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3 Essential Things To Remember When Stepping Into Your Destiny

A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

—Jean de La Fontaine

Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you waiting to be birthed? A destiny waiting to be realized and stepped into? Your God given destiny that is there waiting for you, but you’re stuck in this in-between state of never moving forward?

Sound familiar?

Everyone has a God given destiny, but so few choose to walk it out with Him. For me it took some big stuff to happen in my life, which I share in my book Heartstone, but here are some nuggets I learned from that journey of God breaking the man that I thought I was.

Psalm 73 (My Version)

God is so good, but I allowed the culture and the lies of the world to dull my senses and blind me over time so I almost missed seeing His goodness. I foolishly took my eyes off Him and became intoxicated by people in high places, envying the success of those who have made it to the top and desperately seeking this to define my own identity. I believed that these people worried about nothing, and their status and wealth provided them with the comfort of not having a care in the world.

What I couldn’t see beneath the veil was their conceit and arrogance, how selfish they were at the core, their uncaring hearts, their aggressively doing whatever it took for them to get what they wanted with no regard for others, their evil conceit that knew no limits, their being friendly to your face and mocking you to others behind your back. In their arrogance, they would threaten oppression and destroy the peace. People actually listened to them — I actually listened to them — can you believe it?

What’s going on? God, where are You? Can’t You see what’s going on down here? God, why do I suffer though I live for You? Why do those who deny You have it better than I do? Everywhere I looked I felt the sorrow and the pain of empty living. This is giving me a headache…

How I Collided With Destiny, In the Silence Of Life

Have you ever noticed how much noise there is around us?

Silence in the world we live in is a very rare commodity. There seems to always be someone or something competing for our time and our silence is invaded from every direction if we let it.

Why is this a concern for you and me? Because God does some some of His best and most powerful work in us, in the silence. Why is this difficult for us? Because we often choose to be at war with our silence and seem avoid it at all cost. Quick test: I bet that you take your smartphone/tablet into the bathroom with you — don’t you?

Somehow we have become conditioned to never unplug!

I was in a place in my life where I had lost my hope, my family, my house, many friends, my financial resources, and almost my job, and I kept crucifying myself with the regrets of my past and the fear of my future. Well, I had had enough and determined that it would be best for me to use some of my own strength, and I decided to go on a hike. I really needed to clear my thoughts and getting up on top of the mountains usually was a great remedy. What I didn’t realize is that God was smiling a bit because He had planned this. He had known about my circumstances from the very beginning.

Here is an excerpt from my book Heartstone where I had that collision with God in the silence.

3 Self Imposed Obstacles To Starting Over

Cruising up Route 89 on my way to work, I was listening to an Andy Stanley podcast, “Starting Over, Part One – Three Myths” enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery of New Hampshire while sipping on a much needed cup of coffee.

The message really hit home because it reminded me of of my own journey of “starting over” after my divorce. The whole experience sucked but I remember the transition of having to leave the comfort of my own house; then living a very transient lifestyle from a basement floor, to the top of a barn, to a single room, to small apartment at the back of an Inn, to a town house and years later back in a house. More about that later.

Before we dive deeper we have to backup a bit and ask the questions, “why do so many of us have to start over? ..and why don’t we get it right on round two, three, etc?” We can debate a bunch of reasons, but the one that typically stands out is that we made some crazy mistake in life and we never learn the lesson.

Have you ever noticed that we quickly learn from our mistakes in the areas that matter least in life? Sending that embarrassing auto-corrected text. Inadvertently sending that “not for your boss’s eyes” email right into his/her inbox. Fill in the blank______. You get the point.

When it comes to the personal-really-matters stuff of life we don’t seem to learn from our mistakes. Most of us get on the merry-go-round of life and do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Albert Einstein describes this action as insanity.

When you’re on a merry-go-round [of life], you miss a lot of the scenery.

—Neil Diamond, emphasis added

Here is the in your face rub…

Why The Story Of Louie Zamperini Should Have Been Titled ‘Broken’

Went to see Unbroken with some of my band of brothers and wow what an inspiring movie. If you really want the full impact of what this man went through, I highly recommend the book by Laura Hillenbrand.

I want to start by acknowledging that the movie ‘Unbroken’ based on Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography Unbroken is incredibly inspiring. What pops off the screen is Louie’s grit and courage. His sheer grit alone was awe inspiring — the likes of which not many men could ever hope to exhibit. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and Louie shows us through his brave example of true belief and courage that forgiving your enemies is possible.

Here is a quick summary of the movie before I take a deeper dive with my thoughts.

3 Essential Things To Remember When Stepping Into Your Destiny

Psalm 73 (My Version)

How I Collided With Destiny, In the Silence Of Life

3 Self Imposed Obstacles To Starting Over

Why The Story Of Louie Zamperini Should Have Been Titled ‘Broken’

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Never Out Of The Fight!

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