Posts Tagged ‘Circumstances’

God is a God of purpose.  When we learn to pray to Him in a non religious way with intentionality it is life transforming.  Here is part of an introduction to a book on prayer that I wrote many years ago.  There will be a link for a free copy of the book at the end.

The young doctor came out of the treatment room and just shook her head and I knew what it meant.  It was November of 1991 and Althea, my wife of 16 years, had suddenly died after a long illness. The emotional pain that I felt at that moment cannot be put into words.  Waiting at home were our four children who no longer had a mom to talk to or hug.   We were facing what seemed like an impossible situation.  How would I be able to raise our children alone? What would I do without my wife? What would our children do without their mother?

The next few days were like a bad dream.  I would have gladly traded places with Althea.  I knew she was with the Lord in heaven and I envied the fact that she was free from all problems and worries.  I asked God why she died and not me. He had to know that our kids really needed their Mom.  I had some other questions too.  Was there anything else I could have done to change things?  Did I pray enough or exercise faith enough for my wife’s healing?  What did I do wrong?

I began to cry out to God like a drowning man gasping for air. If we were to survive as a family we needed His help. The circumstances we faced did not allow me the luxury of going through the motions of prayer – I needed to know how to really pray and make contact with the Lord. All the questions of why things happened gradually gave way to more pressing needs. Everyday seemed to bring new challenges. Lives were hanging in the balance and I needed God’s help.

I know you have heard this before but — God is faithful.  He helped us.  He has proven His faithfulness time and time again since those tragic days. …

I used to read books anxious to get the help I needed based upon what they promised.  Now I am learning how to rest in the Lord.  Why don’t you allow God to take the pressure off and you will see a truth about Him that could change your life. You can find yourself really walking by faith and not by sight. He really is an awesome God!

My desire is that God will touch you … Just relax – there is no pressure for us to perform.  God will stir us into action but first let us come to Him and learn.

“Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.  I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”   (Matthew 11:28-30 – The Message)

Free Prayer Book

When we look at Life Growth Strategies, the starting off point must be Meaning. Whether we use the term meaning or purpose, we are talking about the same thing.

The story of Victor Frankl certainly could have ended differently. Frankl’s mother and father, his brother and his wife, all died in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Frankl endured extreme torture and brutality, cold and hunger. He could have been sent to the gas chambers in Auschwitz, and later Dachau, at any time. A manuscript of his life’s work was taken during his capture and never returned.

Instead of embracing the attitude that life is meaningless and thinking about taking his own life, Frankl rose from the pit of his suffering with a view that could only be considered life affirming.

What was the secret? It was the belief that his life had meaning and a purpose. Frankl believed that even in the most horrific circumstances, like those he endured, a person still has the freedom and ability to choose how they will interpret their life’s events and to create some kind of meaning out of them.

There are several aspects in “Man’s Search For Meaning”, that illustrates the power of purpose. Frankl would frequently imagine himself, after freedom, giving lectures and sharing with others about how horrors, like those of Nazi Germany, must never happen again. He also developed and acted upon the desire to jot down notes that he remembered from his manuscript.

Frankl believed that our task in life is not merely to survive, but to find the purpose and specific guiding truth that is unique for each one of us. This truth can sometimes only be realized in the midst of incredible suffering. Frankl observed that those who gave way to despair and refused to hold on to hope, made a tragic mistake by giving away the only freedom they really had – the freedom to choose their own thoughts.

A theory of Frankl’s became a reality as he was forced to live it out during the war, and this is how Logotherapy came into being. The aim of Logotherapy is not introspection like Freudian psychotherapy, but it attempts to take the person outside of themselves to see their life in a broader and more fuller perspective.

What is your purpose? Why are you alive?

Yes, the very first of our Life Growth Strategies, is the will to meaning or to say it a different way, the discovery of purpose.

There is potential within you that needs to be released, and finding your purpose and working it out will be the most fulfilling aspect of your life.  Join me as we spend time discovering and activating this life growth strategy.

Till next time, Jim