Jennifer Dukes Lee - Guest Post & Giveaway!!

Hi Friends,

It is my pleasure to welcome my friend and writer, Jennifer Dukes Lee, to guest post on my blog this week.  Jennifer is launching her new book, "The Happiness Dare".  I am pleased to help my friend, who is the real deal, and who writes with depth and honesty, to get the word out about her wonderful new book. Will you join me in welcoming her to this place...

How Your Thought Life Influences Your Happiness

It was one very pain-filled night. I was standing in the dimly lit sanctuary of my country church. I had come there to pray with a few friends due to an overwhelming set of circumstances in my life. Suddenly, I felt such a deep panic that I thought I couldn’t breathe.

It was an anxiety attack. I’d never had one before, but I knew what was happening when it hit me. I was nearly knocked off my feet by this sense of panic, even in the solitude of God’s house.

I gripped the pew in front of me while my heart raced and my throat closed around itself. I felt despair and a complete loss of control. I couldn’t find the words to pray, but years of thoughts and meditation on God’s Word let me know for sure that God was there.

Looking back, this was a moment when I learned an important truth about how God’s Word – hidden in our hearts -- serves us well in hard times. It was a moment when I realized the power of a person’s thought life.

My thinking was saving me, even in the middle of a panic attack. My mind had stored up its own happiness—from God’s truth—kind of like the way a person keeps a savings account to fall back on in hard times. When I couldn’t breathe, I remembered who God said I was and I remembered who God said he was.

Bible verses formed a line of defense in my mind, pushing back enemy forces. My mind recalled God’s promises. I remembered a happiness that I once held, and I knew for sure that joy was recoverable based upon the evidence of God’s Word. Verses came to  mind, flip-book style.

Don’t be afraid.

Lo, I am with you always.

My peace I give you.

In that panicky moment, I found some peace. I was unable to fully grab hold of happiness, for happiness felt slippery right then. But I felt a peace coming on. And based on the trustworthiness of my Father, I could believe that I would find my happiness again.

This is why: Because happiness is more than a feeling. Often, it’s a choice.

Some days happiness is a feeling.  Some days happiness is a choice...

For months after that anxiety attack, I prayed through tears for my circumstances to change. Two years have passed now, and the circumstances are almost identical. God didn’t answer my prayer to change my circumstances, but he is doing something else: He is changing me.

There are days I wish I could go back to “how things were.” There are days I still pray that God will work a miracle and change the circumstances that led to that first anxiety attack.

But even when he doesn’t answer my prayer the way I want him to, so be it. He is always good and he is always working. And he is my happiness.

My racing, anxious mind is calmed when I rest inside the arms of Christ. My unhappiness is eased when I ask God to give me the mind of Christ. The great rescue of a great Savior

brings happiness to my heart that is unsurpassed by anything I can imagine.

The best thinking we will ever do is when we think on the things of Jesus. When we, on Sunday mornings, stand before the wooden cross nailed to the wall and behold the place where Jesus had thoughts too—thoughts of you and me.

Even from the cross, Jesus taught us by example how to set our thoughts on heaven, when all around us the world may waver and buckle.

YOUR TURN:

The quality of our thought life is a tremendous indicator of the quality of our happiness.

The Bible says that God can transform you into a new person “by changing the way you

think” (Romans 12:2, NLT). That’s why studying God’s Word is imperative for all five Happiness Styles—Doers, Relaters, Experiencers, Givers, and Thinkers.

Take the Happiness Style Assessment by clicking here. In just five minutes, the quiz will help you discover what makes you truly happy.

Excerpt taken from The Happiness Dare copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Dukes Lee. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jennifer Bio:

Jennifer Dukes Lee is an award-winning former news journalist, an (in)courage writer and a blogger at http://www.JenniferDukesLee.com. Jennifer once took a dare to find out whether happiness matters to God and, if so, how to pursue it in a way that pleases Him. Out of that quest, was born: The Happiness Dare: Pursuing Your Heart’s Deepest, Holiest, and Most Vulnerable Desire.

Take Jennifer’s Happiness Style Assessment, and find out what truly makes you happy.

GIVEAWAY

In celebration of the release of The Happiness Dare, we are giving away 2 copies of The Happiness Dare!  To enter, Leave a Comment below and/or Subscribe to "Walking Well With God". Order her book and get 4 entries!!!

1 entry for leaving a comment (Leave Jennifer some lovin')

1 entry for subscribing (don't forget to confirm your subscription by checking the confirmation link that will appear in your email inbox)
4 entries if you have pre-ordered or purchase her book this week. (Honesty system - but mention in your comments)

Drawing to be held on August 2nd (official launch date of Jennifer's book)  Winners will be notified.

Ps.  Just a reminder that I pray for all my readers in the morning and in the evening.  Know you are being lifted up!!  If I can pray something more specifically for you...don't hesitate to contact me.  Be blessed...