 It's been a while since we talked like I mean Really talked for those of you don't know me. My name is Isaac. I'm 21. I'm from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I'm scared to get older at least sometimes Maybe a lot of times Let me just explain how I think about life and I know this is going deep really quick But look we ain't got much time. So literally and figuratively I Think of I think of life in this way, right? You're you know, you're a kid and then you're a teenager and then you're an adult, right? And along the way you're trying to figure out what is your thing, right? Your purpose Finding meaning in your life. What are the things that you enjoy? What are the things that you're striving towards your goals your aspirations? Finding success in some way and so along the way, you know finding meaning through maybe a spouse or marriage or and kids and all that kind of thing And so you're in the stage of of you know, especially in teens young adults You feel like you're in the in-between, right? And you know, it's in high school and when you're a kid Nothing's really too much expected of you, right? Like it's not a big deal that you don't know what you're doing with your life You you you feel like you're lost of course you feel like you're lost You're if you know what you're doing then you're the outlier, but as you get older, you know, especially young adulthood um and You feel like You feel like you haven't gotten to where you want to be and you're scared. You'll never get there You're scared that you'll wake up one day and you'll be 30 and you've never accomplished anything or you'll be 40 and You've never accomplished anything and you've wasted The years you have what people talk about You know, what's insane to me. I hate when people do this. I hate it When people say, oh man, you know, enjoy your you know, you enjoy your 20s Those are the best years you'll ever have or like those are the best years of your life or you know Like things like that because that makes me feel like well, I'm not happy I'm struggling and you're telling me this is the most this is the best it's gonna get that's the that's all you could say That blows my mind so I can't believe that and I can't believe that I Can't believe that the summit That there is a summit, right? We we think At least in my mind, I think I've always wanted to get to a place or a certain specific goal Where certain things measure up and they line up and for at least one moment of time where I have, you know I'm financially sad and I'm relationally set and I am, you know Emotionally set and and all these things align and then I've made it. I've won. I've done it I've accomplished what I wanted to do and I can be at peace, but that doesn't exist. I Have to believe it doesn't exist Every everything I watch every person I talk to that that has that has accomplished what they wanted to accomplish They're still hungrier. They're still looking for approval. They're still looking for love They're still looking for meaning. They're still looking for purpose so cornering myself off into believing that like There needs to be I need to get to a certain place at a certain time and accomplish a certain thing in order for me to be happy or be fulfilled or be Be accomplished, I think it's a sham I think it's a complete lie along the way my journey over the last two years at least with this ministry I set numerous goals of like stats and and and and all you know A amount of followers or screw subscribers and and goals and aspirations I wanted to get to and each time I would pass one of those milestones. I Would look back and think back and and remember myself Before saying if I can only get here then I would be satisfied then I would be Happy then I would be fulfilled, but I got to that place and then all of a sudden that didn't look too hot Actually that honestly the fact that I got there was a failure in itself because I should have got there sooner and That that applies to a lot of aspects of my life I think of oh when I get to this spot then I'll be fulfilled and then I get there and then I Then I take it as a negative because it took me a lot too long to get there because I should be further along than I am and so you you you torture yourself because you have these expectations that are You have expectations, but on top of those expectations is your is your really life motivation It's it's connected to that So if your expectations aren't met Then your life motivation is just shriveled up your meaning your sense of purpose your sense of peace is all connected to that every day Every day that I don't feel like I've I've made a dent like into something more something meaningful something that Something that has legacy to it Every day that I haven't done that I feel I Feel angry I feel frustrated I feel discouraged and so I feel like in some ways every day I wake up with that motivation to to do it to make it To to to tap into that more that that God would have for me But but along the along the way things pop up like my own desire to find love and and and acceptance from other people and to find Find identity right as long as I find my identity in in in my productivity, I'll never find peace Right because I'll never be productive enough to give myself license To let go Because it will never be enough It will never be enough and I think God designed it that way he designed it that that That we can do we can wake up early we can You know Grind and we can rise and grind or whatever the whatever the heck we can do all that We can strive we can even make an impact But at the end of the day if if our identity is disconnected from the one who who created us We will always be disconnected from who we truly are in Christ And so as long as I find my identity in in being that kind of person that makes an impact or find that identity in Being somebody that is is successful or or somebody that is productive or somebody that is smart or or Liked or loved as long as I find my identity in that I Will always be disconnected from who I truly am and I will never find the piece that passes all understanding and So what I'm trying to do and I know this is just a weird big therapy session I guess but you need one of those every once in a while what I'm trying to do What I'm trying to do is tap into My identity in Christ step into that letting go of The proof the the pressure to perform in order to gain God's love but rather as I step into my identity I want My productivity and my faithfulness to God's Work the work that he's given me to be an outflowing of his love and I know I've talked about this before and At certain points in my life. I felt like that was the moment. That's the one. I like I've made it I get it now. I can do it. Yeah, but then I just Would go back to where I was before same mentality same mindset same anxieties and discouragements all fueled by this concept that that That I'm not where I'm supposed to be and that feeds into you know Every year I feel like I'm running out of time and And look I don't want to live this way. I don't think anybody wants to live this way. I love That God I'm thankful that God has given me a desire for more for more more of him and what he would have for me and you know and all that But I'm also I need to be aware and I'm and for those of you who are like this You need to be aware that you need to fight off The Things that will that will steal steal your joy and things that will will take this This identity in Christ and you'll they'll pull it pull it to things that that shouldn't be like identity and In in money how much you're making or your status or how much you're working or you know How how busy you are all these things are? Gonna distract you from the point of all this I Could wake up every day and work my butt off For God but where Where is my relationship with God? Where is my Identity in God because it seems like it seems like sometimes We're the people that Tony Miano gave this example once we're the people that or the young man that goes to the the door Of somebody and knocks on the door and you know older guy answers it and the young man asked If I mow your lawn, can I be your son? And that sounds crazy Guys like no you can't be my son if you just mow my lawn that doesn't make any sense but if that you know that older guy first adopts that young man as his son then the outflowing of that Will be could be mowing his father's lawn and so we're getting this out of order here We're looking for more. We're looking for purpose. We're looking for identity. We're looking for love We're looking for these core like existential Fundamental aspects to our human nature And yet we abandon The one thing that is free the the a love acceptance a peace So glorious as is available to us can only be a gift we can never earn it But it's not good enough for us. We we want to earn it. We want to work for it. We want to find it in other things But it always leaves us empty it always leaves us discouraged it always leaves us asking Is this all there is? When you've got to the peak of where you wanted to go when you've accomplished the things you wanted to accomplish Will it be enough for you? If you're scared of getting older my question for you would be where Where is your foundation? It is it in God's sovereignty Over your life Or is it in your own self-reliance on doing enough earning enough succeeding enough achieving enough To gain God's love to gain other people's love to gain meaning to gain purpose. Where is your foundation? That's pretty much all I have to say. I know this is kind of weird video if you sat to the whole thing Thanks, I Love you guys. I really do and I really am thankful for a platform that I can just get on and talk. I Mean Yeah, we're all working We're all trying to figure this out, you know It takes it takes time takes a lifetime and The more honest and open we can be about what we're going through about what we're feeling Especially with the people around us That can only be beneficial It can only be beneficial Thanks for watching guys. I'll see you next time. God bless