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What is the desert? Is it a place that we find ourselves in and have to struggle out of? Is it the location of several bad things happening? So often our prayers are focused on the transition out of the desert. Yet, we find that God uses the desert in Scripture as the very location where He calls His people to grow, follow, trust, endure, submit, all of it. Remember the story of Hagar and Ishmael and how they became so desperate that they separated from each other so they could do in peace. God answered their prayer. He brought water. He didn't remove them from the desert, He gave them what they needed to ENDURE the desert. How would we be different if embraced the desert as an opportunity rather than a place to run from?

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Sometimes we can be so ungrateful for what God has given us. Sometimes we can be real "but" people. You read that right, "but" people. "Thanks God, I really appreciate what you've done for me, but....." Haven't we all wished that God would've done things different or wish He had moved faster or added in one detail. This is the story of the Manassites. They've finally have their promised land and with that the promise that God will help them clear the land of all the people, yet....they are "but" people. They go to Joshua, complaining that they don't have enough land, because the people don't want to get out. Instead of obeying God, they want the situation to be fixed. So here's the question: Are the Manassites being good stewards of what they've been given? Are we being good stewards of what we've been given?

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In Joshua we here about the moment that each Israelite tribe finally gains posession of the land that was alotted to them by Moses. The Levites though....they don't really get a territory, but plots of land dispersed all through out Israel. They don't get an inheritance like the others. There inheritance is God....just God. Would we be content if we gain nothing but gained all of God. If we were rich in our relationship with Him, we were able to powerfully serve Him and speak to Him on the behalf of others, yet lacked the property, wealth, and ability to create your own kingdom....would we be happy? Today we wrestle with the question, Is God Enough?

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We all know that Abraham wasn't a perfect man. In Genesis 20 we see him go through repeated offenses. But this time we get to hear his defense. When we hear his excuses can we say that we are much different? Do we not have much of the same doubts that plague our minds? Do we not become indignant with our position in life, the workplace, our families and sometimes make a dramatic scene of our hardships? When I read Genesis 20 I see a very relatable tale of a man who was human and acted in a very human way. We can all learn from this story as we battle our own humanness.

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It seems like everyone I know has gone through a time when they needed to redefine themselves. And with that comes redefining how we connect with God. Whether it be a new job, moving to a new state, having a baby, getting married, we all have periods where we have to "relearn" how to connect with God. This episode is about the questions that we can ask ourselves to help us focus in and diagnose how we need to evolve in order to connect with God more fully. 

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