A friend of mine was the supervisor of summer volunteers for a mission organization. He shared this story with me that illustrates that how we respond to our life situations really does make all the difference in the world. He assigned two couples to different areas of an island populated with disadvantaged people. Each couple …
Continue reading “65807 7. Are Your Feelings and Emotions Positive or Negative?”
What goes on in your head is the most private part of your inner life. The longer I work with people, the more convinced I am that everyone can and does control his or her own mind. We make our own decisions, and no one can change them. Power to Choose Here are some areas …
I’m firmly convinced that the goals we set for ourselves account for one of the most crucial factors of all in helping us to experience happiness. Goals bring life into focus. They give meaning and purpose to life. But they must all be grounded in God’s plans and purposes. Climbing Mt. Whitney I have a …
I have found that there is nothing that seems to affect our happiness more than our close relationships, specifically those of marriage and parenting. Your marriage partner is typically more intimately involved in your life than anyone else and your children usually run a close second. However, it is important to remember that how we …
Our happiness is not something that happens to us. It is something you and I have control over. God’s Word has so much to teach us about how we can make choices that will help us to experience not only his perfect plan for our lives, but his peace and joy and contentment. This book …
It is no accident that we start our tour of the sin families with the sin of pride. In some sense, pride is the foundational sin. As Bible commentator William Barclay declared, “Pride is the ground in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all rebellion against God’s commands. Pride may …
Fuss and feverishness, anxiety, intensity, intolerance, instability, pessimism and wobble, and every kind of hurry and worry—these, even on the highest levels,” declared spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill, “are signs of the self-made and self-acting soul; the spiritual parvenu.”1 A parvenu is someone who has been raised to a new position but has not yet acquired …
Some years ago, I (Henry) traveled to Zimbabwe for a conference and spoke about forgiveness. Afterward, a couple asked to speak with me in private. They were from Uganda, and they told me their story. During the brutal reign of Uganda’s Idi Amin, the couple received a note telling them that their twenty-six-year-old son had …
In my (Henry’s) early years, one of my biggest problems was with drinking. Though I grew up in a Christian home where drinking was frowned upon, I rebelled in my teenage years and started drinking in bars, at parties, and in the homes of my friends. Early signs of the danger in this lifestyle did …
Continue reading “65512 12. Overindulgence: Enough Is Not Enough”
In his autobiography, Just As I Am, Billy Graham told the story of meeting two men on a Caribbean island he was visiting with his wife, Ruth. One of the wealthiest men in the world asked us to come to his lavish home for lunch. He was seventy-five years old, and throughout the entire meal …
Continue reading “65513 13. Dissatisfaction: The Restless Heart”