Marilyn Hickey - Enjoy Life: Moving Past Everyday Struggles

Praise for Enjoy Life

Every day it seems we are bombarded with more and more information and facts, but how often do we hear someone speaking the simple truth to us? In her new book, Marilyn does that masterfully and powerfully, and in a way that can really help us make the changes in our lives that we need to make and that can bring us the abundant life Jesus came to give us.

I know personally what it is to be so overwhelmed by the circumstances youre facing that you lose the joy of the Lord in your life. And I know what it is to find that joy again! If youre in a situation like I found myself in several years ago, I strongly encourage you to read Enjoy Life. I believe the wisdom Marilyn offers from Gods Word can help you learn how to enjoy life once again.

Richard Roberts
President, Oral Roberts University
CEO & Chairman of Board of Trustees,
Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association
Co-host, Something Good TonightTHE HOUR OF HEALING

Marilyn Hickeys Enjoy Life is a fun, refreshing perspective on the book of Ecclesiastes. Using her own life experience as the guide, Marilyn has combined wit and humor with wisdom to fine-tune our views of life, love, and happiness. Its a reminder to all of us to allow Gods Word be our light so that we can truly enjoy life!

Paula White
Paula White Ministries,
Without Walls International Church

Marilyn helps us to understand that God does care and have answers for everyday problems each of us face. She deciphers the many nuggets of truth given by Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, and applies them in a practical way we can all understand. She rehearses Gods continued faithfulness in her own life and helps us to understand that He is no respecter of persons. Thank you, Marilyn!

Joni Lamb
Daystar Television Network

Marilyn Hickey, the only person I know who could write a book on fasting and make you look forward to doing it, has now written a book on Ecclesiastesand makes that book look cheerful, exciting, and easy to understand. What an amazing gift she has! You wont be able to put it down!

R.T. Kendall
RT Kendall Ministries

Jesus came that we might have life and might have it more abundantly, and He wants us to enjoy every single minute of the day and night! Marilyn Hickey has put together a book that will astound you because it is taken from the book of Ecclesiastes. The wonderful revelation she had will make you wish you were a speed reader because you cant wait to get to the next page.

Frances Hunter
Hunter Ministries

Copyright 2006 by Marilyn Hickey

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture passages are from The Message (MSG), copyright 1993. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Other Scripture references are from the following sources: The New King James Version (NKJV), copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. The King James Version of the Bible (KJV). The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV), copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.

Enjoy Life!
Marilyn Hickey Ministries
P.O. Box 6598
Englewood, CO 80155-6598
mhmin.org

ISBN: 1595510057

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hickey, Marilyn.
Enjoy life! : moving past everyday struggles / Marilyn Hickey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-59951-005-7 (alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. EcclesiastesCriticism, interpretation, etc. 2. ContentmentBiblical teaching. I. Title.
BS1475.52.H53 2006
223.806dc22

2006015011

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 09 08 07 06

DEDICATION

To my son, Michael:
There is no questionyou help me enjoy life.

contents

Have you ever thought, What is life really all about? Is this all there is? You wonder why you work so hard, just to get up and do it again tomorrow. Life feels dark.

There was a time when my life felt that way.

I had traveled and preached for a living. Studying the Word of God, as well as talking and praying with people, was my livelihood and my lifestyle. But through my travels, I contracted a debilitating illness.

No one knew what was wrong. I endured many medical tests, but none of them delivered a diagnosis. The doctors said, Maybe its your heart. They confined me to the hospital for two days, ran more tests, then announced, You have the heart of a forty-year-old. Great news to a seventy-two-year-old! But still, no diagnosis.

Food lost its taste, so I lost my appetite along with twenty pounds. I looked like a bag of bones. I shook all the time on the inside. Peoples voices jarred me to no end; as a result, I would go to church late and leave early to avoid conversation. Too weak to drive my car, too sick to fly in an airplane, I was forced to cancel all travel plans. I fell into depression; as my body deteriorated, my mind declined, too. I had just finished memorizing the book of John, but to my dismay, I couldnt recall any of it! And then not to know what was wrong with me...

As I lay in bed, the enemy pestered my mind with thoughts like Youre dying. Youll never preach again. You had that big crusade in Pakistan, but youll never have another.

However, the Lord helped me by doing something extraordinary. He led me to read Ecclesiastes, the gloomiest book in the Bible! Even though I had read the entire Bible many times over, I had never enjoyed reading this book. So negative!

Yet this time, as I began to read the first chapter, I discovered that the writer described exactly how I felt: Meaningless! Meaningless!... Everything is meaningless (Eccles. 1:2 NIV). As I continued reading through the most pessimistic pages in the Word of God, an amazing thing happened! The Lord began to show me how to enjoy life.

Who would have thought that during the most negative time in my life, reading the most negative book in the Bible, He would show me a truth so simple, yet so profound: God wants you and me to enjoy our lives!

Eventually, the doctors reached a diagnosis and my health was restored. Although I was ill for seven months, I was delighted at the end by a double transformationgood health and happiness.