Story Time Part Two

What is a HUGE life decision?

Do I move?
Do I get married? 
Is it time to have a baby?
Do I stay with this job? 

Some people stay stuck in places they are no longer called to be, because they don’t have what it takes to make huge life decisions. If you don’t have these three things, you are on a fast course to being a miserable person. 

What is a miserable person? This is by no means a perfect definition, but it's certainly an off the cuff one. A miserable person doesn’t enjoy their life. At times, they don’t like what they do, where they are, or who they are there with. Sometimes misery creeps in slowly, other times it shows up like a bomb drop. One way or another… life is too short to live miserable. Therefore, we have to be willing to make HUGE LIFE DECISIONS quickly if we want to stay in the zone of loving our lives. 

Here are three things you need to be ready to make a HUGE decision in order to protect your joy. 

#1 Guts -- Some call it confidence, on the playground as kids, we called it balls! “You’ve got to have the balls to make the decision!” Without courage you are stuck. Everything that seems uncertain or scary will keep you from jumping out into the new thing that will bring you life and joy. You have to be willing to make the jump. A young eagle has to be willing to take the leap. If the eagle doesn’t decide to spread its wings and fly, it’s going to be miserable in the nest, because it knows it was called to more. You were called to more too! You have to have the courage to leap.  

#2 Silence the Voices -- We tease each other often and ask one another, which personality is speaking today? Haha. The voices can be loud. Just the voices in our own heads have the power to talk us into or out of things. Then, add to that the voices and opinions of other people and you’ll find yourself in decision making paralyses. You will remain stuck in the mode of “indecision” if you don’t silence the voices. 

Once you have silenced the voices, you can get in the zone. Some describe the zone as a place of quietness where you can focus and “see the field.” Our son Kaden is a quarterback on his highschool football team, and he describes the zone like this:

Everything is moving fast all around you, but for some reason when I’m in the zone everything slows down. It’s like every breath takes more time and I am able to see and make decisions without being rushed. Getting in the zone is critical to good decision making, therefore you have to hush the other voices to make it happen. 

Tell yourself to shut up. Tell the haters to shut up. Don’t let anything take your focus when it’s big decision time, because one false move, or listening to one false voice can knock you way off course and cost your life in more ways than one. 

#3 Sensitivity to the Spirit -- The Spirit will help with the timing. Timing is critical. If you know you are called to jump from one moving train onto another, you don’t want to jump too early or too late. It could be disastrous. So how do you know when it’s the right time to jump? Being sensitive to the Spirit will help you do that. 

The Spirit is your helper! It’s critical you think of it that way. The Spirit is the creator who made you and wants you to succeed. He didn’t make you to drop you on your head and cause you to hate life. Most of us get ourselves into that predicament on our own. And every bad thing that has happened in your life is not the Spirit’s fault. On the contrary, the Spirit has your back. He’s your internal guidance system that helps you navigate life’s craziness and obstacles. 

You have to learn to tap into the Spirit so that you can access all of the benefits and wisdom of the Spirit. By doing this, you learn to intuitively know what the next right step in your life is. The Spirit says in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart.” Sensitivity to the Spirit is the secret to making HUGE life decisions. He will never lead you wrong. 

Wrap Up: 

You have to get some guts, silence the voices, and be sensitive to the Spirit so that you don’t make a wrong decision. 

We love to help people like you do just that. If you need help in any way, go to www.nealandamie.com and select the “need help” tab. Someone from our team will be in touch with you soon to get you started. 

Also, please like, follow, share, and comment on our content to help us get the word out. 

Xoxo - Neal and Amie

In this episode

• Neal and Amie ponder their mutual attraction and recall the origin of their romance
• Neal and Erik briefly discuss high school, music, and car audio
• Amie recalls being asked to photograph Neal’s baptism
• Neal explains how Amie and his stories relate to Way Finding and points out the Spirit’s presence in their past
• Neal and Amie recall one of their first dates involving dirt bikes and Neal’s hilarious attempt at showing off. Pride comes before the fall.
• N+A discuss their very first date, church drama, and the founding/founder of the FourSquare non-denominational church
• Discussion the current California wildfires
• The story of Neal’s marriage proposal
• Neal and Amie’s hastily organized wedding, and the reactions of their loved ones
• Amie recalls Neal’s reluctance to wear a tuxedo at their wedding
• Amie recalls her sister Ashley’s unexpected response to her and Neal’s engagement
• Neal and Amie’s wedding and the skepticism of those attending
• Neal tells the story of playing in the Slam Jam 3 on 3 basketball tournament the DAY AFTER Neal and Amie’s wedding
• Amie explains her reluctance to marry a pastor and her disdain for drama among churchgoers
• Paying it forward

Neal and Amie's wedding

two weeks after wedding, Bradlie Faith was born