8 Tips for Stressed Parents

To be a parent and thus an educator is a great responsibility and at the same time a great challenge nowadays. Associated with this, however, is a blessing, or should we say an emotional reward, an emotional bond with one's own offspring that cannot actually be surpassed. That is why many married couples still want to have children in this postmodern age.

Education in the Postmodern Era

Older age groups are still consciously aware of how modernity has changed into postmodernism over the past fifty years. The whole of life and with it the social education system has changed. Especially in rich Europe and the USA we are so gifted with goods and variety that it has become great challenges.

Practice early on what you want to become an addiction professional! Be careful with such toys!

Pampering versus Discipline

Our thinking has changed. When it comes to raising children, hardly anyone thinks about the long-term influence of this or that decision or non-decision on the child. Many young married couples let go as much as possible and are happy when everything goes reasonably well.

Saying NO or YES at the right moment has sometimes become an art. (BLOG) Christian parents in particular, who help their children on their way to heaven and want to make them strong for later life, so that they do not learn to live 'in this world' but rather learn principles and beliefs from the heavenly world, are particularly challenged .

Discipline, says the verse in Galatians chapter 5, verses 22-23, is one of the gifts of God if one cultivates one's relationship with Jesus and takes it seriously. So it seems to be a divine principle. Discipline has a lot to do with Emotional Intelligence (BLOG), a topic that is extremely important for a happy life.

Pampering means saying a YES where a NO would have been necessary so that the child learns principles that will strengthen them for adulthood. (BLOG) The other way around, it can happen that important interests and needs of the child are given a NO, where a YES would have enabled support and strengthening.

Sooo sweet! Like the poodles, children can wrap you around their finger. If you as a parent have a tendency to become defenseless, then think about how you can support one another in this.

Here are a few tips that we hope will be applicable to you, dear reader:

1. The Question of Guilt

• Many parents are quick to feel guilty that their child is having problems with obedience or social interaction with their peers.

• They may blame their genes, or shift the blame to their ancestors, possibly the spouse.

• Whatever the child's temperament, there is still plenty of time and opportunities to adapt it to Christian norms. However, when the child has reached puberty, then important principles should have been saved.

• Every child has its own personality. That's what makes it unique. Encourage all that will be important to the child in adulthood. For example, dealing with forgiveness, giving, obedience, saying excuses and living, taking responsibility for animals and toys, keeping order, these are topics that should be considered.

2. Borderline Experiences

• It is clear that particularly intelligent children always want to explore a topic up to its limit, and often beyond the limit. Children who have strong intrinsic motivation (BLOG) are particularly active in this regard.

• What is OK and what is NOK? An OK and NOK conceal important values ​​and principles that will help the child to accept boundaries better, then to understand them and later to live them themselves.

• There are children with a strong propensity for power and independence. This actually shows up later as a strength and leads to strong individuality. But here, too, there are limits set by our moral biblical understanding. When power leads to responsibility, that's great. When independence leads to willingness to serve, that's wonderful.

3. Authority and Respect

When parents live in authority among themselves, the wife respects her husband, and the husband really loves his loved one (Eph 5:28), this will have a strong positive influence on the children. Reverence for good rules, respect for fellow human beings and the unknown, acceptance of the unpleasant and appreciation of the beautiful, all of this has its influence on the values ​​of the child.

In puberty, boys and girls look for boundaries that they can cross. Some are very successful at this. Pubescent young people want to redefine themselves, in relation to society and also to the family.

4. Puberty

• Many parents fear puberty. If this is prepared a little, then it works out much better. Puberty is characterized by the child's new self-knowledge and sociality, the new perception of society and thus the adaptation of the boundaries to a ‘new world’.

• The relationship between father and daughter in particular should be encouraged before puberty. The daughter changes not only emotionally, but also physically. If the father appreciates that and takes pleasure in her, unconditionally, then there is less danger that a boy will take advantage of her insecurity and play his game with her.

• In the early twenties, when reality has caught up with the now grown-up children, they will be ünft sensible ’again and mostly very grateful. Grateful for all the barely ascertained boundaries and principles, the value of which they now recognize.

5. Team player

• Children like to play in a team. The family is such a team. It is therefore important to encourage this teamwork, to let team happen again and again and not to endanger it through overreacted frustration. Mutual fellowship should become a joy and a wish. Spending time together, maybe even on vacation, is a privilege for everyone.

• Playing in a team means accepting and living the values ​​of the team. This strengthens the team spirit. A family as a team is priceless. Our family has experienced this especially through our lived musicality. Various appearances and the production of 7 CDs have welded us together. Today these are wonderful memories of one of the most beautiful family times.

6. Self-discovery

• We parents wish the very best for our children. This includes that the child learns to accept himself for what it is and to create something special from it for the environment. Self acceptance is most important. The greatest role models are of course the parents.

• If there is constant quarreling and reproaching each other, the fears of children cannot be replaced by love. The social and self-competence suffers. (BLOG)

• If, as a father or mother, I am very dissatisfied with myself or my partner, this quickly leads to unwise behavior towards the children. You spontaneously make wrong decisions, need hurtful words and act myopically.

• Therefore, every parent is challenged to constantly maintain their own balance; if it doesn't exist, we should look for it immediately. Everyone has their own strategies. For Christians this means to go to JESUS ​​immediately and ask HIM for strength and wisdom and love, which he would like to give us in abundance.

Maintaining quiet time with an interesting book has many positive effects. Being able to switch off and deal with an important topic in literary form is quality of life.

7. Maintain quiet time

In order not to be a victim of this postmodern world and to be swept away by it, it is important to keep reorienting yourself. Christians do this best in the morning and in the evening with a time of devotion with our Lord and Master.

Quiet time is not only important for your own personal competence, but also for social skills (BLOG).

It is in contact with our Creator, among other things. about that he can replace our fears with his overflowing love. This will make us mature and wise and help us to face all the challenges with the children properly.

Perhaps you can still remember the many spray shops. A symbol of rebellion and social discontent. Rebellion always finds its forms of expression. The passive form leads to social withdrawal.

I admire each of you very much, and I hope this blog has helped you fulfill your important responsibility. In these final paragraphs I want two or three final thoughts straight to

The mothers and fathers of very rebellious children.

I am particularly concerned about you.

It is clear that your job is a difficult one and there are times when you feel like throwing in the towel. But keep calm. One day you will look back on this difficult time of conflict and be grateful that you stayed on track - that you continued to do the right thing for your children, which God gave you for a period of time.

This era will pass so quickly and the present pressures will seem insignificant. What will then be important to you are the loving relationships you have built with your family, even if other parents have run away or buried themselves in work. But you have the knowledge and the conviction that you have accepted your responsibility and raised the children to be children of God.

Therefore, I hope that you will resist the temptation to feel deprived because of your son or daughter's difficult temper. You are not alone. A previous survey of 3,000 parents found that 85 percent of families had at least one strong-willed child. So you are no exception. That's human nature. Most of us who have raised two or more children have gone through some of the same stresses that you experience.

We survived and so will you. It's great that you don't give up and stick with it.

What is good for rebellious children is experiencing interesting stories with mom and / or dad. Shared experiences mean: I love you. Therefore, focused attention is a cure and miracle cure for all children.

Perhaps one last IMPORTANT tip at the end:

CONCENTRATED ATTENTION

1. By observing and asking why, you can get closer to the inner needs of your rebellious child. There are always reasons for such behavior. Maybe it struggles to accept its siblings, ie. it doesn't feel loved enough.

2. This love can be nurtured through focused attention. Take this child and spend maybe 10-15 minutes a day with them all alone. Nobody should disturb you. You are looking for eye contact and maintain your inner posture using moments and a voice that say:

I LIKE YOU, I LOVE YOU.

This method is particularly advantageous for fathers, because they are often away all day. As a teacher, I have to say that where fathers do this to their children, they suddenly perform better at school too. Sure, performance is not the most important thing, but what matters is that the child begins to heal from the inside out and also behaves more socially competent. It will be eternally grateful to you.

Premarital Sex – Pros and Cons

The newest studies on this subject have come to some extremely interesting conclusions. Both parents and young people have much food for thought and opportunities for growth.

The Current Situation

People who are 50 and older say that today’s society is not what it used to be! Evidently they are thinking of past norms and standards, of which our attitude toward sexuality is a part. In addition, the family as a sacred unit is showing signs of dying. New forms of relationships are being introduced. These are a far cry from yesteryear’s societal and biblical traditions.

Modern and different relationships are in. Old, uptight inhibitions of the past are thrown overboard in favor of new experiments. Past ethics and morals are, generally, consciously ignored. Every person should be able to choose his or her or its own gender. Fascinating (and scary) thought! Where might it lead us?

When it comes to premarital sex, there are countries where it remains taboo. Among these are Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, China and Israel. At the other end of the spectrum, countries where it is more readily accepted as the new “normal” are Germany, France, Spain and Italy. The USA is closer to the middle, between these two mindsets.

In the second list of countries there is also a shift in attitude toward divorce and affairs, and these have also become more commonplace. Sex, whenever and with whom ever you want it, is seen as comparable with food and other matters of enjoyment. Lust is in. Some people’s lives declare, "I’m going to enjoy life to the fullest and nobody can stop me! After all, that’s what life is all about!" Is it really?

Every teenager’s dream: a loving, lifelong partner with whom to share unfettered joy and happiness. This is, unfortunately, a dream that too often ends in a nightmare. It shouldn’t be that way. It would really be worth the effort to learn how to avoid making such a disaster your own experience.

Questions

Observant and thoughtful people may ask themselves the following questions:

• What are the advantages of having sex before marriage?

• What advantages are there in waiting until marriage?

• What are the consequences of living together outside of marriage?

Study

Between 2006 and 2009, 2035 US citizens answered the comprehensive 300-question "Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire". All the participants were in heterosexual relationships.

Results

This study clearly showed that the longer a couple waits for sexual intimacy, the better sexual satisfaction, communication, stability and happiness can be expected in marriage.

Some may interject the importance of finding out their level of sexual compatibility before getting tied down. Although that could actually be a good argument in favor of premarital relations, reality demonstrates that sexual reserve allows couples to develop their communication and social skills. It seems to be problematic, when early sexual experiences fix the attention mostly on physical and sexual aspects of a relationship rather than on other vital values such as education, direction in life, common goals, family and other deal-breaking subjects.

When the focus is directed toward the physical aspect of a relationship and not so much on mind and spirit, many couples are completely surprised to discover, after less than two years of marriage, who they are actually married to. Suddenly other values become more important. Sex loses its amazing appeal. Everyday life kicks in with other needs, motives, values and goals.

Frühzeigitge Early sexual experiences produce a lower level of commitment, a natural tendency to compare one’s partner with previous lovers, and make break-ups more probable. This was verified in a study published in 2012 in which SASSLER et al. examined the connection between the timing of sexual intimacy entering a relationship and its quality.

Summary of Pros and Cons

"Sexual restraint before marriage produced better relationships after marriage, independent of education, number of previous lovers, religion and duration of relationship."

So it seems there are no long-term advantages to be harvested from premarital sex, really only disadvantages. Some disadvantages include the reduction of one’s ability to bond, and a decrease in one's foresight and sense of responsibility. True love is not primarily about physical enjoyment, but much more about emotional and mental values. These are best developed in the early stages of a relationship. Couples who follow this principle will naturally have happier marriages, because they will have laid a good foundation before trying to build their “house”.

Building relationships on physical appearance is a race against time, because beauty is only skin deep. Time changes everything. Those who build on mind and soul discover infinite potential in their relationship.

Wisdom and reason are perfect (and often missing) ingredients in a recipe for love that will facilitate positive development. There are still young people who choose to stand up against the pressure of peers and society. They prefer a better way, the path less traveled. That will make all the difference in their quests to achieve their own personal versions of 'marital bliss' and 'happily ever after'.

Good to Know

• Relationships that grow slowly are generally of higher quality

• Couples who had sex within a month had the worst results

• Sexual activity always marks a turning point in a relationship

• Emotional intimacy is more likely to lead to sexual intimacy than the other way around

• Couples who know and understand each other well have no trouble being intimate with each other later

• When a couple begins with sex, their focus often remains there

• The strong desire for sex often inhibits the development of other important areas like commitment, the ability to bond and commonalities

• Good sex is often mistaken for love

• Immature sexual affairs lead to unhealthy emotional complications that seldom end well

• Stress can easily arise in a “quick” relationship when one partner or the other demonstrates more commitment than the other

• Couples in such relationships tend to be less content and invest less energy in their relationships, express only marginal quality in the sexual and emotional aspects of their relationships, are less happy and have poorer communication, which leads to more conflicts.

Paradox: Those who concentrate most on sexual gratification end up robbing themselves of it.

Marriage – Why Bother?

Studies show:

• The quality of a relationship is clearly dependent on the manner in which the beginning is conducted.

• Unmarried men report significantly less contentment in many areas of life than married men who did not live together before marriage.

• Men who lived with their partners before marriage exhibited a significantly weaker ability to communicate. The same applies to women.

• Living together out of wedlock generally leads to poorer quality in marriages. Couples that “slip” into living together are especially likely to end up unhappy and instable.

Ref: BOGI Nr140

I’m sorry to say it, but there are very few people who really understand what true love is. If a person did not receive enough true love and doesn’t know where to get it, they won’t know the potential it carries, and may end up settling for less. That is just so sad! Especially since everybody is hungry for love! eigenlich ist, (BLOG)

The question that may have come up between the lines:

What is true love anyway?

Young people have a right to love. Unfortunately, many who have a very limited experience with true love in childhood try to make up for the lack as soon as they are old enough to carry the responsibility for their own lives. Depending on their understanding of love, the fruit of their early childhood training becomes visible in their relationships.

Many feel unloved, misunderstood and lonely inside. They try to compensate for these negative feelings with a love affair. They have no idea that the emotions they feel have nothing to do with true love. They think the stronger the butterflies in their stomachs, the greater their love. This is a huge deception propagated by Hollywood! Romantic movies intoxicate the senses, causing people with a great need for love to project these perfect pictures onto their imperfect partners and lull them into a false sense of security.

Infatuation <> True Love

Statistics show that it takes about two years of marriage for a couple to begin to realize what true love is made of. This shows that our understanding of love is often not really well developed. Here is a table with a few comparisons:

In the carelessness of youth, many things can happen that cause regret. While it is true that wisdom comes with age, it would definitely be an advantage for the youth if they could understand these things earlier in life.

Everyone who understands these two 'systems' is welcome, even requested, to help the many unknowledgeable young people in their spheres of influence not to bring unnecessary suffering and pain upon themselves and others.

Thank you for your help!

EQ and Faith in the 21st Century

What has become of the Church over these 2000 years? Has it been replaced by more important values from the post-modern era? Have we built our own bridge from belief to capitalism? Is there still any real, reasonable belief? What does this faith look like? What characteristics would you give it?

Perhaps you, dear reader, were able to read the previously published blogs on EQ. For new readers I would like to recommend the following links:

EQ-Definition - EQ-AreasOfLife - EQ1-MarriageAndFamily -

EQ2-Job - EQ3-Health - EQ4-EveryDayLife

As a reminder: The five areas of social life:

1. MARRIAGE u FAMILY (mutual understanding based on self-image)

2. PROFESSION (dealing with colleagues, subordinates, with the boss, motivation)

3. HEALTH (healthy lifestyle promotes frontal lobe development)

4. ENVIRONMENT (privacy, public and society can see added value)

5. SPIRITUALITY (understanding and dealing with belief in a postmodern context)

Spirituality has taken root in our society. Different churches, institutions and religions ensure that our 'search for truth' is partially satisfied. But our social maturity does not testify to a good quality of our spirituality. There's a lot more to it. Luther discovered this 500 years ago and took action. Where do we stand today with the Reformation?

5. Last topic: Spirituality in our Time

Those who do not deal with faith at all and rely on the basis of evolutionist theory have some fewer challenges, but also some loss of quality of life. To do this, he will have to do without life after life entirely.

However, those who deal with biblical spirituality, possibly on a daily basis, sometimes have to endure some spiritual and spiritual battles. Not easy, but rewarding.

Man in Postmodernism

It seems important to me that we understand ourselves better. Important questions can be:

• Why am I the way I am?

• Why do I think this way and not differently?

• Where do my inner and outer values ​​come from?

Anyone who is close to the subject of 'education' as parents or at work knows that most things can be 'programmed' in us. We all go through a post-modern development system from which we cannot or can hardly protect ourselves. Most of it we are not even aware of. Unfortunately, otherwise we could defend ourselves if necessary.

Our children, as diverse as their talents and gifts may be, are geared towards one goal: to serve the economy. This defines their needs. The teaching objective is based on this. They must be able to meet postmodern demands. Our society demands it.

The question arises to me:

1. What are the Characteristics of Postmodernism?

My summary looks like this:

• Consumption (We are geared towards consumption. Shopping, media, sex, pleasure, holidays, )

• Individualism (Today's motivational question is often limited to: "What's in it for me?" We are thus designed for profit. There is no loss. Helping someone out of sheer altruism is unlikely for postmodern people.)

• Extrinsic motivation (We have given up our intrinsic motivation, practiced from birth, and have it replaced with an external one. We are motivated from the outside. The economic monopolies and politics determine our purchases, our behavior, our freedom, our values ​​... Intrinsic thinkers quickly become labeled as lateral thinkers, extremists and as 'Persona non grata', because society and tradition cannot dissuade them from their path of happiness.) (BLOG)

• Break with traditions (At the moment, this tendency is particularly noticeable in the family area. Our new gender generation is given so-called 'freedoms', from which our tradition and moral understanding had recently protected us.

• Relativity (The question of what truth is can no longer be asked today, since there is no longer any absolute truth. This question is irritating and repulsive. Everyone has their own style, their own version. Whether something is fake news or not is a matter of fact almost no role anymore. Nobody gets upset or would advocate true transparency with moral motives.)

• Living in the NOW (we have forgotten to learn from the past. Aligning ourselves to a stable future is not an issue. If we were, it would have an impact on our educational system. We would want to build a better future. But no. It works the other direction.)

• Appearance before authenticity (Postmodern people attach great importance to their appearance. The clothes, demeanor, certificates, the car as a status symbol are extremely important. Authenticity is neglected. Everything is made up, artificially brought up to scratch. Where are the values ​​how Naturalness, integrity, willingness to forgive and, last but not least, emotional intelligence that can genuinely connect people with each other?)

• Knowledge before application (We are satisfied when we have read something interesting. Applying it, integrating it into life - be it on the occasion of a serious presentation in the church - that hardly comes to mind. Knowledge is queried, not the Application of it. Is that biblical?)

The elderly among us have seen firsthand how our society has changed in recent decades. It seems to me that the speed of change has increased. The new generation is very neglected when it comes to developing the frontal lobe (BLOG). We are all challenged!

2. What are the Characteristics of Healthy Spirituality?

Postmodern then means that we are human beings who tend not to opt for absolute values, who do not see any great sense in serving basic attitudes, and if so, then we find it at most interesting. Put into practice, it usually doesn't happen. We needed help with that.

Now that we understand each other a little better and have positioned ourselves in the contemporary context, we want to consider what faith, the Christian faith, is actually about.

a) Basic Biblical Values ​​and Statements

Bible quotes are not for everyone. Personally, I did my homework and looked at this topic carefully. My conclusion: the basic text of the Bible is reliable. The translations are of varying quality. Recommend Schlachter 2000, Elberfelder and Luther.

Here is an attempt to make a statement about the Christian faith with two scriptures:

1. John 3:16> God so loved this created world of his own that He sent his own Son so that, if we accept His offer, we may be redeemed from our misery and be rewarded with a timeless, eternal life.

Isn't that a sensational offer? The possibility for everyone to get a life after this life is unique! The postmodern question of 'what's in it for me?' is answered generously.

What it means for God, however, to sacrifice his own son for us, for you and me, so that this gift becomes possible, is probably a little too difficult to understand for our thoughts and feelings. Understanding this better and better leads to a better understanding of the term LOVE. Whoever dares to do this will meet God.

2. Galatians 5: 22-23> Since God knows that we could not choose our parents, our country, our culture or the religious context, He offers us the following qualities of life because of his grace and our willingness:

• Love (Many people grow up subjectively unloved and deficient. All of us have the opportunity to fill up our love tank through close contact with HIM.)

• Joy (Paul writes: “Rejoice at all times, and again I say to you: Rejoice.” Our vertical connection helps us to do this, because it teaches us to become independent of circumstances and to respect eternal values ​​more and more.)

• Peace (To find inner peace, what a gift. Many people would or spend large sums of money on it. HE promises that whoever seeks HIM will find HIM. There all of us can be picked up.

• Patience (Would you like to be even more patient? This secondary virtue changes our relationships as well as the others. Those who have the patience have the right attitude. This is conveyed to us more and more by the Holy Spirit, for example by not following the circumstances in a human way, but in a divine way.)

• Friendliness (by considering the circumstances just mentioned, it is possible to be friendly even in difficult moments. Even loving enemies is possible!)

• Kindness (He who has understood and experienced God's goodness and grace cannot help but be kind. Such kind people will not be exploited, as they will also increase in wisdom. This is connected with emotional intelligence, especially active empathy and social competence. )

• Faith / loyalty (So we can also come to God in disbelief and pray for faith. If we are serious, then anything is possible. Loyalty indicates a constant ability to have relationships. You don't just throw relationships away.)

• Meekness (gentle courage, courage to act, to improve, gentle, controlled, benevolent, considered, constant and far-sighted. Wonderful.)

• Self-control / self-discipline (Anyone who gets to know God's values, i.e. laws, who deals with his creation as an act of love and recognizes the natural laws laid in us humans, wants to treat all of this with respect and not destroy himself. A healthy lifestyle is the result. The frontal lobe becomes strengthened and with that God can give us this discipline that will help us prepare for His soon coming.)

There is of course a lot more to mention. The four Gospels contain such profound wisdom and advice. Do not miss that.

All these good qualities can be picked up HERE, at the CROSS, at JESUS. Isn't that sensational?

b) The biblical image of God helps

God is love

• What do you mean by love? We talked about it on two blogs: Conditional and Unconditional Love

• If you were to commit your own life for that of one of your relatives, for example a blood transfusion for one of your children with the loss of your own life, that would go way beyond the postmodern understanding of love, wouldn't it? What if someone did this for you?

• Jesus, and what HE did for mankind 2000 years ago, is historically relevant and therefore shows much deeper dimensions of love. The knowledge of this love is our potential for eternity.

• In order to open oneself to this world of love, it is recommended to read the last chapters of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, if possible with a pleading attitude.

  God is our Redeemer

• Scripture speaks of a universal struggle. It's about the angel Lucifer, who with a third of the angels has made himself an opponent of God. This is how the term 'sin' came about. This sin leads to death. Sin is a basic attitude that wants to be independent of the life-giving God and therefore strives for autonomy. This leads away from God and therefore into death.

• This fact moved God to offer us a solution, a salvation. As described above, he dies this death for us, for you and me and thus enables us to offer us the gift of eternal life. With this we can be redeemed thanks to the love of God.
  

  God is threefold - Father, Son, Holy Spirit

• Many theologians quarrel on this matter. For me it is biblically obvious that Jesus as 'Son of God' - whatever that means universally - has taken on this most difficult task of the act of redemption. With this HE has redefined the depth of God's love.

• The function of the Holy Spirit is described in many biblical passages. He seems to be concerned about direct communication with us humans. He speaks to our frontal lobe when it is still intact. He likes to help us practically when we ask for His support.

• Jesus himself calls God his Father. Why shouldn't we do that too? Many people have difficulty doing this, however, because their human father image has suffered so much that they are unable to think of a loving Heavenly Father. But that can change.

It takes humility to personally accept such an act of love. Not all people are ready for it. Unfortunately. Otherwise it would look different in this world. Because this universally galactically relevant act has consequences, effects, consequences. This is where the spirits part about eternal life or death.

C) my contribution to faith

The Bible clearly speaks against righteousness based on our works. We cannot be saved by our works. Nevertheless, they play an important role. How does the process of salvation actually work?

1. What should we NOT do?

• Do not despair with this question.

• Do not use any literature to investigate this question. Take the Bible, please.

• Don't think that you have to be 'good' before you can get in touch with Jesus. The biblical stories show very clearly that HE showed interest especially in those who did not see themselves as 'good'.

• Never let anyone discourage you on this path. It is clear that the enemy of men (Satan) has no joy when someone chooses the friend of men (Jesus).

2. What should we do?

• Micah 6:8 "You have been told, man, what is good and what the Lord asks of you. That is, to keep God's word and practice love and be humble before your God."

• Isaiah 45:22: "Look at me and you will be saved."

• The final chapters of the four gospels help us to see HIM and what HE has done for you.

• If the love of God in Jesus has spoken to us, then HE is happy and waits until we acknowledge HIM and become a team. Many people testify to this process in baptism, just as Jesus himself did.

• Jacob 2:22 says that the works make the faith perfect. Works are important. But they should be a consequence of love. Our motivation counts for God. (Prov 16: 2)

• In order to know the truth, we must seek it with all our hearts and be ready to follow it.

• God has given us the power of decision (free will). We should practice this ability by adjusting our decisions to God's Word every day. When we do that, He will direct our will and our deeds according to His pleasure.

Following Jesus is sometimes associated with great challenges. It is HIS interest that through this our character can prepare for his return. After all, HE has already prepared an apartment for us!

1. Where are the limits crossed?

• A life with Christ will sooner or later lead to the realization that we cannot rely on ourselves. So the process of giving up on yourself and giving the place to Christ within us is the only solution. Whoever does not come to this insight and is not ready for it, for whatever reason, will ultimately not be 'recognized' by Christ. This process is a big challenge.

• God has given us free will. Constantly using this against God can lead to the fact that one is programmed in such a way that a change is no longer possible. However, this depends less on age than on conscious or unconscious involvement with the occult side.
  

  2. How do we keep the balance?

• As long as Jesus lives in the heart, His presence can be felt. This creates good and pleasant words. Anger and attachment go away.

• Developing awareness that thoughts produce action. This can lead to habits that ultimately affect character. This daily reflection on our thoughts and actions and their focus on Jesus allows us to keep our balance.

• When we make mistakes, the best place is the cross where we can unload everything. HE helps us to stop making these mistakes sooner or later.

• The awareness that we are God's children and therefore even have bodyguards promotes our daily decisions.

• "Rejoice, and again I say to you: Rejoice!" That's how excited Paul is about Jesus. All the circumstances can no longer make him sad. He has learned to deepen his relationship with Jesus so that all circumstances are measured by divine standards.

• Live the healthy lifestyle that has been spoken of many times. Living healthy promotes the frontal lobe. With it God can communicate better with us.
  

  EQ and spirituality

• You have probably noticed that when it comes to living a Christian life, it is actually about active empathy and social skills.

• Those who have a high EQ have the potential for a mature living out of Christianity and are wonderfully suited to be a missionary of God.

• Charity is the foundation of emotional intelligence as well as Christianity. Egoism disturbs EQ in the same way as it makes life more difficult.

Those who want to live charity have some important decisions to make. No trophy can be achieved with this. Maybe even rejection. But standing up for others makes you happy inside. Selflessness is a virtue that is divine. The reward will follow later.

Congratulations on making it to the end. God bless you, dear reader.