The word “value” can mean several things. According to Webster, one definition is: ‘a fair return or equivalent in goods, services, or money for something exchanged’. Most musicians have used it to describe the relative length of a musical note. Another meaning is: ‘relative worth’. My question is: Do YOU Find Value in Your Life?” If so, can you define what makes it valuable? It is an important question and the answers can absolutely defeat sickness, calm anger, destroy depression, fill you with joy and make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.

For several years, Susan and I coached couples in our home and led the marriage ministry at a small church in Texas. It is one of the most fulfilling things we have ever done together and we both fell in love with the couples that participated in weekend video series like, “Laugh Your Way Through Marriage” and long-form book studies like, “Love And Respect”. Today, a week before our own anniversary, contemplating our own marriage, I am thinking about why that work is so special to us and it occurs to me that on our own, we aren’t necessarily all that good at the whole marriage thing. You see…

I’ve said it myself before. “The only New Year’s resolution I am making this year is to NOT make any more resolutions!” Why do we get so discouraged about it? The answer’s easy. Resolutions are hard to keep. If it were easy, we wouldn’t have to “resolve” to do a thing. Thankfully, I have changed my position on New Year’s Resolutions and here are a couple of reasons why: Number one, it is good to make a goal out loud. Even better to write it down. Number Two, benchmark days actually make it easier to keep resolutions. Our biggest reason for failure when it comes to resolutions is that we know the failure rate. Worse, we know OUR failure rate. So, we don’t expect to keep our resolutions. Here are 8 tips on how to make the right resolutions and how to keep them.

John Maxwell is quoted as saying “Leaders read and Readers lead.” I heard Michael Hyatt say that he couldn’t think of an exception to that. I can’t either. It is important to determine what you read and I want to give you some real help in making choices about what you read, and how to find time to do it. It’s easier than you think and it will make an amazing difference in your life. I dare say nothing has impacted my own life more than the books I have digested. Renowned businessman, Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with.”

Do you ever get the feeling that you are constantly just reacting to the events of your life instead of making a plan and then having your life react to your plan? I imagine it happens to all of us at some point. I noticed it happening to me about three years ago and came up with a series of steps to put things back on track. Now, I usually catch it before it’s completely upside down. These 7 steps are what helped me switch the tables.

On January 1, 2012, my wife and I lost our home to a house fire. Easily the most difficult event in our 25 years of marriage. It was the place where we raised our two sons. It was the place where we held a house church for two years and baptized new believers in the swimming pool. It was where we saw our sons learn music and where we made recordings in the upstairs studio. However, It was actually what happened just before and just after the fire that changed my life the most.

Have you ever determined what it would take to give you long-term satisfaction? I’m talking about the kind of satisfaction that causes people to notice a glow of satisfaction everywhere you go. I believe to understand something that is universal in human desire yet so oblique in definition it helps to examine the opposite. In other words, understanding what satisfaction “isn’t” may help you determine what it “is”.

Would you believe that there is a way to change your perspective and not only view opposition as opportunity, but also take advantage of that opportunity and end up with productive results?

Well, there is. In fact, I believe this so much, that I suggest that without the element of opposition, there is little opportunity for growth.

Today I want to share with you, three solid ways to convert any opposition into a serious opportunity. I think they will be helpful suggestions that you can remember and add to your arsenal, for converting any opposition into opportunity.

Why is it that some have it so good when others have it so bad? Isn’t THAT an age old question? Sometimes it’s put a different way: Why do THEY have it so good when WE have it so bad? I’m sure you’ve heard it… maybe you’ve said it. Maybe you’ve turned it around the other way, Why do they have it so bad and we have it so easy? Either way, we are warned against any kind of comparisons of ourselves with other people. But really, how is it harmful?

There is a conversation that I am hearing. It is one that is going on in the hearts and minds of people all over. It seems rational on one hand, but the whispering is contrary to what we should know to be truth. The conversation goes something like this:

“No one can relate to me. My circumstance is unique and God has bigger fish to fry. The details of my life are inconsequential to God.”

Indulging in this type of internal conversation is a device of your mind to help you make sense of something you were never meant to completely control.

Wait a minute… am I saying that you shouldn’t be in complete control?