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Unshakable Faith Includes His Wife, Kelley, and Son, Alexander

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Unshakable Faith Includes His Wife, Kelley, and Son, Alexander You can’t stop the storms of life from raging, but you can discover how to… This powerful, practical guide will help you discover how to face and survive life’s scariest storms unscathed. You will uncover timeless truths on how to prepare for, withstand and rebuild after: • Family Problems • Financial Stress • Illness • Career Challenges • Lack of Purpose • Death of a Loved One • Temptation • And More! By N e will meet you in the eye of whatever storm l s you are facing and give you the tools you need to find peace o n and joy on the other side of your struggle. S e Nelson Searcy is the Founding Pastor of The Journey Church, a a multi-site church with locations across New York City and rcy in Boca Raton, Florida. Searcy is the author of over 15 books, including The Difference Maker, The Greatness Principle F and Tongue Pierced. Searcy’s journey in developing an o unshakable faith includes his wife, Kelley, and son, Alexander. rew o Lon Dean has served as the Lead Pastor at House of Praise in rd by Castleton, NY since 2005. House of Praise is a fast-growing church, known for having a welcoming atmosphere, creative services and a strong focus on helping people grow spiritually. Lon R. Dean Lon and his wife, Joanne, have been married since 1991 and have four beautiful girls: Moriah, Joelle, Christiana and Alayna. US $19.95 Inspirational / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth ISBN 978-0-578-12321-9 51995 > This copy is provided for you by House of Praise. For more information, Foreword by Lon R. Dean 9 780578 123219 Printed in the U.S.A. visit NoPerfectPeopleHERE.com Foreword by Lon R. Dean Copyright © 2020 by Nelson Searcy Published by Church Leader Insights www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Searcy, Nelson Unshakable : standing strong when things go wrong / Nelson Searcy p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-578-12321-9 (pbk.) 1. Religion—Christian Life—Spiritual Growth All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Other versions used are NIV—Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permis- sion of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. NKJV—Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. MSG—Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Contents Foreword by Lon R. Dean 5 How to Read Unshakable 9 Introduction: WEATHERING THE STORM 11 Chapter 1: THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF UNSHAKABLE FAITH 15 Chapter 2: SIX MORE PRINCIPLES OF UNSHAKABLE FAITH 27 Chapter 3: LACK OF PURPOSE 37 Chapter 4: FAILURE 53 Chapter 5: FAMILY PROBLEMS 67 Chapter 6: TEMPTATION 79 Chapter 7: CAREER CHALLENGES 95 Chapter 8: ILLNESS 107 Chapter 9: DOUBT 123 Chapter 10: FINANCIAL STRESS 137 Chapter 11: MARRIAGE ISSUES 157 Chapter 12: DISCONNECTION FROM GOD 177 Chapter 13: DEATH 191 Epilogue: BUILDING ON THE RIGHT FOUNDATION 201 204 Scripture Guide 206 Acknowledgments 208 Notes For everyone who has ever struggled to stand strong through life’s storms. Foreword by Lon R. Dean his book, Unshakable, is a book about standing strong in Tyour faith through the trials of life. My wife, Joanne, and I understand what it is like to face the storms and trials of life. During more than two decades of marriage, we have tried to balance marriage, raising four daughters, work, extended family and having a personal life, all while experiencing the trials life can bring. To be honest we’ve been through most of the storms in this book. In fact, our married life began in a storm. Just before we were married, I was laid off from my long-time job as a Branch Manager. After four months of marriage, my wife announced we were having a baby. Surprise! I was unemployed and terrified. To make things worse, shortly after this I began to feel tired and sick all the time. I thought it was just stress but soon I was bedridden. After weeks of testing, the doctors told me I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Epstein-Barr virus in my blood. The doctor told me I would never get better and 5 UNSHAKABLE: STANDING STRONG WHEN THINGS GO WRONG offered to put me on permanent disability. I responded, “No, God will heal me.” He laughed and sent me home. The first Christmas with our new daughter, I was sleeping in my bed while my wife was sitting in the living room of our mobile home, crying. She prayed, “God, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.” Just then, my parents unexpectedly knocked on the door bringing presents and dinner. That answered prayer helped Joanne stand unshakable in her faith that “God hears us.” A few weeks later my pastor’s wife led the church to pray for my healing before service. At my home, 65 miles away, I felt strength return to my body. I walked for the first time in weeks. I went into the bathroom and took a shower. By the time the shower was over I was completely healed. I went back to my doctor and ran all the blood tests again — receiving a clean bill of health! Twenty years later the disease has never returned, thank God! I’m excited to partner with Nelson Searcy on this book because I believe, more than any book I have read, that Unshakable will help you stand strong through the trials of life. My prayer as you read this book is that you will believe that God has not left you when you go through storms. Helping people stand strong in their faith is an important part of why I came to House of Praise. I began pastoring with a desire to build a church that focused on connecting people to God in a real and lifechanging way. In 2005 my wife and I were sent to restart a church in the Capital Region of New York State, near Albany. I soon found out why we were there. Albany, is the most 6 FOREWORD BY LON R. DEAN Post-Christian city in the United States!1 Sixtythree percent of people here identify themselves as atheist or agnostic. It is also the “Least Bible-Minded” region in the country, meaning 90% of people living in this area do not read the Bible regularly and do not believe in the Bible’s principles.2 What broke my heart the most is, 60% of the people who did identify themselves as Christian have not made a personal commitment to Jesus. These surprising statistics only increased my vision to help people, to reach people far from God and to help Christians grow closer to God. I understood we couldn’t do church the way church had been done in the past. We couldn’t rely on religious traditions that weren’t working in this region. I wondered what we could do to increase how effective the church would be in helping hurting and lost people. I went to our model, Jesus Himself, for the answers. As I looked at the life of Jesus in scripture, I saw that He was always meeting the needs of hurting people through miracles, healing, feeding, prayers and teaching. He would then invite them to get to know His heavenly Father. Our vision was clear. We would build a church free of religious rules, a place where people can connect to God and others as they grow in their faith. It would be a church where people can feel welcome regardless of where they are in 1 The Most Post-Christian Cities in America, The Barna Group, https://www.barna.com/research/post-christian-cities-2019/ 2 America’s Most and Least Bible-Minded Cities in the United States, The Barna Group https://www.barna.com/ research/2017-bible-minded-cities/ 7 UNSHAKABLE: STANDING STRONG WHEN THINGS GO WRONG that journey. The church motto is reflected in our website: NoPerfectPeopleHERE.com! We meet people each week struggling with hurt, loss, sins, or just everyday life changes and we help them grow into people of unshakable faith. This book is a great tool to help in that process. As you read the chapter on the storm you’re facing, I believe that you will know God’s love in a deeper way and gain strength to stand Unshakable. Standing unshakable in God’s love, Pastor Lon Dean Lead Pastor House of Praise 8 How to Read Unshakable id you read Choose Your Own Adventure books when you Dwere growing up? You know, the series of children’s books famous for letting the reader to step into the role of the protagonist and decide how the story would unfold? I loved them. What could be better than a book you were ac- tively involved in? You could make choices; you could read it the way you wanted to; you could skip whole sections and everything would still make sense.
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