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Week 11# – The Path to Peace

This is the 11th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #11, The Path to Peace. Some questions to consider as we kick this off:

  • Do you have a sense of peace in your life?
  • In reflecting on this program to date, what’s stealing your peace?
  • Who’s stealing your peace?

When you boil it down, my thesis (sounds so official…ha, ha) is that being overwhelmed doesn’t allow us to experience the peace, joy, or fulfillment that God intended for us. I’ve shared the life lessons that have allowed me to go from there to here….by God’s grace.

My experience indicates that a full life, an impactful life, the life all of us really yearn for, includes all three…peace, joy, and fulfillment. That said, it all starts with peace.

Several years ago, in a moment of unconscious competence (they ring as true today as they did then), I defined the Path to Peace as Surrender, Gratitude, Humility, and Love. Although the sequence isn’t absolute, my experience would indicate that there’s something to it. Let’s explore each individually.

Photo by Kourosh Qaffari from Pexels

1) Surrender
First, we cannot control life, no matter how much we try. Many might think that isn’t true. With a good plan and solid people around you, it’s possible to control things. Sure, when it comes to planned events, we have a certain amount of control, as long as we allow for contingencies, but even then, things don’t always go perfectly. In fact, most of life is beyond our control. Other people and their choices and behavior are beyond our control. Tragic events, disease, accidents — these things are all way outside the scope of our control.

Second, we have God, who loves us more than we can imagine, who wants to see us happy, who designed us for a specific purpose, uniquely and individually, who knows best for us — the God who made us for greatness.

So why not surrender to the God of the universe, who is all-powerful, almighty, and all-loving? Instead of conceiving of something on my own, relying on myself to get it done, and then facing the consequences alone, I can choose to follow God’s will, discerning what He wants for my life and particular situations, and relying on Him for whatever happens. I use my unique and God-given gifts to do my very best, leaving everything up to Him and understanding that everything in life is part of His grand plan. As long as I know his love, it just doesn’t matter what others think. All of this takes the pressure off of me…..a big win!!!

2) Gratitude
Be thankful. As important, believe that everything happens for a reason, that there are no coincidences in life. It’s true. Everything is part of God’s grand plan. So, live in a place of gratitude; be grateful for everything that happens, even the crises you experience.

God wants only the very best for us. We can trust that absolutely, regardless of life’s obstacles and challenges. Surrender teaches us to let go of the need to have things our way. Gratitude allows us to look past any short-term pain and be grateful for what God wants to do with it for our good.

Gratitude isn’t just good for the soul, it’s good for the body, too. Experts have indicated the benefits to living a life of gratitude, including being happier, healthier, more optimistic, more spiritual, a better friend, a better boss, etc. A true “attitude of gratitude” is one that allows us to see the hand of God in all things and trust that everything will turn out for our best.

3) Humility
Humility is the opposite of ego, which we previously defined as our false self, the identity that we create that is often very far from the truth of who we are. The truly humble person lives from the truth of who he is and can step back from the chaos of trying to prove himself to others.

A humble person has a sense of self-worth, believes in himself, even loves himself, and doesn’t live in fear. Humility has much to do with self-love. This is because humility helps us know exactly who we are, with all of our weaknesses, yes, and even more with all of our strengths given to us by God. Those who have a healthy self-love, who are humble, have no need to look down on anyone, nor do they look up to anyone except Jesus Christ. We were all created by the same God, with the same perfection, in his image and likeness. To God, we are all “10s”.

A humble person is genuinely happy for others in their successes. He is accepting of others’ ideas and thoughts (accepting doesn’t mean always agreeing), always very willing to engage in dialogue and even friendly debate. The humble person doesn’t always have to be right, doesn’t always have to be in control, doesn’t always have to win. Humility allows us to accept others for who they are, rather than judging them or trying to change them.

Humility means accepting and loving others unconditionally. This does not mean we shouldn’t discern right from wrong, but we must never condemn others. Being humble is understanding that it is only in God working through us that we can perform or achieve anything worthwhile. It is his doing, not ours.

BTW, this isn’t easy stuff. On this journey now for a while, my biggest challenge is humility. It’s that old sin of “pride” that keeps creeping up on me. We’re all a work in process.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

4) Love
The final step (and the ultimate goal of this journey) is love. Above all else, we are called to love. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, second only to loving God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. We need to love. When we fail to love, we leave those around us empty, and we are empty, too. Yet we certainly can’t love others if we can’t accept them, if we’re always competing with them or judging them. We can’t love them if we always have to be right or always have to be on top.

Without relationships, life is meaningless. True relationship is impossible without love. To love, we need to be vulnerable; we need to trust; we need to care. Having gratitude for the people in our lives is vital to loving them. And gratitude brings joy, which is also essential to love.

As I have learned since my conversion, you cannot truly love others unless you first love yourself. It can be a slow journey, but practicing surrender, gratitude, and humility strengthens and confirms us in who we are, which opens us up to loving ourselves and others.

Suggested Actions
This blog has been longer than most in this series. As such, let’s wait till this Friday’s video, where I’ll share suggested actions you can take to get on and stay on the Path to Peace.
Please join us next Wednesday for Week #12 when we talk about Finding Your Purpose. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

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Week #10 – Becoming the Best Possible You

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

This is the 10th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #10, Becoming the Best Possible You. Given what we discussed in Lesson #8 (in understanding God’s unconditional love, the unimaginable is achievable), I’m sure it won’t be a surprise that the things I’d suggest in “becoming the best possible you” are rooted in our faith.

In Chapters 9 and 10 in my book, I provide a litany of things that not only help us grow in faith, but will lead to a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment. Today I’d like to talk about two. Although they may not appear overly “sexy”, they’ve changed my life. They include:

  • Prayer
  • Spiritual Reading

Give me a chance here. Let’s review each individually.

Prayer

First, if you struggle with prayer, know that you’re not alone. Almost everyone struggles with prayer. Second, you may struggle with prayer because you think you don’t get anything out of it. I was there at one time too. Here’s how I solved for it.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Rote Prayer – for a long time, I’ve said rote prayers, specifically the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. Since my conversion, I’ve added to that the long form of the Serenity Prayer and a prayer that I wrote in 2009. The difference as opposed to before, is that I now hang on every word of each of those prayers, praying through them very, very slowly. You’d be amazed what it does for your prayer life, your connectedness to God, when you do this.

Quiet Time – 7-10 (even 15) minutes in the morning, a great way to start your day. Eyes closed, in solitude, describe an issue to God. It could be a challenge or an opportunity. It could be something you want to examine about yourself or find insight in others. It can be anything. Describe it to our Lord, providing your thoughts and ideas, your fears and ambitions. Then sit in silence. Wait to hear what Jesus has to share with you. Although I’ve never heard the audible voice of God, He speaks to my heart….I’ve never left this prayer time disappointed. It’s also a great opportunity to journal.

Spiritual Reading

Scripture – the first that I’d point to is reading Scripture. I love the saying, “it’s one thing to know the Bible, it’s another to know its Author”. The only way to get to know its Author, God, is to read Scripture. In reading short passages, I’d suggest two things:

  • Imagine yourself at the time of Christ; how do you see yourself handling the situation, reacting to what occurred?
  • Pray through what the relevance is in your life today

Faith Based Books – ten minutes a day will change your life. As an author, it amazes how many people don’t read. It’s true, many don’t. Struggling with reading as a youth, for years now I read 30-60 minutes before going to sleep every night. It doesn’t have to be that for you. Just 10 minutes a day (night) will have a tremendous impact. There are so many great books out there, those which speak to the heart and the head. I know you can find some that speak to you. I list some of my favorites is in the back of my book.

Suggested Actions

This week’s suggestions are pretty simple (not always easy) and obvious, given the above:

  • Pray
    • Very slowly, say your rote prayers, hanging on and praying through every word
    • Quiet time – share with our God what’s most on your heart
  • Spiritual Reading
    • Read and pray through some Scripture every morning (I’d suggest starting with the New Testament)
    • Read faith-based books that speak to you
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #11 when we talk about the Path to Peace. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

 

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Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love

This is the 8th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #8, Discovering God’s Love. This is where everything changes…where you begin transforming the challenges of life into true Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment. It all starts here.

The first 7 of these 14 lessons, much like the first half of my book, covered the challenges we have in life and how they overwhelm us…from growing up believing that we have to earn the love of others to that manifesting itself in us having lack of self-love, and living out of our fears. We’re wounded by others hurting us, in addition to the tragedies we experience, often creating resentments. We end up looking for happiness in the wrong places, creating false gods along the way.

In the past 7 lessons, I’ve made recommendations as to how you can overcome each of the above. While each of the things I’ve suggested have worked for me, each is rooted in the following truth…

God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done.

Let that sink in.

  • God loves you more than you’ll ever know,
  • No matter what you’ve ever done

Knowing this, internalizing it, changes everything in your life. It’s not that you need to be worthy…you’re wanted. You’re chosen. God our Father loves you unconditionally; He forgives you unconditionally.

Photo by Laura Allen on Unsplash

God’s love is so great, that He gave His only begotten Son to die for your sins. Jesus Christ, our Savior, innocent of all, willingly allowed Himself to be killed on the Cross for you. In fact, Jesus loves you so much, that if you were the only person on this earth, He would have still endured that same tortious crucifixion just for you.

There’s only one way we come to understand this very true reality…and that’s through conversion. My conversion changed my life forever. I got there through the tragedy I endured. Others get there in other ways. Regardless of the path, here are the lessons learned.

In understanding and internalizing the unconditional love and forgiveness of God, you know that:

  • The unimaginable is achievable
  • You can live Heaven here on earth
  • There is a very specific path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

My greatest prayer, the thing I take to our Lord every single day, it that EVERYONE comes to a place of understanding and internalizing the unconditional love of God. As stated above, it changes everything.

Suggested Actions

So, how do you come to know the love of Christ? How do you achieve conversion? Again, there are no “quick” fixes to anything in life. Going from overwhelmed to peace, joy, and fulfillment, which is the purpose of this program and my book, can’t happen overnight. It’s a process that is much more than simply flipping a switch. With that, the process all starts with conversion. I suggest:

  • Do what speaks to you below (all of which can be found on page 71 of my book):
    • Pray for your conversion on a regular basis. It is a gift from God, and he wants to give it more than you want to receive it.
    • Remind yourself often of the unconditional love of God for you. Even if you don’t feel it, tell yourself, “God loves me unconditionally.” Let yourself believe it (there is nothing more true).
    • Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to lead you to conversion.
    • If you are Catholic, participate in the sacraments, especially confession and the Mass. I also suggest praying in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
    • Engage with a spiritual mentor, such as a priest, religious sister, deacon, pastor, or another wise person in your life who can work and pray with you.
    • Find a friend who is on the journey, who is willing to come along side you, to love you, coach you, and share with you.
    • Read Scripture and do other spiritual reading, especially on conversion and the love of God for us.
    • Seek out and participate in a vibrant Christian community; attend religious events and retreats.
    • Listen to inspiring talks and beautiful, uplifting music
  • During your morning prayer routine this week:
    • Visualize and meditate on Jesus on the Cross. Pray through the love that took from our Savior. Pray on the fact that love exists for you today
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #9 when we talk about FORGIVENESS AND HEALING, both critical to our journeys forward. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
Mark Joseph

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Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies

Hey *|FNAME|*,

This is the 6th of our 14-week free program, where we provide Lesson #6, on Life’s Tragedies. One of the most commonly asked questions related to faith is, “how can an all-loving God allow so much tragedy to take place?”

Not being a theologian or Scripture scholar, I’m not going to give you the theological answer, but one that is based on my experiences. Here it is….God allows tragedy to take place in our lives to bring us closer to Himself (God). Tragedy is what got me to intensely engage in my faith. It’s the thing that got most of my friends to engage as well.

Think about it…when things are going swimmingly well, when you’re “fat, dumb, and happy”, as they say, you think you’re doing just fine on your own. You don’t need anyone, much less God, with what most perceive as all His rules and restrictions.

We Want God in Tough Times

Instead, it’s times of tragedy when we determine that we can’t do it on our own. We know we need help. We often ache for someone to come along side us. That someone is the person of Jesus Christ.

I just heard the other day that prayer is up over 30%, with the COVID 19 pandemic. An article on Crux quotes Jeanet Sinding Bentzen, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who said, “the rising interest in seeking information about “prayer” on Google skyrocketed during the month of March 2020 when COVID-19 went global”.

I remember when 9/11 took place. Churches were packed and confession lines long, with people at abortion clinics and adult bookstores declining in number for a long period of time. When tragedy occurs, people seek God.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Tragedy Helps Us

I know these all sound like clichés…

  • God doesn’t give us anything that we can’t handle
  • What doesn’t break us makes us stronger
  • God gives us the opportunity to make a ministry out of our messes

My wife and I sometimes kid around, saying it would be nice if we could eliminate a tragedy here or crisis there, from our lives. The fact is that it takes every experience we have to make us who we are. And I thank God for all of it, including the significant tragedies in my life, because I know I wouldn’t be who I am today, doing what I do, without having experienced them. Praise God!!!

Suggested Actions

So, what do we do about it? How do we handle the inevitable tragedy in our lives? Given my experience, I would suggest:

  • Think about the following questions, taking them to prayer:
    • How have the tragedies in your life shaped you?
    • Look for the lessons in what you’ve gone through…they are there; you just need to be open to them.
  • During your morning prayer routine this week:
    • Try to be in a place of gratitude, thanking God for everything that’s taken place in your life.
    • Concentrate on the positive. What positive thing from that tragedy would not be present in your life today?
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Note: This isn’t easy stuff. I’ve been there. I promise you…as we work through these lessons and as you embrace the additional material, this “tragedy” piece is going to make more sense.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #7 when we talk about our wounds and resentments. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

P.S. Living in a place of gratitude means understanding that nothing happens by accident. The day I wrote this blog, my wife and I watched “I Still Believe” (Movie Trailer), a movie about singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp and his first wife. If you want to see a story about “why” tragedy and great hope, watch “I Still Believe”.

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment