Life is Hard But God is Good- 12 Principles for Unlocking Your Potential

By L. Jay Horton

Don’t go to the grave without discovering your potential. You are more than you think you are!

An engaging directory to activated faith filled with practical principles for discovering your potential, Life is Hard but God is Good contains twelve chapters that teach a positive, practical approach to life appropriate for all ages and situations. Learn how to come out on top in your life with guidance from personal experiences and discovery questions.

Filled with inspiring stories and quotes from CEOs, celebrities, and the author’s personal experiences, as well as Discovery Questions following each chapter to provide guidance for personal growth and group study, Horton has provided a format ideal for use by companies, religious groups, health and educational institutions who wish to expand members’ potential.

Perfect for anyone facing challenging times, Life is Hard but God is Good will become a valuable part of your personal library. This book will change your life!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fideli Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781604147131

L. Jay Horton

Jay served as a clergy for 33 years and became one of the top preachers in America serving churches from 300 to 5000 members across his career. For 9 years he served the 5000 member First United Methodist Church in Lubbock, Texas known as “The Cathedral of the West.” He preached a weekly televised service reaching 500,000 viewers. His messages were broadcast on radio covering West Texas and parts of New Mexico. Through visionary leadership and expert people skills, First Lubbock became one of the leading top 100 United Methodist churches in America. After 9 years in West Texas Jay left First UMC to return to Houston and devote full time to speaking, entertaining, writing and music. Through a combination of pastoral skills, leadership savvy, excellent speaking ability and an understanding of human nature, Jay motivates, inspires and challenges people to be all they can be for themselves, their family and friends, and their company and organizations. Jay was born in Marshall, Texas 1953. He completed a BBA, University of North Texas State, Masters of Divinity, SMU and Doctor of Ministry, Drew University. He and his wife Sharon reside in the Houston area.

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Thank you to:

Mike Valentino, my editor;

Robin Surface, my publisher at Fideli Publishing; Rev. Bob Richmond, a true friend and mentor;

My family and friends who are true gifts from God.

Introduction

My name is Jay Horton. I got a BBA from North Texas State University and had every intention of going into the business world. Instead, I became a minister, got a Master’s of Divinity from Southern Methodist University and a doctorate from Drew University out of New Jersey. I served churches from 200 to 5,000 members over a 33-year period and was on radio and television reaching half a million people every week. I had enough money and savings to be able to retire at age 57. I married my high school sweetheart. Together we raised and put three children through college and paid for three weddings. I remember a time when I had five car payments. Now all I owe is my mortgage. I have traveled to 15 countries and nearly every state in America and still plan on taking a trip to Hawaii for my wedding anniversary. I speak professionally and entertain for a living. I play golf, go bird hunting, see my children and grandchildren every week, play guitar and sing in restaurants and play in a rock n roll band. I’m a sixties child and love rock/blues music. I am a blessed man and life is good! How about you?

I share these experiences so you can understand something about me. I believe I have been living a successful life. I certainly have gone through difficult times but those difficult times only served as fertilizer to help me grow. I have had a lot of help along the way—successful people always need help and guidance.

I wrote this book because I want my children, friends and people like you to experience the good life. To live the good life you must be willing to grow on the inside so you can travel well on the outside. You must discover or rediscover yourself.

Potential is an exciting and healthy word. It means, hope, optimism, opportunity and purpose in life. Do you have potential? Absolutely! Do you have undiscovered potential? Everyone does. It’s ready to burst out of your soul. Florence Littauer wrote a book called Silver Boxes. She speaks of her Dad who always wanted to be a singer but never was. She said her father died with the music still in his soul.

Not discovering your potential is like dying with the music still inside of you. You have seeds of greatness waiting to be discovered. Don’t go to the grave without finding your potential. YOU ARE MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE! This book is dedicated to helping you live the fulfilled life that you deserve. Discovering your full potential and using that potential to better yourself and the world is true success.

Living a fulfilled life also means going through hard times. I remember a man in one of my churches who was nicknamed HardTimes. He said, It just seemed that every part of my life had hard times. And so it is for all of us. Problems and difficulties are a real part of life but ironically a natural ingredient for success. How you deal with problems is the key. It’s not what happens to you that counts, but what happens in you—how you respond or react? At the writing of this book, I am 59 years old. I have had my share of hard times from just trying to graduate to dealing with individuals who were negative. As a minister, I witnessed many people struggling to make it another day. They would say, I’m just trying to live one day at a time. I would tell them, Sometimes it is trying to live 30 minutes at a time.

Murder In a Driveway

I’ll never forget one particular incident. That night, I received a terrifying phone call. A woman who was a member of my church had just witnessed the murder of her husband. He had come home late and pulled into his driveway. As he turned off the ignition a fusillade of bullets sprayed the car, penetrating the metal into his body. He was dead in a matter of seconds. His wife and young children rushed out of the house and saw him slumped over the wheel. It was a horrific scene. A disgruntled employee later confessed to the crime.

I did the funeral services for this family. In the year that followed the wife would openly forgive the man who shot her husband. I asked her, How have you been able to make it through such a nightmare? She replied simply, Life is hard but God is good. Later she would have a battle with cancer that eventually took her life.

I hope you never experience such horror. This book will not save you from the realities of life. But it will prepare you for facing those realities when they come — and they will come. I am going to give you a solid foundation to stand on that will keep you steady during the storm. Successful living is not only being able to reach the mountaintop, but walking through the valley of pain. It is learning contentment in the circumstances of life.

This book will show you the basics for traveling through life and coming out on top — even when life is hard. You have to want to grow. I can show you the road map but you have to drive the car in order to get results. So hop in and start driving!

How to Read This Book

Below are some pointers that will help you as you read.

1. Have pen, pencil or highlighter in hand. Highlight the areas you want to come back to or use as a quote. You will notice on most pages there is a square-shaded box. Inside the box is information that I have selected from that page. I have personally highlighted a quote or a thought in order to help you remember some of the essence of the material you are reading.

2. Read the table of contents and notice the chapters that spark your interest.

3. Make note of the things that you want to quote or use in a study or share with a friend. Get 3 x 5 cards to write down quotes that hit home with you. Such action serves as a tool for memorization and a focal point to begin your week.

4. Inform people of the book and use it as a conversation starter.

5. There are Discovery Questions at the end of each chapter. These can be used for personal reflection or for group study. I would suggest groups of 12 to 15 getting together for a ten to twelve week study. Have a group leader or different leaders for each week. Bring in other resources that support each chapter. You can certainly use the book for seminar training. Your purpose is to grow in order to become better people.

Don’t Give Up

You will be tempted to give up but don’t you do it! When you feel like you’re on a plateau get ready. Suddenly you will move to a higher level of growth. Successful people have the wisdom to keep on going. Eventually they make it to a higher level of thought that results in greater happiness and thus the good life. There have been times when I wanted to give up on everything — even God. But God never gave up on me and for that I say, Thank God. And He will not give up on you. He desires only for you to have life abundantly.

CHAPTER 1

You Are More Than You Think You Are

"Men and women are limited not by the place of their birth, not by the color of their skin, but by the size of their hope."

— John Johnson, Author, Business Owner

My whole career as a minister was about helping people to discover their true potential as a human being and a child of God. I started as a youth minister when I was nineteen years old. For years, I helped young people get through hard times, discover their potential and grow their faith. Youth work is a challenging but rewarding experience. I later went to seminary and was ordained in 1981. At the age of 28, I was appointed to a little church where I was paid the whopping salary of $15,000 a year. Following would be a 33-year adventure of serving as senior pastor in the Houston area and concluding in Lubbock, Texas.

I have experienced people of all ages and backgrounds for 40 years. Learning to read people and various personalities was a challenge. Some had healthy self-images and others were strange. In no way do I consider myself perfect at analyzing the natural and neurotic tendencies of people. I have been caught by surprise on many occasions. But one thing I feel certain about is that all people are searching for meaning and purpose and desire to be successful in life.

I don’t know of anyone who has ever said, I wonder how I can be unsuccessful in my life. Maybe I can find someone who will teach me how to be a loser.

In general, people desire to find the right direction for their lives not the wrong direction. And when life knocks them down they are hoping for something or someone to lift them up. And that’s what this book will do for you.

A Life Out of Tune

I love music. There is nothing worse than to hear music that is out of tune and there’s nothing worse than a life that is out of tune. When a life is off key, a person has no sense of direction, life is ho-hum, depressed, and lacks luster.

A life that’s out of tune spills over into a person’s job and home life. Instead of saying, I get to go to work we say, I have to go to work. Even at home, communication begins to break down between family members. Either no one talks or when they do it’s just snapping at one another. Sound familiar?

Haven’t you ever said about a person, What’s got into you? or You’re just not acting yourself.? The strains of life overwhelm us and we are not the same. We act or fail to act in ways that are not normal and others usually see it before we do.

The stresses and strains of life jump on our backs and weigh us down. Carrying burdens is heavy, hard work. We don’t think straight. We become tired, disorganized, forgetful, quick-tempered and then make irrational decisions. As time goes on our spirits are drained and we grow weary and unhappy. Wonderful talents that have been demonstrated in the past become subdued and we are less confident about who we are, where we are going and what we are capable of doing. Dreams and opportunities that once existed slowly dissolve into nothingness and we lose hope. We find ourselves lacking energy and motivation.

I believe that all of us will go through emotional breakdowns at one time or another. What’s important is to recognize it, deal with it, shake it, learn from it and move on. Some people who get knocked down and stay down. We can and must get back up on our feet again with our heads up looking forward.

This book seeks to motivate, inspire, enlighten and encourage you to be a better person. Something in this book will turn your life around and help you to discover your full potential. Caring for other people must be a mantra in your life. I learned a long time ago that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Making the world right begins with making yourself right. Everyone needs motivation. Get motivated to do something about you!

Ghost Story in a Cemetery

Everyone needs some kind of motivation!

It’s an old, funny story about someone who got motivated and I love it. A young boy was invited to a party and asked his parents if he could go. The father said: Well, son, that will be fine but you will need to be home by 11:00 p.m. and to do that you’ll have to take the short-cut through the cemetery.

The boy said, Oh Dad, I can’t do that. It’s spooky walking through that cemetery.

The father said, Now son, listen to me. You can do this. When you come to the edge of the graveyard you just say to yourself out loud, ‘I can do it’ over and over again and take out running and don’t slow down. You’ll be home before you know it.

The boy agreed and went to the party. When the time came to leave, he approached the cemetery. It was dark and the moon cast shadows across the tombstones. He knew if he didn’t get home on time he would be grounded forever.

Remembering the words of his Dad, he mustered up the courage and began to say out loud, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it and he shot off like a rocket past the gravestones saying over and over again, I can do it, I can do it!

Well, little did he know that earlier that day a fresh grave had been dug. And little did he know that a few hours earlier an old drunk had wandered through the cemetery and fallen into that open grave. The drunk sat there, upright, against the corner of that grave, semi-unconscious.

The boy was running up a storm and boom! He hit that open grave and tumbled to the bottom. Except for a slice of moonlight everything was pitch black. After coming to his senses, he suddenly realized that he was at the bottom of a cold, dark grave.

He started clawing like a cat to get out of that grave yelling, I can do it, I can do it! But every time he would get close to the top, he’d slide back down. The boy frantically did this over and over saying, I can do it, I can do it!

Exhausted and full of despair, the boy leaned up against the cold dirt crying and sniffing. In a final expression of futility he said, I can’t do it, I can’t do, I can’t do it.

And the old drunk said, Yes you can! AND HE DID! Now that’s motivation. The unmotivated person is a dead person — completely lifeless like a cemetery. It’s time for you to get yourself motivated and move forward with confidence.

The Healing Powers of Cabeza De Vaca

Cabeza De Vaca discovered many lands but the greatest discovery was himself!

A long time ago, I read a book called More Than We Are by Margueritte Harmon Bro. In it she writes about the explorer Cabeza de Vaca. I was so impressed with the story that I preached a sermon and titled it You Are More Than You Think You Are. I am indebted to my dear friend Rev. Bob Richmond (a history buff) for sharing this story with me verbally in his office. It had such an impact on me that as a professional speaker the phrase You Are More Than You Think You Are has become my mantra. It is a story of adventure, hard times and self-discovery.

Cabeza De Vaca kept a meticulous journal of his travels. In an account of his journey from Florida to the Pacific coast, between the years 1528 and 1536, a crew of 600 had begun the journey. Now only De Vaca and a partner were left. Some were lost at sea. Others died from starvation. Others simply decided not to continue because of leadership disputes or longing to go home.

De Vaca tells of how he and his companion were at the point of starvation and wandering aimlessly. Native Indians came upon the explorers, captured them and took them back to their dwelling. The tribe took care of the two white men for a number of years. Feeling that De Vaca and his partner should make themselves useful, the tribal chief appointed both as medicine men to care physically and spiritually for tribal members.

There came a time when the tribe became very sick. The chief believed that De Vaca and his friend had the superhuman power to heal