Omniscient. All-knowing. All-seeing. Sometimes I think it would be nice if I could use those words to describe myself. There have been countless times that I’ve thought, “Man, I wish I had all the answers.” Have you ever wished that?

Where should I go to school? Who am I going to marry? Will I ever find a job? Is moving the best decision for my family? What treatment plan will work best for me?

It would be so convenient to ask these questions and immediately know the answer. I could glide right through life without a care in the world. I would always know the right thing to do, the right path to take. There would be no need for second-guessing, no need for pondering, no pros-and-cons lists, no sleepless nights.

"Married But Not Engaged" is the title of a book I recently came across. Interesting play on words, isn't it? For the sake of this blog, please allow me the liberty to change the word "married" to "baptized." My prayer is that the phrase "Baptized But Not Engaged" does not apply to you or me. Truth be told, there are probably times that we aren't as engaged as we should be with God, The Church or our brothers and sisters.

I believe we are all engaged with something or some things or some people. The true meaning of the word "engaged" is being busy or occupied. What occupies our life?

Speaking for myself, after I recently stopped working, I was no longer busy or occupied on an everyday basis. I had less stress in my life, but I felt a little lost since I no longer had revenue goals to meet and meetings to attend. Although this was a good change for my mental health, as silly as it sounds, I struggled with having so much free time. I had to focus on being productive and not squandering my time.

Am I engaged with the important things in life?

What makes you think you can't?

Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Is there anything left out that can't be done if Christ is strengthening you?
Nope. So why do we question whether we can?

"Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort; thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress." (Psalm 71:3)

The exact circumstances of the memories have faded, but the security and comfort lasted years beyond the conversation. At some point in my childhood, a discussion with my mom over something distressing me at school, in our neighborhood, or with my peers led her to explain to me that our home was a fort. She encouraged me to remember that whatever battles I faced during the day, I just had to hold it together until I made it back to the fort where it was safe to cry, rest, and prepare to face the world again another day.

And it was true. Many times, it was all I could do to limp to our fort, but somehow, time spent within those walls was what I needed to recharge. My problems didn’t always go away whenever I walked out of the fort, but they seemed more manageable after being reminded of my worth and that I was loved and part of a family.

Today's article is another installment in Brother P.'s column, "Lessons From the Nursing Home."

At the nursing home where I work, we had this man who had a condition where his liver was not working, and his abdomen would fill up with fluid, which would have to be drained. My job was to get the guy up and walking, but as he would get close to his "drainage date," he would become more reluctant to ambulate.

His excuses were that his knees were bothering him and he had trouble breathing. Funny, he never noticed that the day after he had the fluid drained — once it was 26 pounds! — that he could walk farther, his knees felt better, and he could breathe.

Recently, my wife, Gina, and I re-did our wills. We went through all the questionnaires the attorney gave us to make sure everything we wanted would be carried out. The one item the attorney never asked was, "How much would you like to take with you when you die?"

You see, when we pass, the Bible tell us in Genesis 3:19, "In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

I have recently come to the realization that everything I have striven for most of my life is worthless in the eternal sense. There isn’t anything that we “own” — no matter how expensive, cheap, nice, ugly, or nostalgic — that will not end up in a landfill at some point. Everything we “own” we will leave behind. The things that are most important in this life are not things at all. They are the love that we show others. The only things worth doing here on earth are the ones that will make an eternal difference in someone’s life and in the Kingdom of God.

“Now, that’s the tea!” I have often heard these words spoken by my two teenage daughters. At first, I thought they were referring to the letter, “t.” Then, I asked its meaning, and one explained, “You know, It’s finding out the whole story.” To me, tea is a fancy word for gossip. You can apparently “spill tea,” ”get tea,” or “give tea.” The Urban Dictionary explains that this slang comes from the southern culture of women who gathered in the afternoon to drink tea and gossip.

So if you find yourself in a conversation when others say, “That’s the tea!” what would you do?

• Do you respond by “spilling tea,” especially if someone confided something? Is it wise to repeat this to others?
• Do you “get tea” by joining in a conversation where others are talking about someone, or do you walk away?
• Do you “give tea” by starting gossip based on something heard, yet unsure of its truth?

My grandparents just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. Seventy years! My husband and I are celebrating seven years, and that seems like a long time. I cannot imagine 10 times as long!

But more impressively than being married for that long is that they have served God side by side since before getting married. As far as I know, they never swayed in their service to the Lord. Such a wonderful example for us all to follow.

Marriage takes work. We can't just sit back and expect it to be like in the movies, with the honeymoon stage all the time. We need to communicate with our spouse when something is bothering us. We need to participate in the marriage, planning dates, checking in throughout the day, showing attention.

I love how God reveals things to us in so many different ways. Last month, God kept reminding me of how He can make the impossible possible. I would see things on TV, hear them on the Christian radio station in the car, through messages at church, or the Bible verse of the day on my TCOJC app. I felt like it was everywhere.

What was He telling me? What did He want me to do? He was reminding me of what He can do and how I need to trust Him. I did have something I had been praying about. He was sending me little reminders. I prayed. I fasted. I trusted Him.

On Tuesday, I told you about how my youngest son screams — and how it quickly brings me to the end of my mommy rope.

Today is about you. Is there something in your life that gets on your last nerve? This is something bigger than a pet peeve, something that grinds deeper. It triggers an emotional response that's anchored below the surface. It really gets to you.

You may feel a little like the writer of Psalm 42:5, asking, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?"

Like the psalmist, I often want to know why. Why does this thing get under my skin so easily? Why does it so quickly bring me to tears? Why am I left feeling unsettled even after I "handle it"?

My youngest child is going through a screaming phase. This isn't the pterodactyl thing that many babies do. He's over 2 years old (and he can totally use words) but he screams a lot. He keeps things interesting by mixing in whining and crying with the screaming just in case I get bored.

There are many reasons for the screaming.

• Tell him no, and he screams in anger, frustration, and disappointment.
• Give him a command he doesn't like, and he screams in defiance.
• He's sick with a cold, so bring on the screams of discomfort.
• He's got a crumb on his finger from lunch and it won't come off. WHAAAAAAA!!!!

My mom told me a story about a really amazing experience. When she was little, a sister in the Niles Branch, Ohio, had a husband, a brother in the church, who was very sick. He went to the hospital, and he passed away while he was there. However, the sister was not in the mood to grieve. In fact, she would not let nurses and doctors take her husband to the morgue until the ministry from her church came to pray for him. Two ministers from the Niles Branch, Brother Russell and Brother Joe, went to the hospital to pray for this brother who had been passed away for some time. Under the hands of the ministry and by God's grace, the brother was brought back to life to the astonishment of the doctors, and he lived for many more years with his wife as a testimony to God's power.

Now, what could I gather about this sister's faith? Was she wanting the ministry to come see if they could perhaps bring her husband back to life, or do I think she was fully confident in what would happen? I am certain she had no doubt, that she 100 percent expected this to occur, and, more importantly, she knew it would.

Dear Anxiety,

I get it. You want all of my attention. Every last drop. You want to talk to me and be with me every second of every day. Well, that’s cute. And I’m flattered. But can a girl get some space?

Ever since I met you back in my awkward high school days, you haven’t left me alone. You’re always showing up uninvited, stealing the spotlight, getting all dramatic for nothing. And I know you’re used to the easily persuaded, flimsy little girl who always gave in without a fight. But, times have changed. And so have I.

God has given all of us free will. This means every day we have hundreds of choices to make.

Some choices are obvious, like should I eat something because I am hungry? Should I wash my hands after going to the bathroom? Should I brush my teeth? What should I wear today?

Other choices might take more thought and have more of an impact.

Grace. Mercy. Love. Sounds like a recipe that’s needed in forgiveness, right? It's impossible to go through life and not have our feelings hurt. It doesn’t just end when we become an adult, either. I have found that the sting hurts just as much now that I'm a grown woman as when I was a kid.

I have someone in my life, a dear, close friend of mine, who hasn’t spoken to me in a year. I don’t know why, but God does. And you know what? I may never know the reason why, and I have to be OK with that.