Episode 26.1: Are We There Yet? (Why you should be happy that you HAVEN'T arrived) Pt. I

The podcast episode discusses the importance of patience and enjoying the journey in relationships and life. The hosts emphasize the need for intentionality and the fear of the Lord, which means recognizing that God is the center of all existence and valuing Him above all else. They also talk about the dangers of being too focused on the past or the future and the importance of living in the present and being grateful. The hosts encourage seeking God's guidance and letting go of pride and blame. Overall, they aim to help listeners have fulfilling relationships and avoid mistakes they made in their own lives. Benny Benny Amari we came we saw we loved welcome to the partnership vision podcast where we discuss how to have a relationship full of unity trust fun and fulfillment we'll be sharing the rewards of preparing yourself for your best partner and being your best for them hello and welcome to the 26th episode of partnership vision podcast are we there yet why you should be happy that you haven't arrived and so we're going to be getting into this whole question of patience impatience destination journey glory days how should we be viewing ourselves in the context of time and you know dealing with waiting and dealing with what's ahead of us in the future and what has even happened with us in the past so this is a very interesting one so strap in and get ready because for us a lot of these lessons and these things that we have really just been mastering more and getting more into you know the revelation of it and the training of it it's made a huge difference and if only we had known these things in our younger days if we had known these things in our teens or in our early to mid 20s it would have made life a lot easier you know we wouldn't have it wouldn't have been so hard on us so we would have been able to avoid some really terrible mistakes and you know it just it would have been so much more wholesome there's a lot of things we've had to go back and redeem and learn from and we want to save other people from having the same kind of pain that we've had you know that's pretty much a whole theme of all the series of all the things that we teach is we want to give you an advancement on us go further and sooner and make fewer mistakes than we did is our hope and our prayer for all of you that listen but anyway going straight into it Brandi has the notes written for her part and afterwards I'll be going to my notes on my part will follow the same pattern we did on a previous series where I'll be sort of reacting to her points and her notes and then Brandi will be reacting to mine so just starting out with kind of an introductory point and then going into everything that Brandi wrote so we need to realize that our hearts get misled when we aren't intentional about guarding them we begin to drift into the wrong lanes as our values shift in the wrong directions we can get too focused on comfort and ease or become overly enamored with our glory days so that we value the past more than the present and even future the issue isn't that these things are bad but the emphasis that we put on them and the things that they displace should take the chief places in our heart the highest value above all being the fear of the Lord and just a little statement of what the fear of the Lord is that's just so you know it's not being afraid of God it is having such an intense respect for God such an understanding that he really is the center of all existence he's the source of everything everything comes from him all good is from God and you know not evil we have our own free will we can diverge from God things can make different choices because he gave his beings free will but everything that's good and that's that's decent and that's wholesome it all comes from God and all of us initially have our being from him so just to keep that recognition of that fact and to remember that he alone is God none of us are God none of us are what it's all about you know the world does not revolve around any one of us nor even our entire species that everything really is for him and is about him and everything that we can possibly want in our life comes from him so it's just recognizing that remembering that remembering that he's the answer to every question he's the he's a solution to every problem he's the one that we should ultimately be focused on before anything else and above everything else so that's the fear of the Lord basically is just to keep that kind of mindset that kind of attitude really just as having our values completely revolve around the central core value being God himself that we value God more highly over everything else that's what the fear of the Lord is so are we there yet is a question that actually begins really early on in childhood out of either impatience excitement or the combination of the two as we grow up the causation remains the same and we're still destination minded unless we learn to also enjoy the journey as God wants us to the journeys that God has specifically for us isn't always easy we know that but it's meant for real and lasting growth that will sustain us through future events so preparation for the future he doesn't set out to punish us but to promote us he wants to give us good things but it's all about timing and placement and we're only accelerated as fast as our obedience and our growth pattern so part of it it really is kind of up to us just how long our seasons last compared to what sometimes we feel because if we're just handed everything all worth and value are lost gifts surprises and adventures become pointless it's human nature to take things that are constantly there for granted we must learn to be observant and intentional in everything we do and just to be clear so according to Merriam-Webster intentional is defined as done on purpose deliberate for something to be done on purpose it not only takes thought but also heart and I love that you put in the word intentional and put that in there because that's something that back in 2019 when Brandi and I were just really getting back into communication and to a point where we were really like kind of just encouraging each other just like buddies like yeah we're gonna go for it this is our year and we're gonna start walking into things that we were destined to do and you know this is just kind of renewing the friendship really before before moving into any kind of romantic relationship or anything else if you know a little bit of our story you know that that that was where we started and where we came back around circle back around to again was friendship was supporting each other and being there you know for each other and intentionality was something that both just kept on circling around for both of us kept on coming back to our minds and you know we were both sort of in our own way on each on a journey of intentionality being intentional about life being intentional about living in the moment being intentional about what direction we want to go with our life and taking things fully into consideration you know not procrastinating not drifting staying just really in a state of of consciousness and valuing what's before us and putting ourselves fully into everything and so that was like sort of our definition of intentionality and what we were getting into and with intentionality you know there comes the fact that we usually have an idea about where we want things to go and how we how we want things headed you know like in a relationship if you have a plan if you have a desire in your heart to be really close to someone then you know maybe your plan maybe that end goal is you want to end up marrying that person you know you want to get there I mean that's definitely what we were coming to eventually down the line though we weren't completely honest with ourselves about it at first but you know as time went on and we were made aware of what was really going on in our own hearts and what God was doing you know we became very intentional about okay well this is where we're going you know this is what this is about but everything has sort of levels of destination levels of growth you know that we are arriving somewhere every day you know another point in time another coordinate and time that we're moving into and in every relationship it's either growing or it's dying you know life can be described that way everything that ceases to grow it dies so it is necessary that we progress you know it is necessary that we move forward in life and we can't just stay where we are and we can't become just fixated on the past and things that have happened so it's very important that we remain intentional about living life to the fullest but there's a lot of ways that we can get that intentionality kind of mixed up and going in the wrong direction for us and whatever you don't do choosing intentionally something good can just as easily slip into something unintentional that's bad or if you don't have the right focus in the first place your intentions can be leading you into something bad so we're getting into this from the very beginning is the importance of knowing your direction knowing where you came from where you are and where you're going and how to balance that and it's important to form good habits such as you can make it a habit and you should make it a habit to stand back from what's around you even daily and take into account how much you truly have in contrast to what you feel that you have because it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and feeling terrible sleep-deprived overworked and you don't have time for the stuff that you really want to do if you are in a job that you don't like which a lot of people are and you just feel that you're completely at odds that you have nothing in your favor and it's easy to get there especially when you're not maybe even in the career that you're meant to have that you're a purpose to have that maybe you chose because you felt you had no other reason that you had to make ends meet one way or another and you just jumped into it because you thought that was the only thing that was possible when it very well could have been spiritual warfare really surrounding the situation and there was another option God had an option but you couldn't see it because of everything that was clouding your judgment and this is what we're trying to attack right here is to actually live the life that he has for you and not fall prey to what just seems practical or or acting out of fear because he calls us to be anxious for nothing and he wouldn't call us to do that if it wasn't possible and that that's actually as part of what you have to work through when you're trying to walk by faith and and not let outside circumstances control you so if you're honest with yourself you will see that even though you have your own struggles and desires that you don't feel that are quite met you are a lot better off than many people you are provided for and if you continue to seek his will for and walk by faith not sight and be committed to what he tells or gives you everything will be way more than okay things will move forward as you move forward with him as your leader it's very important that we do practice gratitude that we do practice valuing the good that is in our life and you know like the saying goes that sometimes you need to just stop and smell the roses you know like it's not all always all about just hammering it forward and just going harder and faster and more and more into the forward direction of life it is also about these moments that make up our life you know every memory that you have that was a moment that was a that at one time that was your now and the best moments that we remember the best times and memories that we have are when we were really in that moment you know the moments that we were really alive and we weren't thinking about what's going to happen next week we weren't thinking about next month or next year because we were living in this moment you know we were enjoying it we were taking the most that we could from it and in that consciousness and that being alive to it it makes a big difference and how well you remember it and how clear it is to you and how much you're able to really get all the benefit and all the good out of the time that you're living in so to be able to live in the moment you do have to be grateful you do have to have a built in ability to pull out of any kind of worries or anxieties or or just over focus on results and destinations and all of that outcomes and instead just be able to give yourself to the journey to the moment and love it you know and live it like that's that's what this is about and you know believe that you can or let go of tomorrow because you don't have the power over tomorrow anyway you don't have the ability to control what happens tomorrow so be in the moment now and take every step again with intentionality you know be in this this step that you need to take right now in this process be in it fully don't be thinking about what you're going to say five sentences down the line don't think about you know after this task is over work on the task work on the thing that you're doing give yourself to it and enjoy it you can't ever enjoy anything if you're always just trying to think past it and try to get past it in your mind so be grateful and that you're going to realize that that unlocks so much potential just to relax and enjoy your day and when you're enjoying things you will make those better memories that will last and that you'll be glad to last and to be in the moment also means that you won't have any regrets down the road when you're actually moved on to where you've been believing you've been needing to be already because if you're not living in the moment you're not going to see and receive all the little surprises and different things that will actually add to your life down the line and when you look back at it you're just going to feel shame or guilt or just just loss and you don't want that I mean you we already go through enough of that on normal day-to-day things that why would you want to add to that and you're where you're at for a reason whether it be that you're where God actually has placed you or you've ended up here because of some of your own choices that weren't from God who knows but there's always something positive to glean from a season whether good or bad there's always a lesson to be learned and the thing is that what you do apart from Him in your own power then will have to be sustained by your own power and we aren't powerful without Him and apart from Him we can do nothing so it is a fool's errand really to try to do what we think is better than what we feel that God may be telling us to do but seems impractical or culturally that is not acceptable or you're just plain afraid and you just you want to claw through the nail to what you think is right but in reality you just need to put your trust in Him so what you do is you ask for guidance you don't scurry off in your own direction and then ask for Him to bless it then on top of that don't get angry at Him for not just jumping in to save your hide you made your own mess it's the truth of the matter but and you move forward and you ask for guidance to clean up your mess and get back on the right track He gave us free will so that we're not enslaved robots so it's our ultimate responsibility to use it wisely so seek His wisdom not your own and leave your pride at His feet and don't pick it back up and if you do repeat the process until you don't claim those chains again because pride is extremely toxic and one of the things that pride can cause is having to assign blame you know like God why did you let this happen to me or why is this gone that way or turning in on yourself I can't believe I've made this kind of mess up or you know it's their fault you know they should have been supporting me they should have been there for me we feel the need to assign blame and it's because of our over focus on ourselves and attributing too much power to ourselves to change things and control things and assuming responsibility that we don't really have you know we are not responsible to do everything perfectly you know we are responsible to handle our mistakes you know clean up our own messes but we don't have to do everything perfectly and we don't have to do other people's job for them and we certainly don't have to do God's job for him you know and the reality is if we let go of our pride if we just relax then we don't have to assign blame to anybody it doesn't matter you know fault is pointless it doesn't do anything for you it doesn't do you any good to blame shift to somebody else nor does it really do any any good to take any blame on yourself taking responsibility for yourself that's a good thing taking blame on yourself or putting it on someone else that is a very unproductive thing you know it just plays into an attitude that is really negative and it doesn't bring solutions is not solution oriented is problem oriented thank you for joining us where the heart is heard partnership vision ministries stay driven by love so you can wreck all the fear you can check us out on instagram at partnership vision ministries or on facebook partnership vision ministries page even twitter at p vision you y'all come back now you hear