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How to Fix Your Broken Family Habits in 2026 | The Mark Driscoll Show | New Year’s Special · The Mark Driscoll Show

• 0:00
  Well, howdy and welcome back to the New Year's edition of the
• 0:03
  Mark Driscoll Show. It is 2026.
• 0:06
  Today we're taking a step back from the chaos of culture and
• 0:09
  looking forward with clarity. First, we're going to talk about
• 0:12
  casting a God-given vision for your life, your marriage, and
• 0:15
  your future. Because if you don't set the
• 0:17
  direction, life gladly will set it for you.
• 0:20
  Then in Segment 2, we're going to look ending the year the
• 0:23
  right way, remembering God's victories, celebrating His
• 0:26
  faithfulness, and learning how to build altars of gratitude in
• 0:29
  our homes like Joshua did. All right, let's jump in.
• 0:53
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  Thank you very much. Take care and God bless.
• 2:14
  All right. First segment we wanted to talk
• 2:15
  about setting vision for your life in New Year.
• 2:19
  How important is it that a couple or family has a vision
• 2:22
  for their life? Super important Jesus says house
• 2:26
  divided cannot stand and division literally means 2
• 2:30
  visions. So husband and wife need to have
• 2:33
  one vision and once you have a shared vision, like this is what
• 2:38
  we're doing this year. These are our priorities this
• 2:41
  year. These are the things that we did
• 2:43
  last year that didn't really work.
• 2:45
  These are the things that we don't have time or energy or
• 2:49
  money for in the future. Then you've got a blueprint.
• 2:52
  Think of it in this way, like once an architect puts together
• 2:56
  a build plan, well then the crews can show up and build it.
• 3:00
  In a marriage, you need to have a blueprint like what are we
• 3:03
  building? And then we can spend the rest
• 3:05
  of the year building what we've architected.
• 3:08
  And so, you know, husband and wife, you got to get time
• 3:11
  together to put together your blueprint like this year, what,
• 3:13
  what are we doing? What are we building?
• 3:15
  And then you can work together on that vision.
• 3:18
  Yeah, I mean, life is going to happen whether you plan it or
• 3:21
  not. But if you want to have it go
• 3:24
  the way that you would like it to go and the way the Lord would
• 3:28
  like it to go, make a plan, have a vision, make sure it's Holy
• 3:32
  Spirit led, and you can have a future together that you
• 3:35
  actually enjoy. Does the beginning of the year,
• 3:39
  do you feel like it's important for a couple to get together and
• 3:42
  talk through these things and try to set a vision for the
• 3:44
  year? It's a natural time.
• 3:46
  I mean, for most people, it's when the rest of your life is
• 3:50
  sort of getting a reset. Usually financially, most
• 3:54
  people, that's when you begin your budget and it begins your
• 3:56
  tax season. Practically with work, if you're
• 4:00
  going to get a new role or responsibility, usually that's
• 4:04
  kind of the window that that happens.
• 4:06
  And so it's kind of that natural point in life.
• 4:09
  And for most people, if they don't have a plan, they'll just
• 4:13
  spend their time reacting And, and without a blueprint for what
• 4:18
  you want to do, you may not be doing things that are bad, but
• 4:22
  you're going to end up doing things that aren't best.
• 4:24
  And you're going to make commitments because early on in
• 4:27
  the year, maybe you've got some time, some energy, some money.
• 4:30
  And you're like, well, I'll say yes and I'll say yes and I'll
• 4:32
  say yes. And then a few months later,
• 4:34
  you're like, I shouldn't have said yes.
• 4:37
  I should have had the money for that and the time for that and
• 4:40
  the energy for that. But I've already committed it
• 4:44
  because I didn't know exactly what I was doing.
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  So I took good, but I didn't wait for best.
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  And, and I've done that 1000 times.
• 4:51
  That's that's been my flaw over and over and over is taking the
• 4:55
  first opportunity, not waiting for the best opportunity because
• 4:58
  we weren't aligned on what we were trying to do for that year.
• 5:01
  Yeah, and I'm a doer. I love serving.
• 5:03
  I like saying yes, I had fair man in the first years of our
• 5:06
  marriage, so I didn't say no. And life just is everything in
• 5:11
  front of you instead of what's the plan, pull up, you know,
• 5:15
  cast a vision, have a plan, and then are those things best
• 5:21
  fitting in that vision and that plan.
• 5:23
  And I never even considered that in the first part of our
• 5:25
  marriage was just, I'm just going to do what's in front of
• 5:27
  me because that's what's in front of me.
• 5:28
  And so life gets wasted, time gets wasted, money gets wasted,
• 5:33
  energy gets wasted because when you commit to something, energy
• 5:37
  is also something that you need to consider how much you're
• 5:40
  giving energy wise. And so I think us in the more
• 5:45
  recent years of our marriage, having a vision retreat, having
• 5:50
  a plan has definitely been more settling for us, more peaceful
• 5:56
  for us. So that we know we're both
• 5:58
  working toward the same thing. Like you said, not division, but
• 6:01
  one vision together and and wanting to fulfill that and see
• 6:06
  how the year goes and be excited about it, working at it
• 6:09
  together. Yeah, and for us, it's been
• 6:11
  things too. And like if we're going to put
• 6:14
  something on the plate, we got to take something off the plate.
• 6:16
  Like for us, you know, we've got 2 new grandchildren this year.
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  So for us, like those are two new people that we need.
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  They weren't in our life last year, they're in our life this
• 6:28
  year. So we've got to make room for
• 6:31
  them and we've got to make room to know them and to get to know
• 6:34
  them and to serve their parents. And so each year it's looking
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  at, you know, what is work, what is life and who are the people
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  that are entering into our life, Who are the people that are
• 6:44
  exiting our life and being really intentional about that.
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  And what most people do, they just keep putting things on
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  their plate until it's stacked and overflowing and they don't
• 6:55
  take anything off their plate. And and what happens then is you
• 6:59
  either start falling apart or you start failing on your
• 7:03
  responsibilities. You lose track of priority
• 7:07
  because you just keep putting stuff on top of what you've
• 7:10
  committed to. Well, then your marriage starts
• 7:12
  to suffer. You don't.
• 7:13
  You're not feeling close. You're like, hey, we're not
• 7:16
  doing so great. We're not getting our time
• 7:17
  together. And I mean, this has been, you
• 7:20
  know, this has been our struggle is we do shoulder to shoulder
• 7:23
  really well. We need to work really hard to
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  get face to FaceTime, to talk time, to process, time to work
• 7:29
  stuff through because we have so much responsibility.
• 7:32
  We can just stay very busy with tasks and responsibilities.
• 7:36
  Yeah. How would you guys encourage
• 7:38
  couples, families to set vision with their priorities in mind?
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  The God-given priorities in mind, what, what would that look
• 7:46
  like for a for a couple? I'd say, yeah, you've got you.
• 7:49
  So let's say we get away, we try to get away in January for at
• 7:53
  least a couple of days and, and it really is starting with what
• 7:59
  are our priorities. And the first priority's got to
• 8:01
  be a healthy relationship with God because everything else in
• 8:07
  your life is going to be God working through you.
• 8:10
  And if you and God aren't good, you're not going to have
• 8:13
  anything that you need for the rest of your life because it
• 8:16
  comes from God. And then it's healthy
• 8:18
  relationship with your spouse and then it's healthy
• 8:22
  relationship with each of your kids.
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  And it's not just your kids. So like, how do you have time
• 8:26
  and energy for each of your children?
• 8:29
  And as they grow up, they differentiate and they're
• 8:31
  adults. They each need different things
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  from you. And so, you know, maybe 1 is,
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  you know, single and getting married and they need a lot of
• 8:40
  coaching. Maybe 1 is, you know, in middle
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  school and struggling and needs encouragement.
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  They're what are they going to need this year?
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  And then maybe there's grandkids.
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  So it's God, spouse, kids and or grandkids.
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  And then it's going to be probably work and your
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  responsibilities to provide for your family.
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  And then it's going to be extended family and friends and
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  other responsibilities. And so it's even agreeing
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  because what happens during the year, there's going to be
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  emergencies and pushy people who try to insert themselves up the
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  list. I, I know I'm not a priority,
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  but today I'm creating an emergency or today I'm turning
• 9:22
  up the volume. Today I'm going to insert
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  myself. And that creates jealousy within
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  the marriage. And jealousy is when somebody's
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  in my place. And this can be an extended
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  family member that's unhealthy, or it can be, it could be a
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  crisis or emergency that that suddenly shows up that you
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  didn't anticipate. And so as a couple, it's
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  starting with the priorities and then as opportunities come, it's
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  making decisions based upon your priorities.
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  Like, you know, so if a priority comes, if an opportunity comes,
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  I should say it's like, well, it's not bad, but that's not our
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  priority. Like, like for me, like I don't
• 10:02
  get a lot of speaking requests when I show up.
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  Usually something goes bad. But you know, when I do get a
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  speaker request, it's like, OK, but you know, if I get on a
• 10:10
  plane and I'm gone for days, does that help my relationship
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  with the Lord? Does it get me closer to my
• 10:14
  wife? Does that help my relationship
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  with my kids, with my grandkids? No, it doesn't serve any of
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  those things. So traveling to speak isn't a
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  bad thing, but it's not in my priorities.
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  So the answer is no, not that it's bad, but it takes time and
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  energy from the things that are best, just as an example.
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  And and there's a million of these things.
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  Yeah, one of the questions we got was how do you handle
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  conflict on your vision for your marriage?
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  I feel like for Ashley and I, that's been a big one this year
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  of there are a lot of things. I think the longer your
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  marriage, more kids, more job responsibilities that do jump
• 10:49
  the priority list. And one of the easiest things to
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  do is literally just draw out those priorities.
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  And it's like, where is this one?
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  Oh, it's after all those things. Well, it doesn't fit.
• 11:00
  And it's a very unifying, easy conversation to have.
• 11:05
  It's not personal if you set the stuff ahead of time.
• 11:08
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• 11:30
  What things practically are you guys going to think through and
• 11:34
  pray through schedule? You're like a deep end of the
• 11:36
  pool planner for the year and you're resetting your schedule
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  and time off and all kinds of things.
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  What would be some things you'd think couples should talk about?
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  I mean, definitely time together, you know, investing in
• 11:50
  your marriage every year, every, you know, like whether it's a
• 11:54
  quarterly overnight or I mean, whatever you agree what's.
• 11:58
  Your date night. What's your quarterly getaway?
• 12:00
  What's your vacations? Holidays.
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  Yeah. How are you spending time
• 12:03
  connecting over your spiritual walk?
• 12:05
  You know, are you checking in how you're doing with the Lord
• 12:08
  and how I'm doing with the Lord? And what are you learning and
• 12:11
  what are you reading through and are you having those
• 12:14
  conversations? Is there margin for those
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  conversations? Are you planning those
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  conversations? That has to be priority and then
• 12:22
  the other things can fall in behind it.
• 12:25
  For us, you know, like you said, we don't travel much and
• 12:28
  especially with all the added grandkids, we're just not doing
• 12:31
  that that much. But there are a couple times
• 12:34
  this year where if we are traveling, we're doing it
• 12:37
  together and we're going to plan an extra day on that trip if
• 12:41
  it's a work trip and we're going to take some time to invest in
• 12:44
  marriage. And so I think looking at things
• 12:47
  and this is something, but I had to reorient my mind because I
• 12:53
  didn't see that growing up. I didn't see the togetherness
• 12:56
  and a lot of things. And so for me, I had to, it was
• 12:59
  it was a desire, but I did, I had to be intentional about
• 13:02
  making that happen with us. And so that's something I
• 13:05
  constantly have to pray through. OK, how can I do that with Mark?
• 13:09
  How can I prioritize him and our marriage today, this week, this
• 13:14
  month, this quarter, this year? What are some things as we're
• 13:17
  looking ahead on the year, what are some things that I can do
• 13:20
  that would be meaningful for our marriage and our relationship?
• 13:23
  And so just taking that, putting that in there first and then
• 13:28
  other things can be filled in the gaps.
• 13:30
  Well, and I, I, I carry a journalist, my backup brain.
• 13:33
  And throughout the course of the year, when something works, I'll
• 13:37
  note it. When something doesn't, I'll
• 13:38
  note it. And I actually put it in file on
• 13:41
  my laptop so that when the next year comes, because you, you
• 13:45
  forget, you're like that, you know that that vacation was
• 13:50
  awesome or like that did not work at all.
• 13:54
  And then eight months later you're like, I don't remember
• 13:56
  what worked or what didn't. And so I like to make notes so
• 14:00
  that I can make progress. And, and so for us, if
• 14:04
  something, if we like last year, what would you say was, you
• 14:08
  know, in recent years, one of our favorite getaways, we, we
• 14:12
  put time on the calendar and we plan time together.
• 14:16
  Dana Point. Dana Point it was.
• 14:18
  We found this window before Christmas.
• 14:21
  After Christmas, everybody goes to Dana Point.
• 14:24
  It's just packed. But right before nobody's there,
• 14:28
  it's empty. So we went to this incredible
• 14:30
  resort on the beach. Nobody's there.
• 14:34
  We went down to this beautiful private beach.
• 14:37
  We literally had the whole thing to ourself for days.
• 14:41
  So we're going for long walks on the beach.
• 14:44
  There is nobody there. We sat in the hot tub.
• 14:46
  There was no one else there. And we had dinner on the beach,
• 14:50
  Sunset Beach, and there is nobody there.
• 14:51
  I'm like, this is wild. And it was great we got time
• 14:54
  together. Now there will be.
• 14:56
  Yeah, now we just ruined it. But for us it was like, well,
• 15:00
  that worked. Make a note of that anytime time
• 15:03
  we can get away before Christmas and go to Dana Point, that's a
• 15:05
  huge win. And so it's just making notes
• 15:09
  the longer you're together of what works and what doesn't work
• 15:12
  and then and then making the course corrections as is
• 15:15
  necessary. And, and so for me, I, I need to
• 15:18
  have fun on the calendar. I have a lot of responsibility.
• 15:22
  So I need something to look forward to.
• 15:24
  Like where's our vacation? Where's our break?
• 15:26
  Where's our overnight? Where's our getaway?
• 15:29
  I need to have fun on the calendar.
• 15:31
  I need something to look forward to and and if I have it, then I
• 15:36
  can I can run through my responsibilities, know that I've
• 15:39
  got some fun coming. You're more of a homebody.
• 15:42
  You could just stay home and do the chores and do the laundry
• 15:46
  and do the things and I would die.
• 15:50
  I would die unless I had some fun.
• 15:53
  That is fun for. Me.
• 15:54
  Not for me. We're different.
• 15:56
  I think we are different. For sure.
• 15:59
  For sure different. We're we're doing Disneyland
• 16:03
  after Christmas, Indy, some fun on the calendar for him and
• 16:07
  hyping him up for the weeks leading into it.
• 16:09
  Yesterday, Ashley asked him if he wanted to run errands.
• 16:11
  He goes yeah, Disneyland. See Lightning McQueen today.
• 16:16
  It's it is. It's great to have fun on the
• 16:18
  calendar. We've definitely learned that
• 16:19
  from you guys. It's very fun.
• 16:21
  I think it's great for kids too. Yeah, something.
• 16:23
  Absolutely. Build expectation.
• 16:25
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• 16:28
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• 16:32
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• 16:39
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  The next thing we wanted to talk about is how to rejoice in
• 18:02
  victory at the new year. At the end of the year,
• 18:04
  beginning of a new year, I think you're kind of hitting on what
• 18:07
  were the winds, But how important is it to the Christian
• 18:12
  to reflect on their year and be thankful and practice
• 18:14
  thankfulness? Yeah, for me, I struggled with
• 18:18
  this early in marriage. I I live so much in the future
• 18:23
  planning, strategizing, that I wasn't good about celebrating
• 18:29
  the past and what God did. And I think that was hard for
• 18:32
  you because you were more of a person in the present and more
• 18:36
  of a person who was just generally grateful.
• 18:41
  And so for me, it's, it's it's required more of an
• 18:45
  intentionality, I would say. Yeah.
• 18:48
  Yeah, you've started to keep a list in your journal of the
• 18:50
  things that you're grateful for. And then when you do your prayer
• 18:53
  walks, you thank the Lord out loud in prayer, what you're
• 18:57
  thankful for, that he's done because he's a part of all of
• 19:00
  that. And that the things that we are
• 19:02
  grateful for wouldn't happen without the Lord.
• 19:05
  And when he gets us through trials, when he answers prayers,
• 19:08
  all the things big and little, he's responsible.
• 19:11
  And we need to show gratitude for that.
• 19:14
  And I think I was thankful for the smallest of things when we
• 19:17
  got married and you had all the goals of what you wanted to
• 19:20
  happen. And so I think we just had very
• 19:22
  different perspectives. Like you said, I was living in
• 19:25
  the Today and you were living in the future.
• 19:27
  And you hadn't reached some of those.
• 19:28
  So you weren't grateful yet, you know?
• 19:32
  And so we've learned from each other.
• 19:34
  I've had to learn how to look into the future.
• 19:35
  You've needed to learn to be grateful for what we're at,
• 19:38
  where we're at right now. And so we had with the kids, we
• 19:43
  had AI think Ashley actually started this tradition, but we
• 19:46
  just got a Mason jar, large Mason jar and started putting
• 19:50
  slips of paper with things that we were thankful for in it.
• 19:53
  And the kids would write something out.
• 19:54
  I just had a bunch of stacks of paper and they could just put it
• 19:57
  in there. It's on the dining room table.
• 19:59
  Yeah. And so then, you know, sometimes
• 20:01
  at dinner we would go through and see what.
• 20:04
  Different people were thankful for, and then it turned into a
• 20:08
  prayer journal, things that had prayer requests.
• 20:10
  And then we'd write the dates of when those prayer requests were
• 20:13
  answered. So that I think we often forget
• 20:15
  after we've prayed for something to go back and thank the Lord
• 20:18
  that he actually answered those prayers.
• 20:20
  And so we want to teach the kids not to just offer requests, but
• 20:24
  to be thankful for what God has done and to recognize that he
• 20:26
  actually did that. And so those were just some
• 20:29
  simple things that we did. I mean, there's other ways, like
• 20:32
  in, you know, the Bible, the stones of remembrance are their
• 20:35
  way of looking back and remembering what God did, the
• 20:38
  big things that he did, partying the seas and, you know, creating
• 20:42
  legacies and generations of, of good.
• 20:46
  And so there's different ways that you can do that for your
• 20:49
  family, whatever works for you that makes sense in your family
• 20:54
  sphere. But it's a really, really good
• 20:57
  thing. I remember reading a book called
• 20:59
  Radical Gratitude that really cemented that in my brain.
• 21:03
  That gratitude changes your whole outlook on life.
• 21:06
  And so don't just do it at Thanksgiving, Do it all year and
• 21:10
  create methods of doing that with your family.
• 21:12
  And for me, Lynn, I like to prayer hike and Grace mentioned
• 21:17
  it and I just offered as a simple thing.
• 21:19
  When I hike in, I only pray things I'm thankful for and
• 21:23
  people I'm thankful for. And then on the hike out, it's
• 21:26
  requests. But for me, you know, I try to
• 21:30
  do a good long hike one day a week.
• 21:32
  I don't always make it, but a good hour or two of just people
• 21:37
  and things you're thankful for. It really is good for the soul.
• 21:40
  And it's pretty amazing that you can fill an hour or two every
• 21:43
  single week with people and things you're thankful for.
• 21:46
  And then again, my backup brain, I've actually got a list.
• 21:49
  I've got a list of things that I'm thankful people and things
• 21:52
  that I'm thankful for. And then I've got like a super
• 21:55
  list of things that I'm thankful for in the last decade.
• 21:59
  And then again, those go into files on my laptop so that I can
• 22:03
  revisit those and remember those do.
• 22:05
  You think you'd be missing out on the goodness of God if you
• 22:07
  didn't practice that? Yeah, because I'm, I'm a driver
• 22:11
  like you. I, I live in the future, I
• 22:13
  strategize, I plan. I'm always thinking about what's
• 22:16
  next. And I also can be the guy with a
• 22:18
  critical eye. That's not right.
• 22:21
  That could be better. That could be improved, and the
• 22:25
  result can be that I'm missing everything else.
• 22:28
  You know, like you could walk into a room where everything is
• 22:32
  right and one picture is crooked and that's what you're looking
• 22:35
  at. I.
• 22:36
  Don't know what you're talking. About Yeah, I.
• 22:38
  Have no idea that's unrelatable. Yeah, yeah.
• 22:41
  And, and, and that, that is more the way that I'm wired.
• 22:45
  And so that was a discouragement to Grace early in our marriage
• 22:49
  because she she was like, unless everything is perfect.
• 22:52
  That's what you talk about. And I was like, OK, that is a
• 22:56
  but I wasn't that way with the kids.
• 22:59
  No, not at all. Yeah.
• 23:02
  You had 100% grace for them. Yeah.
• 23:05
  So she's like, can I get in the same category as the children,
• 23:08
  please? She would ask that.
• 23:10
  Yeah, that's just an indicator of wounds underneath that
• 23:13
  haven't been dealt with in the marriage.
• 23:15
  And so you start to see with a critical eye instead of giving
• 23:19
  grace to that person. That is a practice of gratitude.
• 23:22
  It's also a practice of forgiveness and repentance
• 23:25
  regularly in the marriage, just as a side note.
• 23:27
  Yeah, well, and at work and in the marriage, there wasn't the
• 23:32
  same grace that went to the children.
• 23:35
  The children got a special measure of grace for me that I
• 23:38
  didn't come to them with expectations, demands and
• 23:41
  critiques. I, I did, it wasn't the same.
• 23:45
  It wasn't a performance mindset. And so with them, there was a
• 23:50
  lot more easy joy and there was a lot more gratitude and
• 23:55
  encouragement. And I, I hope they would not see
• 23:59
  me as the, the critical driving dad.
• 24:03
  And so, you know, that is probably the healthiest, best
• 24:06
  part of me, especially some years ago.
• 24:09
  That's where children can be a real tremendous blessing and a
• 24:12
  gift for sure. And so, yeah, trying to get that
• 24:16
  same spirit into into work and into marriage and into other
• 24:20
  spheres of life. And you probably experienced
• 24:22
  that with Indy. You don't show up with Indy
• 24:24
  looking for anything. You just want to hang out and
• 24:26
  enjoy them. There's a special grace on that
• 24:28
  relationship. You're just just grateful for
• 24:31
  all of it. Yep, 100%.
• 24:33
  He is a he's a blessing. And I'm, I'm sure anyone's kids
• 24:37
  are a blessing to them. Yeah.
• 24:38
  You just have to look for it and speak it over them.
• 24:41
  What are you both most thankful for this year?
• 24:47
  It can be more than one thing. Yeah.
• 24:52
  I mean, there was some really hard things this year, but I'm
• 24:55
  thankful for what God taught us through them.
• 24:58
  I'm always thankful for the lessons, not always thankful for
• 25:01
  the trials, but I'm glad that we made it through the things that
• 25:05
  we were entrusted with and thankful for health for another
• 25:10
  year. And it's just for our marriage,
• 25:13
  for grandkids, for three kids that are married and.
• 25:18
  Good marriages. Good marriages like I, I feel
• 25:21
  like there's so much to constantly be thankful for that
• 25:24
  I want to wake up in the morning and be thankful that I have
• 25:27
  another day to enjoy what God has blessed us with.
• 25:30
  And yeah, I think a lot around family for me.
• 25:35
  I mean, the ministry did did well for women's ministry.
• 25:38
  We had an incredible year and I have an incredible team.
• 25:41
  But yeah, I mean the family stuff is just, it's amazing to
• 25:45
  me. I feel very humbled that we have
• 25:47
  such an incredible group of families in our family, Yeah.
• 25:53
  Yeah, I mean, for me, I, I'm, I'm, I'm blessed to do what I
• 25:57
  do. I love Grace and the kids and
• 25:59
  the grandkids and the extended family.
• 26:00
  But you know, for me, just very grateful that in his kindness,
• 26:05
  God has kept his anointing on me.
• 26:07
  And if he takes it off, nothing that I am doing has any effect
• 26:15
  of any sort or kind. And it, you know, because I'm a
• 26:18
  Bible teacher, that's my core, core.
• 26:21
  And if God decides, hey, I'm going to take the Holy Spirit
• 26:25
  off of what you're doing, it's over.
• 26:28
  I mean, it's just over. I mean, you, I can work as hard
• 26:31
  as I want. I can try as much as I might.
• 26:33
  And it's all for naughty. And so I'm just grateful that
• 26:37
  I've had another year that God has anointed what I'm trying to
• 26:43
  do and he's worked through me. And you know, I don't take that
• 26:47
  for light and I don't take that for granted.
• 26:49
  I absolutely don't deserve that to any regard.
• 26:51
  It's the kindness and grace of God.
• 26:54
  But when God works through you, that's a remarkable, humbling
• 26:59
  grace and blessing. And at any point, he could say
• 27:02
  I'm done now. And he hasn't, he hasn't said
• 27:06
  that yet. So I'm.
• 27:06
  I'm just very grateful for that. Yeah, that's good.
• 27:09
  Awesome. Yeah, it's very cool, Very cool.
• 27:11
  How about? You What are you thankful for?
• 27:13
  I am thankful, Yeah. It's it's it's been a very hard
• 27:17
  year as, as you said, Grace. But coming home to Ashley and
• 27:22
  Indy and the amount of joy that little boy has is it's like life
• 27:26
  can be very, very hard. And you come home to him and
• 27:29
  trains and trucks and horses are nothing else matters.
• 27:34
  Very thankful for him. Very thankful for real faith.
• 27:36
  The ministry I get, I get the honor of leading.
• 27:38
  And the team around here, they're incredible and they love
• 27:42
  Jesus and they're very Lord of the King.
• 27:44
  So it's it's yeah, it's a sweet season.
• 27:47
  It's been a hard year. But the fruit afterwards is is
• 27:49
  very Amen. We want to close out this show
• 27:53
  with a few questions that we had emailed in.
• 27:59
  What would be one or two things that for you, for men, for you,
• 28:04
  for women that would help them be a better Christian this time
• 28:09
  next year? What are some things they could
• 28:10
  do this year? Very practical for a man or for
• 28:14
  a woman. I mean, it really is getting
• 28:20
  back to time in the word time with the Lord doing the vision
• 28:26
  casting so that you have your priorities re prioritized for
• 28:30
  the year that will help you grow as a person.
• 28:34
  You can't help but grow if that's where you're focusing
• 28:38
  because God, we will grow through his word and time with
• 28:41
  him. Period.
• 28:42
  We'll grow in character, we'll grow in humility, we'll grow in
• 28:46
  faith. And those are really the things
• 28:50
  that I mean, I want to continue to focus on more time studying,
• 28:55
  more time in prayer, more time with my husband, more time with
• 28:58
  kids, grandkids, because those are the areas that God has
• 29:02
  called me to in this season. And I want to minister to the
• 29:05
  women's ministry well, but I'm not the only teacher.
• 29:10
  And so I just want to do well when God calls me to teach and
• 29:13
  then assign other people that can do the same.
• 29:16
  And so I think as a woman, keeping our priorities will
• 29:20
  allow us to grow more and more each year.
• 29:23
  And I, I can look back and see the years that I didn't have
• 29:26
  those right focuses, that I didn't grow as much.
• 29:29
  And it makes me sad that those years are gone.
• 29:30
  But I know that God can expedite the future, and he will honor
• 29:36
  our honoring of him. Yeah, So.
• 29:39
  Yeah, the years go by quick. They do.
• 29:40
  It's if you're not intentional, they just fly.
• 29:43
  Yes, yes. Yeah, and the older they you
• 29:46
  get, the faster they go. It's just wild.
• 29:49
  Yeah, yeah, there's brain science behind that that
• 29:51
  recently came out. It's life seems so much slower
• 29:55
  when you're young because so many experiences are new.
• 29:57
  So your brain remembers things, so it's slow.
• 29:59
  And then the older you get, there's less new memories.
• 30:01
  So then it just speeds up and speeds up and speeds up and it's
• 30:05
  very interesting. How wild is it to look at a
• 30:07
  photo of India a year or two ago?
• 30:10
  I mean. It is.
• 30:12
  Yeah, it's wild. Yeah, I appreciate the question.
• 30:17
  I would say as a man, do the hard things first.
• 30:21
  For men, there's always hard things that they need to do and
• 30:25
  they put them off or they do them last.
• 30:27
  Do the hard things first. Whether that's take care of your
• 30:33
  health, whether that's repenting, whether that's
• 30:37
  getting a new job, whether that's, you know, having
• 30:41
  conflict, whatever it is, do the hard things first.
• 30:44
  And if you don't do the hard things first, eventually you get
• 30:47
  a backlog of hard things to do and that's when life starts to
• 30:51
  crater. And then the second thing is, I
• 30:55
  just would encourage everybody, but if the question is for men,
• 31:01
  study the Bible book by book. As simple as it sounds, that's
• 31:05
  what I've been doing my entire adult life.
• 31:08
  Just pick a book of the Bible. Start with a short 1, something
• 31:10
  you're interested in, and just study it.
• 31:12
  Get to know the author and the history and study the
• 31:15
  commentaries and get to the point where you're pretty
• 31:18
  familiar with the themes and the flow.
• 31:20
  And then pick another one, and then pick another one, and then
• 31:23
  pick another one and then pick another one.
• 31:25
  And what most people do, they read the Bible, but they don't
• 31:29
  study it. And as a result, they don't
• 31:33
  really have the the depth and the rooting that when they
• 31:38
  really need God's word, they they don't, they don't have
• 31:42
  their roots deep enough in it to keep them from being blown over
• 31:46
  when a storm comes. And so, yeah, you're never going
• 31:50
  to regret really studying the Bible book by book.
• 31:55
  And, and, and I would just encourage everybody to do that.
• 31:58
  I've been doing that my entire adult life.
• 32:01
  This year, my focus is the book of Exodus.
• 32:03
  It's what I'm doing this year. I'm taking a year and I'm doing
• 32:06
  Exodus. And I'm very sure at the end of
• 32:09
  the year, I won't regret it. You know, I've never taken a
• 32:13
  year, just I've never studied the book of the Bible.
• 32:16
  And then at the end thought, Dang, I regret that.
• 32:20
  There's a lot of other things I've regretted.
• 32:22
  Yeah, it's. Good.
• 32:23
  Yeah, it's a good word. It's a good word.
• 32:27
  Yeah. I think for Ashley for and I
• 32:29
  both those both you guys wisdom. I think one of the most
• 32:32
  important things you can do is especially a young couple is set
• 32:34
  a cadence of check insurance on this stuff.
• 32:36
  Because we can have resolutions, we can have all these great
• 32:39
  visions. But if you're not checking in on
• 32:41
  each other, how are these things going?
• 32:44
  And ask your spouse if they want some accountability and in where
• 32:46
  they want to grow and then just have have a good process because
• 32:49
  a year goes by quick and we slip back into our patterns and it's
• 32:54
  just, oh crap, we're at 2026 is over.
• 32:57
  So I think, yeah, thank you guys for that wisdom.
• 33:00
  And to Pastor Mark's point, reading the Bible is one of the
• 33:04
  most important things you guys can do.
• 33:06
  And we have a resource if you text Bible to 99383, Pastor Mark
• 33:10
  and Ashley put together a Bible and New year plan so you you can
• 33:14
  walk through the entire Bible on EU version app and they'll be
• 33:17
  teachings from Pastor Mark throughout.
• 33:19
  And it will really, really help you.
• 33:21
  I guarantee that you will not regret reading the Bible in
• 33:24
  2026. And if you haven't done the
• 33:27
  whole thing, this is the year for you.
• 33:28
  So that's Bible to 99383 Bible to 99383.
• 33:33
  Thank you guys so much for joining us for this year's New
• 33:36
  Year's Mark Driscoll show. And if you guys have any topics
• 33:40
  you want us to hit next year, e-mail them at Hello at Real
• 33:43
  Faith Com. Thanks so much for tuning in,
• 33:45
  guys.