Dave Ferguson - Can I Find My Way Back to God?

C AN I F IND M Y W AY B ACK TO G OD ?
P UBLISHED BY M ULTNOMAH B OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Italics in Scripture quotations reflect the authors added emphasis.

Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Portions of this booklet have been adapted from Finding Your Way Back to God, copyright 2015 by Dave Ferguson, published by Multnomah Books.

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-60142-783-0
eBook ISBN 978-1-60142-784-7

Copyright 2015 by Dave Ferguson

Cover design by Mark D. Ford

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.

M ULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

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We have known people from all walks of life, with a wide variety of backgrounds and life stories, who find themselves longing for God. With the exception of very few, they would say they believe in God. Maybe at one time they even felt close to him.

But something happened.

They got hurt. Or they did something they thought God couldnt forgive. Somehow life got in the way. And so they drifted. They forgot God or they felt forgotten by him.

And while they would love to find their way back, they wonder if its even possible.

Is any of this reminding you of you?

Hold on to that thought while my brother, Jon, and IDavetell you about two people with very different life circumstances who found themselves asking the same question over and over:

Can I find my way back to God?

Kesnel grew up in Cit Soleil, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Or to put it another way, he grew up in the worst ghetto in the largest city in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Ive been to Cit Soleil. Its bad. Naked children run on the streets. The stench of human excrement is so strong it makes you wince. The hopelessness and suffering are almost palpable. No wonder Cit Soleil has been described as the most godforsaken place on the planet.

Kesnels life in Cit Soleil was, sadly, typical of that place. His dad was not around at all during his childhood. His mom would leave early in the morning, before he woke up, so she wouldnt have to face the shame of not having food for her child. Often she wouldnt come home until after he was asleep at night. Kesnel survived as a thief and pickpocket.

When Kesnel became a young adult, life changed dramatically for him. Relatives in the United States made it possible for him to move to New York. While there, he got an education and eventually became successful in the real estate business.

Unfortunately, his climb up the economic scale led to a ride on the wild side. By the age of thirty-two, he had married and divorced four times. He couldnt stop drinking, and eventually he found himself sick with alcoholism. Kesnel was in a free fall. Finally he hit bottom and was ready for it all to be done.

Over the years, he had heard about God and had been the beneficiary of kindness from Christians many times. But both when his life was objectively horrible and when it seemed to be going well, he had not bothered to pay much attention to God. When he got to the end of his rope, this is what he prayed: God, take my life. He had an image of himself dying after one last monstrous drinking binge. Thats all he asked of God.

Strangely, he thought he heard God respond to his prayer. He believed that God said to him, Kesnel, Ill take your life, but Im not going to let you die.

Almost immediately he began to feel better physically. He entertained the surprising notion that his life might not be over after all. And he began to wonder what it might mean for God to take his life.

God said ,

Kesnel, Ill take

your life , but

Im not going to

let you die .

Maybe you cant relate to Kesnel. You havent had a terrible life. Youve never hit bottom. Maybe you consider yourself a spiritual person, a good person, someone who genuinely does your best to help others. But still, for some reason you feel an aching distance between you and God.

You might be more like Jasmine than Kesnel.

Jasmine grew up in a safe and happy home and attended the local Methodist church every week with her family. Even during her college years, when most of her friends slept in on Sundays, she would get up and go to church. As a young adult, she knew all the Bible stories and certainly believed in God. But something was missing.

I met Jasmine years later and learned her story. Even though her childhood was filled with religious activities, she told me, Dave, I never felt any real connection with God.

In an effort to replace what was missing, Jasmine got married, had kids, and bought a big house. None of that satisfied. She divorced. The settlement was amicable, and she kept the kids. Now in her midthirties, she tried reliving her college days by drinking, checking out the bar scene, and going out with a string of men. She even tried volunteering at various nonprofits, thinking that might make her feel better.

Nothing worked, Jasmine told me. My life was tragedy-free, but always lurking in the shadows of my mind was the thought, Theres just got to be something more than this. Despite her churchgoing childhood and knowledge of Scripture, shed lost her way. She wondered how she could get back to God. Was it even possible?

Jasmine told me,

My life was

tragedy-free , but

always lurking in

the shadows of

my mind was the

thought , Theres just

got to be something

more than this.

Wherever youre from, however hard or easy life has been for you, whether you call yourself Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, or none of the above, you have something deep inside you that longs for a connection with God. Its a part of being human. To a larger or lesser degree, whether we admit it or not, all of us yearn to know and be known by our Creator.

Jon and I are sure of this: your answer to the question that the title of this booklet poses can be yes. Yes, you can find your way back to God! We know many people who have found their way back to God. It looks different in different peoples lives, but it always has the wonderful sense of coming home to our heavenly Father.