Tag: path to peace

Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

Post author By Mark Joseph
Post date August 5, 2020

This is the 14^th and last week of our program, where we provide Lesson #14, on True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment.

We’ve started several of these lessons with some questions. How about this one? What’s preventing you from experiencing what I refer to as the “Big 3” in your life:

Peace
Joy
Fulfillment

If you’ve hung with us through the first 13 lessons, you know that the primary culprit to not achieving the above three is being overwhelmed. Practically everyone experiences it and in fact very few ever figure out how to overcome it. As explained, the source of us being overwhelmed begins when we’re young…we grow up believing that we have to earn the love of others. That “conditional love” most often turns into lack of self-love, which always leads to fear, preventing us from being, doing, and trying all that we’re called to. As such, regardless of fame or fortune, no matter what the successes, very few of us meet our full potential.

Believing what the world tells us, although our experience indicates differently, we try to fill the god sized hole in the center of our chest with what is never going to make us happy. I refer to them as the 4 Ps, prominence, possessions, pleasure, and people. Overwhelmed and on the hamster wheel of life, we try to make it go faster and faster, pursuing these things that will never bring us peace, joy, or fulfillment.

Photo by Simon Matzinger from Pexels

God is Our Only Answer

The ONLY solution to the above is to understand and internalize God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. This is accomplished through conversion, which begins when we determine that life can be better with Jesus as a part of it as opposed to not…when we turn away from ourselves and towards Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

It’s ONLY when we understand God’s unconditional love, that we come to know three things:

The unimaginable is achievable
We can live Heaven here on earth
There is a distinct Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

It’s the combination of several thing that allow you to come to this place…understanding God’s love, embracing your purpose, exercising your God given talents and desires, knowing you’re made for greatness, and surrendering all to God’s Will. You do these things and you’ll be fulfilled. You’ll experience true peace and have a joy that you’ve never experienced before.

Suggested Actions

So, here’s my suggestion for this week:

Go back to Lesson #1, which was emailed to you Wednesday, May 6^th. Read and reflect on it, in addition to Lessons #2-14 (emailed every Wednesday) in sequence. Do it in one sitting or over the course of a week.
- What most speaks to you?
- What applies to your life’s experiences?
During your morning prayer routine this week, think about three things:
- How have you been overwhelmed in your life?
- What would it feel like to live a life of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment?
- What needs to happen for you to decide to do the latter?
Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Thank you for joining us on this 14-week journey. We sincerely hope that you got a lot out of it. If you have ideas on other information or resources that we could offer, that would help you in going from Overwhelmed to Fulfilled, please let us know.

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

Tags catholic, Christ, fullfillment, God, Greatness, Jesus, Joy, life, Mark Joseph, path to peace, peace, prayer, tragedy, virtues

Weekly Blog

Week 12# – Finding Your Purpose

Post author By Mark Joseph
Post date July 22, 2020

This is the 12th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #12, Finding Your Purpose. Have any of the following questions occurred to you, as they had to me:

Why am I here?
What is my purpose?
What is life really all about?
What mark do I want to leave on this world?

In talking to folks, although we may arrive at this place at different times, possibly not asking the specific questions above (there are many others), most of us seem to reach a point in our lives, where we come to believe that life is about more than what we’ve been doing to date.

For those of us on this Christian walk, that “purpose” most often has to do with our faith, what we feel God is calling us to do. I know that was very true for me. Having had my conversion in 2006 and growing in faith since, I felt a call to combine ministry with career in 2012, when I joined the Conference Office of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Recently appointed Vice President of Outreach and Evangelization, I absolutely love the direction of the University, the people I get to work with, and my job. Not sure what retirement looks like, they’ll have to kick me out of there.

Photo by **Elly Fairytale** from **Pexels**

Living Your Faith Doesn’t Mean that You Have to Work for the Church

Don’t misunderstand me. I often say, “you don’t have to be in ministry to do ministry”. Although that was my direction, it doesn’t have to be yours’. In fact, in most cases, I’d suggest that you can accomplish much more outside the Church…in sharing our faith, the love of Christ, than you can in working for the Church.

Why do I say the above? In objectively looking at our massively secularized society, with all of its challenges as spelled out in the first 7 weeks of these free lessons, people are starving for peace, joy, and fulfillment in their lives. As you and I know, the only true path is through Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

You have that opportunity, we all have that opportunity, in all that we do, with all who we encounter, to share the love of Christ and change lives forever. That doesn’t mean hitting people over the head with the Bible, but loving them, caring for them, being compassionate…and present to them. As a friend who spent years and years in ministry would put it, “spending the necessary time to earn the right to share the Gospel”. And as I like to say, “people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care”.
In my book and the online course that we’re launching this fall, I detail a process on how to zero in on your God given purpose by identifying and praying through your talents, desires, and needs. That said, I decided to dedicate today’s blog to what is universal to the individual and unique purposes that we’re called to. That is to love, love, love our brothers and sisters, sharing the love of Christ with all who we encounter.

Suggested Actions

So, here’s my suggestion for this week…something that could possibly become a norm going forward.

During your morning prayer routine this week, think about two things:
- Those who the Lord puts on your heart for that day, praying through how you can serve and love them….tangible things
- Given your talents, desires, and needs, what is God calling you to? Listen for His voice, which will lead you to your God given purpose.
Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #13 when we talk about how You Were Made for Greatness. 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

Tags balance, catholic, Challenges, coo, Family, finding, Friends, life, ministry, path to peace, peace, purpose

Weekly Blog

Week 11# – The Path to Peace

Post author By Mark Joseph
Post date July 15, 2020

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.

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.

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

Tags catholic, Challenges, fulfillment, Hope, Humility, Jesus, Joy, Love, Mark Joseph, path to peace, prayer, purpose, Relationships