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Woman hiking on a winding trail at sunset with birthday text April 20
A Date With Destiny

Embracing Adventure: The Call to Follow Jesus

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At once Simon and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus. Matthew 4:20

The decision to follow Jesus is not always an easy decision to make. It sometimes requires walking away from what is familiar and stepping out into the unknown. Following Jesus often involves personal risk, but you are convinced that no matter what is at stake, the safest place to be is near the King.

You believe that the only way to find your true purpose and destiny is to drop what you are doing to follow Jesus whenever you hear Him call your name. 

Sometimes His call comes while you are managing ordinary daily duties. A day may appear to be routine, but when Jesus asks for your help, the day becomes an adventure.

As a follower, you remain attentive to the One who leads. You watch eagerly for signals indicating the need to slow down, speed up, or make a turn.

Since God designed you specifically for the path you travel, equipping you with all the necessary provisions to make it a successful journey, the only thing you lack is direction, which is why the Holy Spirit serves as your spiritual GPS.

Walking in step with Christ, your ordinary tasks become extraordinary events. As you witness miracles and discover your destiny, you find yourself happily tagging along, never letting Him out of your sight.

For this reason, you are able to avoid many pitfalls and dangers that might otherwise trip you up.

Your life depends upon closely following Christ. Without His guidance, you can easily get lost in your own struggle to attain purpose and meaning.

But, as you respond to His call, following whatever direction He leads, your horizon glows with many new opportunities. In light of this, you wonder what could be more exciting that following Jesus into the next amazing adventure.

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A Date With Destiny

Developing Spiritual Gifts through Supportive Relationships

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Happy Birthday April 15
Happy Birthday April 15

“By speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.” Ephesians 4:15

You are blessed with honest friends who offer guidance to help you discover the destiny God has laid out before you. These caring souls protect you with their prayers and support you in developing your gifts and talents.

You are grateful for their impact on your life because due to these relationships, you have risen to greater heights of spiritual and personal growth.

On some occasions, you may sense that you are lost. You get an eerie feeling that you are going in circles. These are the times when your authentic friends come to your rescue. 

You do not resent their intrusion into your confusion, but rather you welcome their encouragement and support.

Your willingness to receive honest feedback offers you many unique learning opportunities. Tapping into the experience of others, you are wise beyond your years.

You are a gifted leader and can communicate directives in clear, concise, logical steps. With this God given ability, you offer honest and reliable guidance to others who are on their own quest for knowledge and enlightenment.

This comes with enormous responsibility which you do not take lightly.

As a person after God’s own heart, you understand the value of honesty, but you do not indulge in brutal honesty.  You know that you must always choose your words carefully, so they are delivered with love and received with gratitude.

Find out more about April 15th birthday people!

A Date with Destiny – April 15

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Tetelestai Recovery

Breaking Free from Labels: Healing from Addiction

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For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

We are confident that the mental dysfunctions of our past are no longer a part of our reality, but when someone questions our sanity or sobriety, the words hang in the air and make us doubt. We wonder if we will ever be viewed as someone who is healed and delivered. Even though we are clean and have a sound mind, accusations and distrust threaten to rob us of the joy of our salvation.

Other statements that land a direct hit: “Once an addict; always an addict,” or “You are so… stupid, angry, ugly, creepy, aggressive, etc.” These insults are flung during conflicts, as an attempt to overpower and score a win. The irony is that none of the humans locked in conflict ever gain the upper hand. The enemy always does.

As we level up, we begin to recognize the powers of darkness laughing about how easily humans can be manipulated into turning on each other. We can see how every word one human throws at another during conflict or power plays serve as bricks the enemy can use to construct new strongholds in both…

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Tetelestai Recovery

Harnessing Positive Energy to Overpower Cognitive Distortions

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To pull down these internal strongholds of cognitive distortion, we speak words of life, newness, clean slate, fresh start, and positive energy. We claim power and healing in the promises of God. We absorb life-giving, life-sustaining words from our spiritual siblings. We notice words of life all around us, electrifying the atmosphere with sparks of light. We generate spiritual energy when we speak these words to ourselves and our fellow travelers. Our power intensifies as we receive words of life from Sacred Text, songs of praise, prayer, and uplifting conversations.

These energy producing words are breaking through the barriers and exposing the enemy’s hiding places. Our strongholds are crumbling like the walls of Jericho as we shout praise to God. These vibrations from our vocal cords pulverize the enemy’s garrison like a jackhammer.

The simplicity of using words of life to break down strongholds and fight spiritual battles is a major breakthrough. We speak hope and healing to ourselves and each other, then watch in anticipation as the walls begin to crumble…

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Tetelestai Recovery

Overcoming Fear and Despair: The Power of Vocal Vibrations

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We fight our battles in the spirit realm through vocal vibrations. We speak the words of God to pull down cognitive distortions that produce fear, despair, discouragement, and low self-esteem. These are the strongholds of the enemy.

Strongholds are the enemy’s Trojan horse. They are the mental constructs where the forces of darkness hide, staging attacks from within. These forts are constructed, brick by brick, through words and phrases heard over the course of a lifetime. Some of the words come from others, some come from ourselves. But ultimately, each brick in the stronghold originates from the enemy.

As we level up, we can sense that strongholds in our minds are slowly being dismantled. Some of the bricks fall and roll away.

However, some of the bricks are slung back at us. Some of these bricks are used by the enemy to build new strongholds in a different area of our lives. Often, these bricks come in the form of specific trigger words that catch us off guard. These words describe our old selves or suggest we have not really changed. The words are like bricks from the old strongholds landing hard and causing us to question our progress…

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Tetelestai Recovery

The Purpose of Tests: Cultivating Patience and Growth

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My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4

Sometimes, our tests are random and spring up like a pop quiz. Other times, an ominous test looms far in the future, and we struggle to avoid it. However, considering this passage, we need not avoid tests. They all have a purpose; even the ones we fail. If the test teaches us to be patient, with ourselves, with God, or with another human being, we have passed. With God, we are always in a win-win situation.

Our tests are to develop patience. The work of patience is to develop perfection. There is no fast track from one to the other. Each test takes time. That’s where patience does its work.

The bridge from knowledge to skill is practice.

The bridge from skill to mastery is time.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Understanding Trials: Building Faith and Patience

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“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4

As it turns out, these times when we feel spiritually depleted or disinterested are not red flags for us to fret over. They are simply tests. These temporary times when we lack inspiration or get caught up in life’s drama have no bearing on our position in Christ or our commitment to His work.

We have come to understand that the testing of our faith can never happen during good times when inspiration flows freely, we are highly motivated, and praise songs play on a loop in our heads. Times of high spiritual energy and passion are thrilling, but they can’t do the work of generating patience. Only the testing of our faith can do that…

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Tetelestai Recovery

Navigating Faith’s Highs and Lows

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As we release our addictions with the words of Jesus, “It is finished!” and settle comfortably into our new normal, we feel gratitude beyond words. The dysfunctions we struggled with in the past are fading in the distance. We are on firm footing and making solid progress.

Sometimes we make really good progress and are pleased with the distance we cover in such a short time. We feel that our relationship with God is in great shape, and we are motivated by our sense of accomplishment.

At other times, however, we feel as if we were trudging through mud, putting one foot in front of the other, lacking any drive or inspiration. We feel inadequate, overwhelmed, and disinterested. During these times, we don’t feel so great about our relationship with God. We assume He is disappointed with our lack of energy and enthusiasm.

These times are rare, but they happen often enough to make us question our stability and resolve. We wonder if one of these periods might last so long that we will just give in and give up.

We don’t want to lose what we have gained, and we don’t want to miss the joy of the journey, so the thought of trudging through the marshy swampland of doubt, discouragement, and disagreement feels very threatening.

We love the mountaintops and the flowery meadows, but we must face the fact that dry deserts and muddy bogs are also part of the expedition. We must make peace with both if we want to get where we are going.

When the roads are easy, we feel joy in looking back to see how far we’ve come. When the roads are difficult, we seem to take one step forward, two steps back. Sometimes we slip and fall. Sometimes we just stand still and shrug. Even when we do finally get on firm footing again and start to move forward, we scold ourselves for not being stronger, more resilient, or more determined…

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Understanding Divine Timing: Strategic Waiting

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Waiting on God and being certain of His blessings is not pie-in-the-sky or wishful thinking. This faith choice is not presumptuous or improper. Blessings are the divine energy of God empowering us to succeed because we choose to believe in His goodness. He has equipped us with a divine destiny. He wants to see us succeed as much as we do.

And so, we wait for what God has promised, in the same way we might wait at a bus stop, in eager anticipation. We aren’t sitting at some random corner, hoping a bus might drive by. We are positioned at the right place at the right time, waiting for what we know is on its way. We aren’t waiting to see if a hopeful future will appear. We are waiting with confidence, certain of it.

Obviously, it would be silly to wait on a country road, expecting the city bus to magically appear. In the same way, we do not wait for God, based on our own whims and wishes. We examine His words when we are waiting for our miracles, just like we would examine a bus schedule to be sure of our direction.

We don’t hop on the bus headed east, when we are trying to go west. In the same manner, we don’t claim a scripture about healing when we are trying to find a job. Specific promises deliver specific results, so we search our Sacred Text to find the words we need…

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