You Were Made for This

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 106. At the time of this recording here in the US, we are turning the Covid-19 corner. More and more people are getting out and starting to think about taking a vacation. I hope that's true for you in whatever part of the world you are in right now. If you are planning to go on a vacation with your family this summer, it's important to know that a great family...

An effective way to connect with people is to learn how to listen better. Books teaching practical listening skills are a good place to start. We talk about one in today's episode. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 105. I have a question for you today. If you want to connect with people to form meaningful relationships with them, where do you start? Today's episode will answer this question by...

We deepen our relationships when we consider what might be the question behind the question asked of us, and then address the deeper issue. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 104. One of the things I like about our podcast is the engagement I find with our listeners. It's one of the benefits of listening to You Were Made for This that I spoke about in our very first episode back in late Novembe...

The secret to great relationships is to give what you want to get. It's your best chance to find joy in being the person God created you to be. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 103. When I first started reading the Bible as a young adult I remember reading it out of a red-letter edition, you know, the kind where all the words Jesus said were printed in red. I must confess, I found this annoyi...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 102.  Today we're considering how to find joy in our relationships. We call our podcast, as you know, You Were Made for This. I've talked before what the "this" is. It's the joy found in Godly relationships. We are made for relationships filled with joy. What I've tried to do in each episode is to show we can either create joy in our relationships or how we ca...

In last week's episode, Start Conversations With Remembering , I shared the start of a conversation I had with our executive producer, and Janet's and my long-time friend, Carol Steward, about our life-giving relationship.  Carol's voice is the one you hear each week introducing that day's program. The point of last week's episode, as well as today's, is to show how to have a meaningful conversati...

When we start conversations with remembering shared experiences it will draw us closer to people if we ask more about those experiences. Hello everyone, welcome to episode 100, our first triple-digit episode number! I've been to 8 funerals in the last year or so, 2 virtually and the rest in person. With those I was closer to, I have questions of them that will now go unanswered because I didn't ge...

It's often better to share an observation than to ask a question. It deepens a relationship by allowing people to open up on their terms. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 99. We are just one episode away from turning over our podcast odometer to 100 episodes. I've got a special program planned for next week with an interesting guest lined up to join us. But for today, as we say good-bye to do...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 98, The Myth of "It Never Hurts to Ask." In recent episodes we've been talking about the Ask component in our ORA principle of deepening our relationships O bserve - R emember - A sk. Last week's episode, for example, was about that part of relational intelligence that knows how to respond when others tell you "No." In that episode, I suggested several gentle...

Asking questions gives us power over our circumstances. It allows us to move from being a victim to becoming an agent of change for our self. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 97. Today we consider the good things that can come our way when we overcome our natural hesitancy to ask questions. We've been talking in recent episodes about the A component of the ORA principle of deepening relations...

Meaningful questions create meaningful relationships. When asked for the right reasons they connect us with one another in beautiful ways. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 96. Today we consider how asking meaningful questions help create meaningful relationships. We've been talking about the 3 components of the O.R.A. principle of deepening our relationships: O bserve - R emember - A sk. We'v...

When people irritate us it often reveals more about us than them. Listen in to learn how to figure this out, and then and what to do about it. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 95. Before we get into today's topic I have two listener responses I thought you'd be interested in. The first is from a retired missionary in response to episode 87. This was about a New Year's resolution to receive th...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 94, where today we consider how self-awareness deepens our relationships. With just 6 double-digits left before we hit 100 episodes, we're considering a real-life application of the ORA principle of deepening relationships. The ORA principle re-stated In a nutshell, the ORA principle is to O bserve - R emember - A sk in our interactions with others to deepen o...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 93, Remembering Deepens Our Relationships. Only 7 more programs until we reach that magic triple-digit number of 100 episodes. And in 3 days we'll also mark the 5th anniversary of the day my book was published, entitled THEM - The Richer Life Found in Caring for Other s. Few people know this, but it was selected by Writer's Digest as the best inspirational boo...

Hello everyone and welcome to today's episode, where we pick up where we left off in episode 89, How to Be a Better Observer of People. It aired on January 27th, 2021. To start, I'm going to share a response I received about that episode. It's from a listener in Tennessee who wrote, "Loved this message. Really challenged me. Listening to it twice." The message of that episode was this: our relatio...

How are we doing with our New Year's resolution to do good for others? To do more for people than they do for you, to the point they thank you in writing? Hey, thank you, Carol. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 91, Keeping Your Resolution to Do Good for Others. We are 41 days into 2021, and I thought it would be interesting to see how we're all doing with the one new year's resolution we talk...

When encouragement from others is lacking, we can encourage ourself by observing others, then ask God to help us to be like the people we admire. Hello everyone and welcome to today's show, episode 90.  Do you remember the last time someone encouraged you and how good that felt? Do you remember how it motivated you to keep doing whatever it was that prompted another person to take notice of what y...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 89, where today we talk about how to be a better observer of people. In last week's episode, Get Them to Say "Thank You for Asking"   I talked about the ORA principle of deepening our relationships with people - Observing - Remembering - Asking. Today we're going to examine in more detail the first component, O - observing. It's about how we can understand peo...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 88. Today we examine in-depth that odd expression of …. "Thank you for asking." In last week's episode I talked about making a New Year's resolution of interacting with people in such a way that they will send you a "thank you" note in writing. That's going to take some effort on your part because people rarely send thank you notes anymore. So for you to recei...

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 87. Today we talk about a New Year's resolution that will go a long way to deepening your relationships. I'm guessing it's a New Year's resolution you have never heard of before. In fact, I'd bet the farm on it, if I had a farm, that is. And even though we're 13 days into the new year, it's not too late to start implementing this resolution. And once you put i...

Begin the year with joy. Find some or create some. When you create joy for others you create joy for yourself. Today's episode shows how. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 86 and the start of Season 5 of our podcast. We said goodbye to 2020 in last week's episode with the thought that even in difficult circumstances there is always joy to be found if we look hard enough. I gave two examples of...

Finding joy in the difficult challenges of 2020 hasn't been easy. But when we look for the joy it takes the edge off trying circumstances. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 85 of our podcast, our last one for 2020, and season 4. Season 5 starts next Wednesday. In episode 81 a few weeks ago I quoted the bible character Nathaniel, who asked a rhetorical question about Jesus in the very early day...

The best Christmas gift we can give to someone, and ourself, is to be with people in community. That's what God did in giving us Jesus. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 83. It is the last one in our series on Relationships at Christmas. One Word to Describe Christmas If someone were to ask you for one word to describe the meaning of Christmas, what word would you pick? Presents? Family? Joy?...

Learn how to get more out of Christmas through the gift of anticipation. As we appreciate what God has already done for us, we can trust him for our future. We can anticipate the good things he was in store for us, like a child waiting to open their presents on Christmas. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 82. Today is the third of our December series on Relationships at Christmas. We're coming...

A deep personal connection with someone who "gets us," brings us joy as we share the challenges and joys of life together. Make one if you don't have one. It's one of the best Christmas gifts you can ever give - or get. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 81. Today is the second of our December series, Relationships at Christmas. I love the phrase, "he gets me," or "she gets me." You hear it in...