For over 14 years I have worked volunteer either being a facilitator for a mental health support group, worked at a drug recovery center, and also volunteered for a veterans organization to help give money for war veterans who needed food, household items or just talking. I was able to help my community for a long time. Now I’m just taking care of me for a change.
Helping your community strengthens social bonds, fosters personal growth, and contributes to a better future for everyone. It offered a sense of purpose and fulfillment in our lives.
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
I still live my life as I did when Covid was running rampant. I didn’t believe the masks or staying 6 feet away was the answer. And from what I’ve seen the vaccines have caused more health issues.
I didn’t change my life when Covid ran its course and I don’t now. Eating well and using sanitizers and trusting God was how I lived my life then and what I do now.
To see so many people living in fear was crazy. The government used covid to bring fear and then could lock up and dictate how they lived their lives. It was heartbreaking to watch.
There are some key themes and interpretations between the Middle East and the Book of Revelation.
Jerusalem as a focal point:
Jerusalem is a central location for both conflict and ultimate peace, with nations gathering against it before Jesus’s return.
The Kings from the East:
The Bible speaks of “kings from the east” who will move westward across the Euphrates River, potentially signifying a large army or coalition of nations.
The Euphrates River:
The drying up of the Euphrates River is mentioned as a sign of the end times, preparing the way for these “kings from the east.”
The Return of Jesus:
Many believe that the events in the Middle East will culminate in the return of Jesus who will then establish a kingdom of peace and justice.
The Valley of Jehoshaphat:
This Valley is mentioned in Joel 3:2 as a place where God will gather the nations for judgment and is often interpreted as a location for the “battle of Armageddon.”
The Millennium:
After the event of the end times, a period of peace and prosperity known as a millennium, is expected with Jesus rolling from Jerusalem.
Nations and Israel:
Some interpretation suggest that in the end times, nations will come to Jerusalem to worship and learn from the Jewish people about their God.
The role of the Antichrist:
Some interpretation suggest that I figure known as the antichrist will play a key role in the event leading up to the end times, potentially setting up a military headquarters in the region.
If you’re wondering why so much unrest and chaos is happening in the world, this may be why. No one knows the time of the end, except for God Himself.
Bible prophecy, envisions peace in the region and two stages. First, there will be a fault peace engineered by a false messiah. Then we will see, and even greater and enduring peace between nations created by the true Messiah, and this peace will endure forever.
I believe getting ourselves ready for Jesus’s return is more important than ever.
You and I never have to fall prey to the devil. If we can shut every door, close every window, and seal every place in our lives through which the enemy would try and access us, we can prevent him from getting into the middle of our lives.
We can become so discouraged in life that sometimes we seek solutions in unhealthy places. When we are in pain physically or mentally, all we want is relief, and if we’re not careful we can let the devil in unknowingly. Then our only hope is to run to the Father and hide in Him.
Psalm 20:1-2 tells us in times of trouble,
“May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high, send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support from Zion.”
We shouldn’t allow negative feelings or thoughts to overtake us. Emotions are good passengers, but not good drivers. Never trust your feelings. Satan and his minions uses feelings to derail us from God’s purposes for our lives.
Remember that you are loved by God, beyond what you can imagine. The favorite of God is over your life, and God gets pleasure in pouring His grace over your life. God is 100% pleased with you because of Jesus.
As I child I always thought If I did everything “perfect” my mother would love me. The problem was that I was never “perfect” enough for her.
But God looks at us through His eyes which make us perfect because Jesus took our sin. It’s the enemy’s job to keep feeding us lies about ourselves and to convince us that God is not pleased with our lives.
There are 5 common lies the enemy tell us:
The church is not effective.
The Bible says God will send you help from the sanctuary. It is in the church where we get our strength in fellowship with like minded believers. The joy of the Lord remains our strength. This happens when we are connected to a good church.
2. God will not be faithful to you.
God will not keep His promises is a lie from the pit of hell. God always keeps His promises to His children.
“Let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” – Hebrews 10:23
God is so faithful to His word, the Bible tells us,
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful. For He cannot deny Himself” -2 Timothy 2:13
3. God is not going to answer your prayers.
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” -James 5:16
The word “fervent” means having or displaying a passionate intensity. While God is hearing us, some have stopped praying with passion and intensity.
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous” -Psalm 34:15-19
We are righteous because of what Jesus has done for us, and every time we open our mouths the Father hears us.
4. Your sins are not forgiv…
This is the reason Jesus came to earth. His complete purpose was to forgive us and take away our sins. Our sins are forgotten once we repent and ask for forgiveness. We can stand before God without a single fault.
“Yet not he had reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before Him” – Colossians 1:22
Jesus canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14). We are never as holy as after we take communion. We are forgiven our sins and able to turn away from them.
5. We are not worthy of God’s love and blessing.
“See how much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are” -1 John 3:1
Never believe the lies of the enemy. You are perfect in the sight of God.
I am not like anyone. I am unique in my own way. God made me that way.
Each of us are unique to reflect the vases of divine creativity in love. We are cracked into the distinct purpose, like pieces of a grand mosaic-different, yet part of a whole system.
Psalm 139:13-14 tells us that we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made,” each of us knit together with intentionality.
We all have our diverse, perspectives, gifts, and quirks.
Our differences could nudge us towards a connection needing each other strengths to thrive. But all too often they drive us apart.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 Paul wrote,
“For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being, are one body, so also in Messiah.”
Jesus told us to love other like-minded people and fellowship with them. The body is not the church, but the people in it make up the church. We are supposed to work our unique gifts to make up the body as a church and do God’s work.
The Remnant church refers to a group of believers who remain faithful to the core teachings and practices of the faith, even in times of widespread apostasy or moral decline. The idea of the Remnant church is rooted in the belief that throughout history, a faithful remnant has upheld the true principles of the faith, regardless of prevailing trends or challenges.
The Remnant’s beliefs are centered around the authority of the Bible as the infallible Word of God and the final authority on matters of faith and practice.
The remnant adheres strictly to the teachings of the scriptures and strive to live a life of holiness and obedience to God’s commandments. They firmly believe in the second coming of Jesus and the importance of being spiritually prepared for God’s return. The remnant strongly emphasize personal salvation through faith in Jesus and the necessity of being part of the faithful remnant that remains true to God’s teachings.
The mission of the Remnant is to uphold the teachings of the gospel and be a beacon of light in a world seen as darkened by sin and apostasy.
The concept of the remnant is a subset of believers who uphold the true teachings of faith and maintain their commitment to God’s commandments.
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?
I would rather inspire others to create or achieve something incredible because of me instead of having something named after me.
Having my name on a building or street is static, a monument of something I’ve already done. I would rather spark someone else to push their boundaries, to change the world.
I want to leave a legacy that keeps growing beyond myself.
To get rid of any problem, we have to get to the root cause. A structured approach which involves identifying the underlying reasons of an issue, rather that just addresses the symptoms.
Tracing a problem to its origins:
This rings true with anything in life. For example if you go to the doctor for a headache, the doctor will more than likely give you a prescription to get rid of the headache, but won’t address why your getting the headache in the first place. What’s the cause of the headache? High blood pressure, stress, high or low blood sugar, dehydration etc…
Here is how I approached my problem with depression and anxiety using the root cause analysis (RCA).
Understand the problem:
Define the problem. Clearly articulate the issue you’re trying to solve.
Gather Data. Collect relevant information about the problem, including when, where, and how it occurred.
Timeline. Create a timeline of events leading up to the problem to understand the sequence of events.
Ask Why? Continuously ask why to delve deeper into the causes.
Brainstorm. Facilitate brainstorming sessions to gather a wide range of potential causes.
2. Identify Potential Causes:
Categorize causes. Organize potential causes into categories. Like I showed in the example with the headache.
Consider multiple factors. Recognize that problems often have multiple contributing factors, not just a single root cause.
Analyze causal relationships. Such as if you are dehydrated it causes high blood pressure in which both can be causing the headache.determine which one is most significant.
3. Determine the root cause (s):
Dig deeper. Keep asking why to pinpoint the underlying cause. Why am I dehydrated? Not drinking enough water, or a side effect from a meditation. Are your ill, vomiting or diarrhea, which can lead to headaches.
Prioritize causes. Focus on the most impactful root cause to insure a solution is effective.
Validate findings. If trying this solution doesn’t work, go to the next possible cause.
4. Develop and implement solutions:
Develop countermeasures. Create solutions that address the root cause, not just symptoms. For example I find if I wear sunglasses outside my headaches are less, because of light sensitivity.
Implement solution. Put the solution into action and monitor its effectiveness.
Evaluate the results. Regularly assess the impact of the solution to ensure that the problem is resolved and doesn’t reoccur.
Jesus came into the world to flip the script of a fallen world and Satan’s influences. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection broke the stronghold of sin and by extension, the hold Satan had on humanity. Colossians 2:15 says He, disarmed the powers and authorities” through the cross and 1 John 3:8 puts it bluntly, “The reason the Son of God appeared as to destroy the devil’s work.” It was kind of like a cosmic knockout punch to evil’s dominion.
I think sin’s power isn’t just about our personal screw-ups but a deeper enslavement, a debt we could not pay. And Jesus stepped in as the perfect sacrifice. The Passover Lamb (Jesus) meets the ultimate showdown that canceled that debt and dismantled Satan’s leverage.
The resurrection was the clincher. Deaths and sins big enforcer gets wrecked and the “fallen” part of the world starts getting redeemed. And the book of Revelation significantly Revelation 29 tees up Satan’s final defeat, when he’s locked up for good.
It’s not so much about evil vanishing right now because plenty of mess still lingers. It’s more about the decisive win already locked in. It’s about an already but not yet being locked in deal. Victory is secured, but the full clean up is still unfolding. It’s a hope we can have the trumps the gloom of a broken world.
The Lord has given us His Spirit to help us walk through life. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be given to believers as a gift, a divine helper and guide. The Holy Spirit guides believers in their decisions, thoughts, and actions, helping them to live according to God’s will.
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” – Galatians 5:25
It’s important to keep in mind that Jesus promised He would give believers the Holy Spirit, to help guides us in life.
The Holy Spirit is not intangible or only available to help “super” holy people and believing in the Holy Spirit is not a weird hyper spiritual theology or for only certain denominations.
John 14:16 tells us that Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit is His gift for all believers. The Holy Spirit guides us in all truth (John 16:14). Gives us the words we need when we need them (Luke 12:12) and counsels us (John 14:26).
Since we know these truths, we know the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to help us as we walk through life. This is what it means to keep in step with the Spirit. We can allow Him to lead us as we move through life. We can listen for His voice and follow His lead, just as the disciples followed Jesus when He was on earth. We can keep in step with Him, and walk by His Spirit.
There are places He wants us to go, tasks He wants us to accomplish, gifts He wants us to use, attitudes He wants us to change, and words He wants us to speak for His glory and to share His love. So that means when the Holy Spirit says go, we go. When He prompts us to say something to someone, we say it. When we invites us to confess sin and repent, we do it. He will give us opportunities to share His love.
Keeping in step with the Holy Spirit means that we listen to the Lord in humility and are quick to respond, not out of legalism, but out of love for Jesus.
Walking with the Holy Spirit isn’t complicated, but it does mean that we have to take time to listen and be sensitive to how He is leading us.
“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and the fear of the Lord” -Isaiah 11:2
From Pity to Praise 