THE 7 KEYS THAT GUARANTEE AND SUSTAIN BLISSFUL AND PEACEFUL HOMES, A WONDERFUL WORLD, WHEN LIFE HAPPENS

"Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,

When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?

When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,

Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

Chorus:

We have an anchor that keeps the soul

Steadfast and sure while the billows roll;

Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,

Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's Love!"- Priscilla J. Owens.

BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF LIFE VICISSITUDES VERSUS DIVINE ANSWERS

Job 2: 9-10

"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die.

But he said… What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."

Job 42:12-16

"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning…

After this lived Job a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons and his son's son, even four generations."

Luke 1:5-7

"There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

And they had no child, because Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well struck in years."

Luke 1:23-24, 57-58

"And it came to pass, that as soon as the days of his ministry were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived…

Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son.

And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shown great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her."

THE MEANING AND DESCRIPTION OF, 'WHEN LIFE HAPPENS'

When life happens is a maxim that life is not what you plan it to be.

According to Ugur Akinci Ph.D.: "Life is what happens when you have other plans. We usually think we know what life is in general, what's going on around us, what the past looks like, and what the future will bring-correct?

But those are nothing but a bunch of assumptions about the past, present, and future, and none of them is necessarily 100℅ true.

We live by building narratives, that is, stories about who we are and how the world works.

Through such stories, we maintain our personality and our sense of who we are…

Life of course includes all that narrative, stories, and personality- definition, but it is also a lot more than that.

Just think of the billions of entities and processes that happen outside our volition, thinking, and intuition.

That is what "life happens" means.

It means there is something out there that was there before we were born and will be there after we die.

I hope life will continue to happen for you in the most merciful, loving, and compassionate way possible."

Life is not a laboratory-controlled experiment.

Your journey through this earth with your earth suit is a mystery that unfolds each day with different life events happening, both planned and unplanned events.

However, you should not wait for life to happen to you because if there is no cause there may not be any effects. If there is no intentional action you may not be burdened with giving or receiving an intentional reaction.

You are to plan and execute your plans based on your expectations about and from life; your purpose and your vision.

You are to plan to chart and chase your desired course in life. Also, you are to plan to mitigate adversities while you are on your Earth journey. You are to plan to excel, scale, and sail through the shocks and storms of life.

One thing should be certain and real to you, your journey here will never be a straight line or linear curve because of the actions and reactions of other opposing cosmos entities against your wish. That should get you actively and proactively prepared and ready to take on possible challenges as they come.

Your life journey is best represented in a scattergram but with the lines of the best fit, you can tell your stories from pleasure through the pit to prison and from prison to palace.

Your plans do not eliminate life eventualities, but they help to develop enough shock absorbers that will enable you to take an alternative course of action in the least possible time at the least possible cost whenever life happens without being completely broken down or knocked out.

The basics of your plan must include the position your family, faith, and future occupy in the scheme of things.

INSTANCES OF WHEN LIFE HAPPENS

After your plans and willingness to do all it takes to have a blissful and peaceful home, a wonderful world, and life happens what will you do?

Some life events are out of your control and whenever they come your way you have no option but to embrace them.

When life happens, it is about the unpredictability of life issues, and in some cases, it is about things you would not ordinarily bargain for but still, they happen.

Life happens when there is a delay in conception or when there are infertility issues to handle between the couples in marriage.

Life happens when you have a physically challenged child in the family to take care of.

Also, life happens when your spouse suddenly dies. When you lost your spouse to the cold hands of death very early in your marriage, what would you do?

When your spouse is incapacitated by ill health; when the breadwinner or the bread keeper of the house is so much challenged that how to survive the next day is more of a challenge than what next to eat or keep, how do you cope?

Life happens when you suddenly lose all your life investments to hard and harsh economic policies.

Note and always remember that life will happen is a certainty but when, where, and how are what is uncertain about it.

Whether you like it or not,
Whether you know it or not,
Whether you are prepared for it or not, your faith and hope, your thoughts, choices, decisions, inaction, actions, and reactions are always on trials and tests at all levels of your life to determine the degree of awareness and consciousness, loyalty, and focus on life.

Your readiness will be tested and approved before you can steady to stay and sustain any level of life you are in.

Your faith foundation will be tested. Your emotional intelligence and emotional management will be tested.

Your pre-knowledge of what to expect about possibilities of life issues should get you prepared. It will help you put in place proactive measures on what to do should any of the unwanted happen rather than allow life eventualities to scare you.

No one prays for evil days to happen to him or her. However, evil happens more often than expected. Wisdom, therefore, demands that you get prepared for a rainy day on the days when there is no rain in sight. These are the domain of insurance, life assurance, and health insurance.

THE PLACE OF YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND MANAGEMENT WHEN LIFE HAPPENS

Your emotional intelligence and management are tasked and tested whenever and wherever life happens.
"Emotional Intelligence(EI) is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you."-Mental Health America.

The five key elements of EI, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social (interpersonal)skills are tested.

Your ability to interpret challenging moments and their concomitant effects and checkmating your thoughts through actions and reactions will guide you against impulsive decisions that determine and define your level of emotional management.

Couples are enjoined to learn emotional intelligence and management to enhance their interpersonal relationships and effective communication and so much more.

8 IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WHEN LIFE HAPPENS

1)- Life happens to all and sundry.

2)-Life happens to you according to the measure of threat you are to the kingdom of darkness if you are a child of God.

3)-Life happens to you according to the measure of grace and faith you have to withstand the eventualities of life.

4)-When life happens to you, it serves as a wake-up call for you to activate and articulate your strength for the next level in life.

5)- Life happens to you to prove your call, faith, purpose, and vision.

6)- Life happens to you that you might look up to the Abba-Father, your only unfailing Source, Sustainer, and Defender for His Divine Strength.

7)-When life happens to you, to satan and his cohorts, the enemies of the righteous and man, it is to weaken your faith, destroy you and your purpose in life, and mock God and His children. However, God allows life to happen to you, His children, to prove and justify your son-ship in Christ Jesus and to promote you for His glory.

8)- Life happens often at major turning points of your life. It becomes imperative that you understand that it is for a season or seasons after which you are ushered into a new level and season of life.

THE 7 KEYS THAT GUARANTEE AND SUSTAIN THE POSSIBILITIES OF BLISSFUL AND PEACEFUL HOMES, A WONDERFUL WORLD, WHEN LIFE HAPPENS

When the chips are down when your plans, intellectual, and medical capabilities have been decimated, the seven keys that will guarantee and sustain blissful and peaceful homes, a wonderful world are:

1)-The Faith Key:

This is contrary to some people's beliefs. However, the truth of the scriptures remains that man is God's steward in the earthen vessel, and on the planet earth. Having this truth established in your heart will help you seek your master's will and help at all times and be intimate with Him.

It is your faith factor that guarantees and sustains your hope for tomorrow.

When the goings are good, many people will care less about this foundational and fundamental key of life, faith in a supreme being of worship. Faith's key is in recognition of your spirit being nature.
To discountenance it is foolishness.

Man is spirit and not just his earthen suit, the body. You are to live a balanced life whereby none of your tripartite nature is neglected to the extent that it becomes the weak link to your entire body system.

Therefore, build and have solid faith that sustains your hope and dreams about a better, greater, and higher tomorrow. Hope gives you reasons why you deserve to live. Don't toy with your faith and hope it bestows on you.

2)-The Self-Awareness Key

Self-awareness is one of the key elements of emotional intelligence that will help you to manage challenging times positively with results.

Knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, purpose, dreams, and vision will help you to see and interpret things and situations differently. It will help you to be fulfilled while helping others to fulfill their purposes too.

Joseph, Moses, and Daniel in the Bible days were helpful to other people even in their trying times.

3)- The Unashamed Nakedness Rule Of Engagement Key.

This is an understanding you must have in your attempt to bring down the divine mathematical equation of one plus one equals one from the spiritual realm to physical realities.
It is the key that unlocks the potential for effective and efficient communication, financial intimacy, and sexual intimacy in a marriage relationship. It is that key that unlocks and breaks down every wall of partition in communication between couples.
Also, it is that height of intimacy between couples in which nothing is hidden between them.

4)-The Tenets Of Relationship Key.

This key explains the reasons you are created: emotional, rational, relational, systemic, and tripartite being and their essence in your marriage relationships.
This is the key that makes you realize why opposites attract one another.

You are a customized, distinct, special, and unique person and have personality traits peculiar to you but still not complete by yourself. You have strengths and weaknesses, gifts, passions, talents, and comparative advantages. All your natures are designed to enable you to connect, synchronize, and harmonize your activities with your spouse to achieve a desired goal in your life.

You are to work as a team with your spouse. Don't let your team spirit be weakened in times of adversity. That was what stood out for Zecharias and Elisabeth hence their reference in this chapter.

5)-The Support System Key.

This key deals with establishing a tribe or community of like minds. It means having a network of people that can provide you with practical or emotional support. Work on your support system. Endeavor to have and maintain good relationships with other people of common interest. Work on having a good family and friends support system.

Be ready to provide good support to others. Be and build a good support system for others as you would want them to build for you. The three Hebrew children were companions amid the fire in the land of Babylon.

Remember, life happens and cannot cease to happen. The support system may yield under pressure sometimes but still yet don't give up on it. Christ Jesus was abandoned and deserted during His trials, crucifixion, and death, but He sought and found His Apostles after His resurrection.

Job prayed for his friends despite their negative dispositions about his life challenges and God blessed him.

6)-The Power Of Self-Talk Key.

Words have creative and destructive energy and power. Let your words be in alignment with the great dream and vision you have for yourself, your spouse, your children, and your family. Be deliberate and consistent in creating a world of positivity and possibilities for you, your spouse, and your family.

Daily, we think and talk to ourselves more than we talk to other people around us.
What you tell yourself in the best and worst moments of your life matters. Holding a positive image of yourself through the power of positive thoughts and words can change the negative images created about you by your significant others.

It will help you to shape and sharpen your focus on God. He is the Almighty God and nothing is too hard for Him to do in your life. He is a time traveler with the ability to recover your lost years and times. With His favor and speed, you can recover your lost years.

When time happens, endeavor and ensure that you encourage yourself in the Lord. Affirm what is written concerning you in the scriptures.

You hold the key to unlocking your innate potential in times of trouble. Press on for a higher calling. Don't give up on yourself. With kind and compassionate words, lift yourself.

7)-Right Resources And Materials Key.

This key dwells on having the right resource persons and the right resource materials.

Proverbs 11:14,

"Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety."

When life happens, control your emotions and don't take erratic and impulsive decisions that will compound the existing bad situation.

Don't live in ignorance either. Outsource a reputable resource person, mentor, and or counselor.

As much as it is possible, open up yourself to the right kind of people who are versatile in your kind of challenges for counseling and advice. We are created relational beings to collaborate, cooperate, contribute, and complement to complete one another.

Also, seek and obtain the right materials, recorded messages, audio tapes, videotapes, and books like this one in your hands. Listen to them and read them. Practice and implement whatever you learn from them. Evaluate the impact and influence of whatever you have learned as well as your improvement and progress over time. You will be awed by the progress you have made.

Furthermore, seek and have good mentors, active and or passive mentors in your specific areas of concern and challenges. For the active mentors book one-on-one sessions with any of them. While for your passive mentors, you can follow them on any of their social media handles and or buy their books and read.

Above all, always be positive.
A life of positivity is contagious.
Learn to be grateful and show gratitude at every turn of events in your life.

It may not be easy from the onset but with consistency and intentionality in practice and implementation, it is possible. It is said when you become fearless, life becomes limitless.

For your comments, views, reviews, and suggestions contact the author via email:
ginuschuks@gmail.com

Note: this is a chapter in my about-to-be-published book, Blissful and Peaceful Homes, a Wonderful World.

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13072023

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