Hope for a 2nd Chance

By Jennifer Brown

Do you have hurts, habits or addictions to overcome in your life?
Do you yearn for recovery from scars and beatings your life has endured?
Would you like life-coping skills and self-esteem?
Do you want freedom from obstacles and road-blocks that ruin your life?
Do you want to feel good about yourself and have hope for a better life?
You will find the answers to your questions from true life stories in this book.
Sit back in your chair, fasten your seat belt, hang on tight and BLAST OFF to a better life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Brown
• Release date: Feb 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301536580

Jennifer Brown

Jennifer Brown is a retired attorney, law judge & district attorney. A trial attorney she handled many criminal cases, including homicides. She has broad legal knowledge & was admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court. She now directs recovery programs in many states to help people to find life-coping skills. She is also an Honorable Kentucky Colonel.

Book preview

HOPE FOR A 2ND CHANCE

FREEDOM FROM

FAILURE

AND DEFEAT

Joan B. Duncan

Copyright (c) 2013 by Joan B. Duncan

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to my mother without whom I could never have excelled, and to the thousands who found recovery and a 2nd chance in their lives.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

Coming Attractions

CHAPTER ONE:

Finding My Need

Chuck’s Story

CHAPTER TWO:

Finding My Hope

Mike’s Story

CHAPTER THREE:

Finding God

Paul’s Story

CHAPTER FOUR:

Finding My Confession

Jeff’s Story

Leonard’s Story

CHAPTER FIVE:

Can God Remove Wrongs?

Angela’s Story

Harry’s Story

CHAPTER SIX:

Finding My Amends

Helen’s Story

Joseph’s Story

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Finding Time With God

Daniel’s Story

Randy’s Story

CHAPTER EIGHT:

Finding A Way To Serve

Peter’s Story

Postscript

12 Steps and Biblical References

8 Principles Based on the Beatitudes

Serenity Prayer

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

FINDING FREEDOM FROM FAILURE AND DEFEAT

Life can be full of good moments, with blue skies, fun trips to the beach, old fashioned picnics with friends, or just plain sitting in the sun and reading a good book on a balmy afternoon.

But there are precious few moments in life to be so cherished. Most of life feels like you are on a roller-coaster ride, pregnant with fear, not knowing which turn or sharp dip life will hurl you into next. Life is not always kind, comforting, or understanding.

LIFE’S PROBLEMS

Often you are standing alone in the midst of storms, troubles and trials. You feel like Job and wonder why you have been deserted. You cry out; first in anger, then in hurt and next in despair. God where are you when I need you? Why did I not hear from you? Did you hear me crying out to you in my time of need?

You all had moments of panic, fear, or fast approaching doom. You probably made some bad choices, fell into harmful temptations and your life became a mess. Some of those messes resulted in prison.

You found your life in a downward spiral you were powerless to stop. You saw no other options except chaos and failure. That run-away train you call life could not be stopped. You tried to reform from time to time, but without success.

Is there hope for a better future, a way to escape from your repeated failures and a way to stay out of prison? Are you doomed to repeat the same old failures over and over again? Where is that 2nd chance and freedom from failure and defeat?

GOOD NEWS

I am here to tell you the good news. There is hope for you for a 2nd chance and recovery from your failures. Read Jeremiah 29:11-14:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity."

It is never too late, nor too early, to find recovery from your problems and a 2nd chance out of prison you imposed on your life. You ask, where do I find the source of hope and recovery from my problems, and where do I find that 2nd chance from my bad choices and chaotic life?

God is your source of hope and 2nd chance from repeating those bad choices and destroying your life. When you make God your partner and follow His plan for your life then you will find your 2nd chance, recovery, and a way to escape from your prison.

ENCOURAGEMENT

Where do you find about the hope and 2nd chance from God to escape the mess you made of your life? You read the words of encouragement and promises in the Bible. Select a modern translation, easier to read than the King James Version.

In the Bible, you find God’s words of promise and hope and how much He loves you. He extends a 2nd chance and a new life to you. How do you know His great love and the promise of a 2nd chance exist?

Because the Bible tells you God sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ, to die a horrible death for your sins so you could escape the severe punishment you deserve for sin. That is your hope.

When you accept by faith He died in your place, you receive a new life and promise for a 2nd chance found in God’s Word. You are adopted into God’s family as His child. He helps you resist sins and temptations that destroyed your life in the past. You have an unbeatable combination when God, and not yourself, is in the core of your heart.

GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU

God created all things, can do all things, and is the most powerful force in this entire universe. He alone can give you the new life and the 2nd chance you seek. Just reach out to Him, trust Him, and follow the plan He has for your life. You may ask:

Does God have a plan for success for each person and for me? Yes, because He loves you and wants the best for you. Does that surprise you? Does that boggle your mind? Does that knock your socks off? It affects me in that way.

You have a part to play to achieve your 2nd chance recovery and the new life you seek. It does not happen by chance, by wishing, by following your own desires (after all that is how you got into a mess and even into prison), by falling into temptations and sins instead of resisting them, or not facing your responsibilities and remaining in denial from your own actions. You cannot follow your own stinkin-thinkin. Otherwise you will repeat the same failures over and over again, the end of which may be death.

TRUST AND BELIEVE

If you sincerely seek a new life and a 2nd chance for a better life, there are rules to follow in God’s Word, the Bible. First, believe Jesus died in your place for your sins.

Then follow God’s plan for your life. Practice good habits instead of the bad habits and choices that held you in bondage and destruction in the past. See John 3:16, and you will see how easy it is for you to form a true relationship with God and to find the way out of that prison you imposed on your life. Just trust and believe.

You know the wind exists, but you do not see it. Yet you believe there is wind. You know the sun will rise the next day and gravity will keep the world in order, but you cannot see the sun at night or any gravity.

When you travel up a steep hill with a curve ahead and the truck driver in front of you motions you to pass, you have trust he is telling you there is no car coming the other way. You pass the truck without seeing around the curve, based upon your trust in what a truck driver is telling you. You can trust God’s Word and promises the same way even though you actually do not see or hear God.

A 2ND CHANCE

You will find in this book other people who were in life’s prison when there was no way out by their own efforts. Just as it seems in your situation. But they trusted and obeyed God. He provided a 2nd chance out of their prison. They stayed on a road to recovery, followed the plan for their lives, and were rescued from prison by trust in God’s power and promises, but not in their own power. You can do the same.

TAKE ACTION

That is why this is an action program, because you take part in it. The prisoners described in this book reached out to God and found freedom from failure and defeat by trusting God and following His plan for their lives.

When they followed their own way, they failed. When they followed His plan, God rescued them. They found a new life and a 2nd chance. They partnered with God when it looked impossible. They overcame their bad situations and came out of life’s prisons as winners.

You can do the same. God extends mercy and a 2nd chance to all who earnestly seek Him.

POWER SOURCE

I challenge you to find another source of power to change lives and give you a 2nd chance except God and His Son Jesus Christ. No one ever has found another source. There is no other source than the God who made heaven and earth.

Team up with God, believe in His love for you and have faith in the death of God’s Son for your sins. Receive His power and the promises in His Word. Stay out of denial, form good habits of daily prayer, Bible reading, inventory, and service to others. Walk away from temptation.

You will find recovery and the 2nd chance you seek, just as prisoners and victims in this book. You will find freedom from failure and defeat. You will find victory over sin and temptation in life. You will find victory over failure and your 2nd chance in life.

Read on.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

WELCOME!

You are starting on an exciting and amazing journey as you travel your road to recovery and seek a 2nd chance from life’s prison. You can find it all – hope, peace, recovery, a 2nd chance, peace, and lasting freedom - when you travel on your road to freedom from failure or defeat.

POWERFUL FRIEND

Positive thinking, is that it? Not quite. There is more to it. You are the way you think, but with one more item you need in that formula. You need a friend who has power over the way you think. Then you will find freedom from defeat by using that power. God is the source of the power you need.

The purpose of this book is to discover the best in life and a 2nd chance from hurt or addictive behavior that imprisons you, holding your life in bondage.

The purpose of SEIZE A 2nd CHANCE is to discover the best for your life and your future and a 2nd chance from the hurts and addictive behaviors that imprisoned you and held your life in bondage in the past.

In this book, there are real people and situations, imprisoned and without escape, without hope. Just as in your situation. But they found a 2nd chance and a way out of prison under the most amazing circumstances. Regardless of situations, people facing adversities trusted and obeyed God’s and His plan for their lives. God provided a way out from hurts and addictions, and a new life too.

Freedom is a choice. God’s promises are what you are looking for! Keep them deep in your heart and act on them. They lead to freedom and victory.

CHOOSE FREEDOM

WOW! Freedom is a choice. God’s promises are what you are looking for, so choose them.

"He frees the prisoner; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads." Psalm 146:7-8

Take hold of those promises and keep them in your heart to sustain you for life. That is how the prisoners and victims in this book were able to overcome their adversities.

They did not give up, beg, whine or wish things were getting better. They took action by taking God in their heart and there they found freedom.

CHALLENGE

I already threw out a challenge to you. Did you find another source of power that can change your life and give you a 2nd chance besides Jesus Christ? Do you give up? The answer is, there is no another source.

AWESOME JOURNEY

This awesome adventure is like the Super bowl. Team up with Jesus who is the winner over death. This book will take you through amazing experiences from prison to palace, from dungeon to freedom and from darkness to light, and from defeat to victory.

Join up with God and turn your life’s journey into the Super Bowl of life with Him.

Adjust your chairs. Fasten your seat belts. Sit back. You are about to go on life’s roller coaster ride with people as different as the heavens are from the earth. They experienced all kinds of trials in their lives.

They joined a winning team and went to the Super Bowl of life. You will be on the same winning team they joined when you place your faith and trust in God and in His Son, your Savior Jesus Christ.

Ready? Here we go! Power on! BLASTOFF!

CHAPTER ONE

HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO KNOW THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY POOR. Matthew 5:

CAN I FIND

CHANGE AND

FREEDOM BY

HAVING GOD

IN MY LIFE?

FINDING MY NEED

FEELING COMFORTABLE?

Some of you are content to stay just where you are. It is familiar and comfortable. You do not have to make an admission about your faults or destructive ways. You do not have to face the destructive reality of your actions. You can overlook accountability to anyone, even to yourself.

You fight to stay as the center of your world, even though you are only a little speck in that world. Your life may be in flames, but you stay in a familiar place while it burns down around you and you go down in flames.

When you continue to keep yourself as the center of your world, you play God. Tunnel vision convinced you that you were on your own, thrown in the water to sink or swim. You do not see the nearby life jacket on the tossing waves in the sea of your life that you could grab and hold tightly.

PLAYING GOD

Didn’t you believe you could do everything yourself? You believed you had to make it alone. If it did not come out right you blamed someone or something else for any undesirable results. What does Principle I of the Beatitudes found in the back of this book mean, by saying you are not God?

That Principle tells you that you may be trying to play God by making all the decisions in your life alone, never realizing that you are not God. You thought you were Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, Mother Teresa, or Superman. It felt good to flex your muscles and pretend you could make all your decisions alone, as King of your castle or Master of your own destiny. Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. Is that really true?

Your life tells you otherwise.

You have often been defeated and everything turned out wrong. You thought if you tried harder or tried again it would finally come out right. But is that what happened? Or was your life in a downward spiral, without power or hope to find your 2nd chance?

CAUGHT IN A CAGE

Did you find you were really Superman, able to do what others failed to accomplish? Or was your life in a deep hole, without power to dig your way out? Like a lion in a cage, pacing round and round to see a way out, but finding all the doors were shut. You were caught in the mess of your life you chose, with all your baggage, enslaved like a tiger in a cage, without hope or a way out for a successful life. That is the kind of life most people live. They carry around all the guilt and sins they accumulated from birth, trying to be successful on their own under the false impression they can try harder and harder to get better results, but they find only defeat. The first Principle based on the Beatitudes provides: Realize I am not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.

"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor." Matthew 5:3.

That means you are powerless over your addictions, compulsive behavior and circumstances. Your life is in chaos and unmanageable. Unless you realize you need help and cannot succeed alone, you will not find a 2nd chance and recovery.

CAUGHT IN DENIAL

Where has playing God gotten you? Have you achieved your dreams, or have you stumbled and fallen? Do you face