For the next few weeks, we want to look at an important topic “how to Focus our life”. Being focused helps us to achieve the things God called us to do, so it’s really important to step into that. But it’s not easy with everything that always goes on. Last week we talked about being accountable and how it helps you to move forward. This week we want to talk about distractions.

One of the main reasons we have a hard time focusing is distractions. When we work on focusing on something you can be sure that some distractions will come in. It might be checking your Facebook or it might be a game on your phone. And the next time we check a long time has passed. But not just that now we have a hard time getting back to what we were planning on doing. But that is why it is key to learn how to deal with distractions.

One example is Jesus on his 40-day journey into the desert. He went out there to spend time with his father to get ready for his ministry and to stay focused on what his father called him to do. But then the devil comes along and tries to distract him and tempt him with different lies and temptations. What does Jesus do? He counteracts each one of them with scripture till the devil flees.

So distractions are normal and they will come but we have to fight them. So if you notice that Facebook or anything else on the internet takes your focus away from the things you want to do, then shut off your phone or another device while you focus on your project. If it is on the computer maybe put a filter in place that only allows you to go to certain sites related to what you do. Ask God for tips on how to get away from distractions. He might give you tips directly or uses people to speak to you. But then you have to take the action steps. As less you are distracted as more you are focused and as better you get to the things you want to go!

So start right now!!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week!! We left Germany for a vacation. We don’t use the computer during that times so we prewrote some blogs for this time as well. Please pray for San Francisco while we are gone that people experience more the love of God and start understanding the meaning of the gospel for their life.

So don’t forget this week to get rid of distractions!

God bless you

Markus and Jen

For the next few weeks we want to look at an important topic “how to Focus our life”. Being focused helps us to achieve the things God called us to do, so it’s really important to step into that. But it’s not easy with everything that always goes on. Last week we talked about setting goals and how that helps to focus. This week its about finding accountability

One of the big challenges in focusing our life and also in achieving a goal is that we get demotivated if things don’t go right right away. I’m sure all of us faced times in our life where we had a plan but then it didn’t work right away and then we just gave up. Remember the example from the January 1^st solutions people make to lose weight or go to the gym and how quick they are forgotten. But what if they would have someone that would challenge them and tell them not to give up and who gives them tips along the way? I am pretty sure many more would succeed. In the bible you find many examples of friendships where people encouraged each other to move forward. Jonathan and David are an example like that. Jonathan helped David in his biggest challenges and was an encouragement to him when his father hated David. I’m sure David was thinking about forgetting this idea of being a king after all the challenges it brought, but Jonathon his friend helped him not to give up!

That is exactly what each one of us needs in focusing our life. We need a helper on our side that holds us accountable and helps us to move forward. SO to focus your life you need someone that holds you accountable. A person that calls you out when you lose focus or you don’t reach your goals. A person that tells you things that are true but that you might not want to hear. That is what you need to really focus your life. Do you have a person like that in your life? If not this is what you need to do!

1. Find a person that is able to hold you accountable but also able to encourage you in the process!
2. Share everything with them about how you want to focus your life and the goals you have.
3. Ask them to check up on you!

Ok now its time to get started!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week!! We are in Germany right now and don’t have time on the computer so we prewrote some blogs for the next few weeks. Please pray for San Francisco while we are gone that people experience more the love of God and start understanding the meaning of the gospel for their life.

So don’t forget this week to find someone to be accountable to!

God bless you

Markus and Jen

For the next few weeks, we want to look at an important topic “how to Focus our life”. Being focused helps us to achieve the things God called us to do, so it’s really important to step into that. But it’s not easy with everything that always goes on. Last week we talked about overcommitting and how it affects us. This week we will talk about setting goals.

January 1^st is for many people the goal setting day. Many want to lose weight or go to the gym. The signup for gyms at this time is huge and the gyms are full. But then 2 weeks later there are way fewer people. Why is that? Did they already lose all the weight or get fit? No, but they gave up. Why? Because they didn’t set smart goals.

The same is true in focusing our life. When we don’t set goals for the things we want to focus on and develop in, it is really hard to see a progress and in a short amount of time we are distracted again and lose the focus. But if we set realistic goals we will move forward and thrive. What is a smart goal? It’s a goal that is measurable. Example if you want to focus on meeting your neighbors a smart goal could be like this: I want to have a conversation with 2 of my neighbors each week for the next month. So now with a goal like that, you can look back at the end of the month and see clearly if you achieved what you planned. Goals like that help you also to keep your focus on the things that matter to you. When you set a goal and remember it you are more likely put a focus on it.

When you look at Abraham in the bible you have a good example. He talked to God and God gave him the goal to move to a new place. He packed everything to follow the goal that God set for him. And guess what he made it there, but again his focus was on the task that God has given him! So let us all start doing that.

Pray and ask God what he wants you to focus on in your life and then set a goal to get there!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week!! We are in Germany right now and don’t have time on the computer so we prewrote some blogs for the next few weeks. Please pray for San Francisco while we are gone that people experience more the love of God and start understanding the meaning of the gospel for there life.

So don’t forget this week to set some goals!

God bless you

Markus and Jen

For the next few weeks we want to look at an important topic “how to Focus our life”. Being focused helps us to achieve the things God called us to do, so it’s really important to step into that. But it’s not easy with everything that always goes on.

Wow I really want to help out at the youth group. Wow I really want to work with the prayer team. Wow I really want to invest in friendship with my neighbors. I really want to play more music. Many of us feel that way many times in our life with probably different situations. We have so many opportunities to do special things. But then we often commit to too many of them and we are not able to really invest quality in any of them.

When we spend our lives unfocused and overcommitted we will have a hard time to get things done. Let me compare it to the life of Jesus. In his ministry years, his main focus was ministry and doing what the father called him to do. He didn’t do things that were not related to what he was doing. He also didn’t fill every second of his time, and he knew when he needed rest. But He was focused. So when people look at our life, what would they say about us? Would they see that all we do is working towards a focused goal and being committed to that?

Jen and I had to make adjustments in our life over the years to have a clear focus. To adjust means to say no at times and it means saying yes at others. So we had to learn ourselves not to overcommit. Sometimes I had situations where I committed to 3 things in a short amount of time but ended up not having a lot of time at either of them. Now we just commit to one thing at a time, but then we are really committed and invested in it. The result of doing that was that we saw growths and better friendships. Was it hard at times to say no? Yes, it was. But looking at the long term it was a blessing.

So how can we get started? We have to assess our life and see where we are overcommitted. The next step is to learn to say no. When you learn that, you will be able to not overcommit. So start very simple by looking at all your activities and things you do. Then assess which of those lead towards the things you want to focus on. After you found the ones that don’t start to cut them out. Of course when you do that always be in prayer and let god guide you.

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week!! We are in Germany right now and don’t have time on the computer so we prewrote some blogs for the next few weeks. Please pray for San Francisco while we are gone that people experience more the love of God and start understanding the meaning of the gospel for there life.

So don’t forget this week to look at your life and the overcommitted areas and start working on them!

God bless you

Markus and Jen