Reviving Fatherhood Quotes

“depressed like you ruined everything God had planned for you? This is not the end!
Just like the artists who spent consistent time with their creations in order for them to become masterpieces, we get this opportunity with God. He is eager to continue molding, shaping, and creating us to become the masterpieces he had in mind from the beginning. Even though he is eager, we must decide to meet with him to let him do his work. Spending consistent time with the Lord is the way to let him continue his work with us.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Imagine about twenty years from now. What do you see in your vision? Will it be a tree full of abundance and fruit or barren and dying? The choice is yours. The choice is ours.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“So, Dad, the next time you are having a moment (as I am sure you will soon), remember the tools and weapons in your belt. Read the Bible to shape your perspective, pray intentionally to take on God’s truth about you, and worship and fast to satisfy yourself in his presence. It will rejuvenate your soul.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Ask anyone—when chaos is all around and that worship music starts playing, our eyes quickly move from being focused on ourselves to being focused on God. This is powerful. Many times when I have anxiety from not knowing how to parent, I need to remind myself that God is parenting through me and is with me.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“As I began to read through the Bible from cover to cover, I started understanding who God was at the beginning of time and noticed he is the same today. I noticed his plan for humanity, his desire to be with his people, and so many other things.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“The words in the Bible are not just words; they are God’s words. Something happens when you read the Bible as opposed to any other piece of literature. It is almost too complicated to explain, but there is a simple concept that sums up the complexity of the matter. Ask yourself this question: “If I read the Bible every day for a year, for fifteen minutes a day, how would my life be different?” Pause right now and ask yourself this question. If you have never read the Bible before, dream about what this might mean for you.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Being a spiritual leader just means going first; it does not mean being perfect or having perfect discipline. It means going first, admitting failure, asking for help, and not stopping. When the wife asks us to lead our family or the like, I want us to have the confidence to say, “Yes, and I know how!”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“As I can see and have experienced myself, men seem to have a hard time knowing what it is to grow in their faith or how to do it. I see wives asking their husbands to become the spiritual leaders of the house for her and the kids, and the guy is eager, too, but won’t admit he does not know how.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Did you know that one day, you will cross that finish line of the race of fatherhood? You may be battered and bruised, but you will get in the end zone or run past the tape. You will climb into the stands, and when you turn around, you will see many dads running the same course you did, and you will have nothing to do except cheer and encourage them too. For you know what it has been like and what they are encountering. You know they can do it, and you just can’t cheer loudly enough.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Translate these thoughts into fatherhood. If you are like me, it is a task in which, most of the time, I have no idea of what I am doing. Anxiety and depression easily take over most days, as I think I have screwed up my kids or I am doing everything wrong. But this new way of thinking has given me hope. I no longer feel like I am doing this alone, and I am finding weights I picked up that I am negatively parenting from.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Do I think I do not need God? How is it that I believe and follow God if my tendency is to think I do not need relationships in my life? These questions started to plague my mind, but I could only come back to the thought of God’s grace. I believe that God allowed me to view him how I needed to; after all, he knew I needed him.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“I finally got to a point in my life where I recognized the need to expand my team. In order to get ahead of some of the unknown weights in my life, I knew I should probably get a counselor. However, out of pride mostly, I took over three years to finally sign up and go to my first session.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“For me, drinking became a sin issue over a substance issue and it needed to go and be put back to its appropriate place in my life. I am somewhere on this journey. I can feel it as a weight slowing me down, holding me back, and making it so tough to endure and persevere. When I stopped abusing drinking, I experienced freedom in ways I cannot describe but would feel very similar to dropping dead weight when you are running. You get a second wind, you get a pop in your step, and you feel like you can run faster than you ever thought possible.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“How many of us dads feel alone, depressed, anxious, overwhelmed, overstimulated, or burned out, like we’re dragging our feet, speechless, doubting our abilities, or just flat-out tired? I know it has to be a lot of us, because every dad I talk to mentions feeling like this multiple times, week in and week out. Turn over to social media, and you will find forums, groups, and influencers supporting dads feeling this way. It is a reality that being a dad is hard work and it wears on you. Support is what we need, but it seems impossible to find.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“God is who makes you a man. Culture does not get to define you as a man, your dad does not get to define you as a man, your friends do not get to define you as a man. Your wife, your mom, your kids, your neighbor, your boss, your coworker, your social media, your humor, your strength, your job, your car, your truck, your hunting expertise, your love for sports, your ability to drink—you name it!—none of these things get to define you as a man. Only one voice may, and that is the voice of your Creator. He created you as a man. Now rise up to the challenge and let him do his work.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“I have seen many good men give up on perseverance. Life takes a toll. They started off so well in their marriage and fatherhood, but as the adversity stacked up and blow after blow struck like a heavyweight fight, they just did not get back in the fight. This is why it is so important to have Jesus at the center of your life as your strength. This is why it is so important to be training physically and spiritually for the battle we are in.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“The words preserve and persevere seem very similar to me. How often are we going to get tired of doing the work? If you are like me, a lot. But we do not quit! We must persevere in order to preserve. I started praying a lot for perseverance over perfection recently because I am noticing I could not care less that I can’t do things right, but I need strength to keep going and keep working.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Compromise in what you let into your body and your home through what you see and hear will eventually land us in a place where we wonder how we even got there. Sound familiar? Whenever you hear about a pastor or someone whose life just blew up and you could never see it coming, it means that at some point in their journey, they did not fight back against the simple yet convincing lies of Satan. Simply put, they did not engage in spiritual warfare. What started out as what seemed like an innocent seed grew and eventually took that person out. Kill the lie; fight back against the darkness when it is in infant form before it overtakes you or your family.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Unlike a project, we will not be able to bring people to completion. That is God’s job. Our job is to do our part by joining in with the Creator bringing his creation forward, helping it become a part of his incredible world.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Culture’s voice is loud, and even the Christian subculture voice is. I remember noticing this in my late teen years. Maybe I am on an island by myself here, but all through late teen years, I was not preparing for working responsibilities. I was preparing to have them. People kept telling me I was going to have a wife, have children, have a home, and have a career. I was preparing to have all of those and was totally naïve to the fact that in order for them to thrive, they would need work, or they would all die.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Recently, I was convinced that I was so focused on my voice and telling everyone else what I learned that I became a really good virtue signaler. Unintentionally, I was obsessed with knowing all the right things, and I didn’t pay much attention to what I was applying in my life. I was getting too excited when I heard a new bumper-sticker quote from a sermon or catching phrase in a Christian podcast.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Constantly praying for God to teach me new things about him to apply in my life, I rarely gave it a second thought when I spent time with him and I learned something. It stopped there. See, we can learn things, but if we do not spend time applying them to our lives, they do not stick. Then we ask, “Where is the growth?” This cultural age we are in is obsessed with information and followers and online presence. I fell for it; I still fall for it.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Alcohol derailed me from giving quality to the priorities in my life. I was able to keep the priorities in order, but they were suffering because I was suffering. Experiencing dueling priorities, as I call it, is like not having a priority at all. If what you are called to do has to split time with something else, then your calling can never fully be what it is supposed to become. I do not wish this on anyone.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“I learned a valuable lesson that God seems to have weaved into all his creation, and it is this: boundaries lead to freedom. Adam and Eve, in order to enjoy their garden freedom, had to maintain a boundary of not eating from the tree in the middle of the garden. I implemented boundaries, and that is where I felt freedom.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Every parent knows about the humorous jokes about mama juice, a.k.a. wine, or how at the end of every long day, a glass of cheap wine is a reward. “What about dads, though?” I ask myself. It seems society sends the message that dads can drink, no matter what they do, or they are not manly enough if they can’t handle their liquor. If the game is on, drink. If you are hanging with the guys, drink. Not feeling manly enough? Drink more and drink harder.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“I have a challenge for you. No matter where you work, ask your spouse and kids, if they are old enough, if your work seems like the priority over them. Ask them if your job is interfering with leading your family or providing for them as they need. I do not want any dad to be known for working over being with his family. One looks good in the eyes of your peers; the other makes a difference in the souls of your wife and children.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“Your family and your relationships are worth so much more than you may give them credit for. Fight for what you love. Fighting against Satan trying to steal your time away from what matters is a war we will have to endure our whole lives, but winning one battle at a time is all it takes before we win the war. Christ has won the war, so there is hope we can win the battles with him.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“When we combine the strategic order of relationships with discipleship, it helps provide clarity on relationships we should be prioritizing. We start with the relationships God has given us direct responsibility over, then we work our way outward from there. Asking ourselves, “Whom can we disciple?” and praying about it helps guide us to those in our current season of life we should be prioritizing.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“This is why I absolutely love this passage from Jesus because he takes the pressure off needing to be everything to everyone.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy

“In case you missed it, Jesus says, “Go and make disciples.” He does not say, “Go and tell people about me and baptize them, then move on to someone else.” Our priority is to spend time with the few in our lives who are open and able to learn from us about the commands he has given us. Simply put, discipleship is helping people follow Jesus. This may mean helping people who are already following Jesus or helping people who are not yet following him. It is not just a word that applies to Christians.”
― Steven Kolberg, Reviving Fatherhood: Guiding Every Dad from First Steps to Lasting Legacy