Chad Veach Quotes

having manners means recognizing the role other people play in your life. Every time you say please, you acknowledge that you need help; every time you say thank you, you recognize that someone else contributed to your success. Every time you say excuse me or sorry, you affirm that you are part of a larger community and your life is intertwined with the lives of others. Manners keep you grounded as a leader by reminding you of your connections with and dependence on the people around you. Third,

Life too often reminds us of our insufficiencies: who we are not, what we lack, how far we still have to go. Prayer, on the other hand, reminds us of the sufficiency of Christ.

FROM DESPAIR TO DESTINY Life (and traffic) have a way of skewing our perspective. Difficult, overwhelming circumstances can cause our emotions and thoughts to spiral out of control. I’m not saying those feelings and thoughts are not real. They absolutely are. But they are not the whole picture. And they aren’t designed to make our decisions for us. Which of these things have you felt lately? Or maybe even right now? Lonely Frustrated Bitter Betrayed Discouraged Anxious Overwhelmed Confused Guilty Useless Rejected Ignored Hurt Abandoned Used Lost Hopeless Powerless Those feelings, if left unchecked, will affect your actions and decisions. You might find yourself doing or saying things that you later regret—things that don’t align with who you are, what you value, what you believe, or how you want to live. Again, the feelings are valid. Don’t ignore them. But don’t define yourself by them either. Don’t let them tell you who you are. They are feelings, and feelings never give the whole picture. They come and go, they rise and fall, they make a lot of noise and then fade into the background. There is a reason the book of Psalms is so emotionally charged. It’s an ancient record of the heartfelt cries of people just like us. They turned their pain and anxiety into prayers, poetry, and songs. Their words resonate with us today, across the barriers of language, culture, and time, because their experiences are intensely human.

THROUGH GOD’S EYES It’s God’s prerogative to shift our perspective in any area, but there are a few areas that seem especially common. 1. Self We looked at this in detail in the last chapter. You need to see yourself as God sees you. Period. No more, no less. That is the path to both true humility and healthy self-esteem. As you pray, let God shift the way you think about yourself. Believe His affirmations of who you are. Then align the way you talk about yourself, and present yourself with that image 2. Pain Too often we are in such a hurry to fix pain that we either suppress it or offer it cheap solutions, much like Job’s friends. Prayer does neither of those. Prayer doesn’t dismiss pain. It embraces it. Validates it. Sits with it. It creates a safe space to process what we are feeling, and it connects us to the one who can truly make a difference in our circumstances. It gives

We invest so much of ourselves trying to make money and build wealth. But the one who dies with the most toys . . . still dies.

Prayer connects you to God, and being connected to Him changes everything.

The presence of fear is not the problem. The problem is when our fear gets so overwhelming that it snuffs out our peace.

We don’t need to eliminate fear. We just need something bigger than fear. We need true peace.

Prayer is the vehicle, not the destination. It’s the method, not the goal. God himself is the destination and the goal. Prayer just gets you closer to Him.

Paul says that when you feel anxious, that’s a sign you need to pray. And when you pray, you receive peace.

Prayer does not undermine the importance of therapy, medicine, or other treatment. Quite the opposite. I have deep respect for therapists, psychologists, doctors, scientists, and other experts in their respective fields who are contributing to our understanding of these complex emotions.

Prayer was never meant to be associated with stuffy church services or fancy religious language. It has always been a way for real people to talk with a real God about real issues.

I learned in that season that prayer is about much more than just getting answers or miracles from God. It’s about being with Him, about receiving peace and strength and life directly from Him.