It reminds you of the lesson I’ve learned this past month that I feel like

the more I can relate to others and connect with others in a higher and holier way, I understand

just a little bit more of how God understands me, and how He knows me.

I genuinely believe I get to know Him better through others every single day.

I'm Hollis and I just finished my bachelor's degree in business and I'm starting my career off.

I've always done a pretty good job at getting to know people and connecting with them, but lately I feel like it's been really superficial. Like, I don't really get to know them and who they actually are. But this 30-day challenge has really helped with a lot of that.

By implementing this simple formula,

a simple pattern that really allows me to see people, I think a lot more like God sees them.

And the best thing about it was I was able to use this formula and this pattern with complete strangers that I had never met before, because in the middle of my 30-day challenge, I was able to go and take this long- awaited, once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Holy Land. All right. It's day one. I'm excited. I want to make sure I help others feel seen because I feel like every one of us has sacrificed something to a degree.

And I'm genuinely excited to see how I can see my brothers and sisters here in a new light.

I start a conversation with Mark, who was the guy working at the gas station,

and just asked him questions about his life and thanked him as well

for helping us out. And he talked a lot about how he's working the graveyard shift and he's trying to earn more money. And we just let him know that we appreciate him. And we were so grateful for him. And it was just a little thing that I'm glad I was able to do.

And one stood out, and her name is Christie. She is wonderful. And

I was able to just sit with her and use that pattern of being able to,

um, admire her, thank her, ask and listen. And I learned so many things. I had no idea we were actually a lot more similar than I ever thought. And I'm just grateful I never really connected with her before and being able to be more aware and talk to her and see how much I related to her was an awesome experience.

Hey, yo. Just landed here in Israel.

I nwas given a really cool opportunity to come visit the Holy Land and am really excited to be here.

Today. I also met the cutest man here and I was able to use the pattern of admire, thank, ask, and listen with him. And it was so wonderful to be able to just ask him about his religion and him to share some of his ways of worship with me. And I just admired him so much and his devotion to his faith. Here in Jordan.

And it's been wonderful to use that pattern for my challenge on different people here, whether they're Christian or Muslim,

able to see how they worship, admire how they worship, and really even thank them.

In think this method of thinking really allows me to be grateful to acknowledge the good and to be curious. But I’m grateful my mind goes to that pattern,

and I think it's becoming a little more natural instead of something I was just using as a goal.

And I got to know one teenager in particular. His name was Ben, and Ben was telling me about how he was from LA and he went to a Jewish school in LA and they sponsored a trip for all of them to go to Jerusalem. And I just admired so much his devotion to his own faith at such a young age.

And it was cool talking to Ben about that and what he loves and what gives him drive.

And it reminded me of the holiness that I have in my belief with Christ

and how this pattern with Him was able to actually help me. And.

I genuinely believe it’s helped me deepen my own sense of worship by being

able to hear his perspective and story.

Hey, this is wild.

I’m in Petra, Jordan, one of the wonders of the world. Yes. I love you, Mom.

All right. Today I made a new friend today, and I felt

drawn to our bus driver and wanting to get to know him.

So I thanked him and admired his bus-driving skills and how good he was at driving and just told him I was grateful, grateful for him, and just asked more about his life and what I ended up finding out. By the way, his name is Ron. I'm a big Ron fan.

He is the most jolly happy man you'll ever meet.

He has three daughters and a wife and has been with this tour company

for ten plus years. I found out he is obsessed with the NBA.

He’s like, “My favorite team—Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Heat.” And I’m like,

that’s awesome, Ron. I feel like it’s such it’s been such a simple way to really get to know God's kids here a little bit better.

There was the call to prayer, which the Muslims do every day.

And that's what they were doing at the mosque. But right when we walked out of the mosque, the Roman Catholic Church, they were praying and you could hear it from there as well.

So you could hear both churches praying and worshiping at the same time. That these two different places were worshiping

and interacting with the divine in their own way.

How beautiful it is that there's holiness in all the different religions in the world and how they worship.

Great day today. One of the highlights of today was, well, I got a haircut today coming back from Jerusalem. I

had a really good conversation with

the girl cutting my hair just about life and about where she was

and what was on her mind and experiences she's personally going through right now. I've really appreciated this pattern of asking questions and really listening and thanking them for sharing these experiences with me. And I was not expecting to have such deep conversation or as deep of a conversation with the person cutting my hair.

Uh, but it really was just a cool experience for me

and really taught me that we can really learn so much from anyone and everyone that we meet.

It makes me happy to be able to have that level of connection with someone that I don't know.

It is wild that the 30 days have already passed, but I have been especially grateful

for this 30-day challenge that was given to myself

because using this pattern with someone new,

I feel like I almost see the divinity in them, more like how special they are to me, how special they are to God.

And it's given me this lens and perspective of how

sacred it is to follow those two great commandments of loving God and others as ourself. And that how that helps propel me to become better

and to find divinity in others and myself. Because we all have it.

And this challenge has really helped me realize that I have—that I am divine.

God’s children are divine and most of all, He is divine.

Hey, thanks for watching my 30-day challenge. It made a really big impact on me and became a really amazing habit in my life of how I see other people.

Are there any habits you want to develop?

Let me know in the comments below. I really want to know what you're doing. Also, there are other people who want to share their 30 day stories, so make sure to subscribe and turn your notifications on so you don't miss anything.