Don Cousins - Unexplainable: Pursuing a Life Only God Can Make Possible

What people are saying about

Unexplainable

The wisdom God has given Don Cousins about life and ministry has been a tremendous help to me over the past fifteen years. Now it is distilled in the strongly biblical, practical, and concise book that you hold in your hands. I highly recommend it!

Chip Ingram, author of Overcoming Emotions That Destroy , president and teaching pastor of Living on the Edge

In this book, Don Cousins addresses our deep longings for genuine contentment, success, and significance. Most of us have difficulty bridging the gap between our longings and our realities. Only God can bridge that gap, and Don shows us how. Don explains the unexplainable work of God with such clarity and force that youll immediately want more of it in your life. Dons is a wise and insightful voice informed by Scripture and seasoned by years of fruitful leadership in ministry. You will love this book!

Rory Noland, director of Heart of the Artist Ministries and worship pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel

Most of us are in hot pursuit of the valuable commodities of contentment, success, and significance. Our problem is not the pursuitthats instinctive. Its that we are looking in all the wrong places. Don Cousins turns our hearts and head in the right direction and reveals Gods plans for experiencing the joys of a life that has found the answers to our deepest dilemmas. This book is like having a divine GPS through the mysterious passages of life.

Dr. Joseph M. Stowell, president of Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, Michigan

What people are saying about

Don Cousins

What Don Cousins writes, I read. Hes among the most insightful church experts in the world. I know from personal experience the joy of being under his leadership.

Lee Strobel, author of The Case for the Real Jesus

Ive known Don for over thirty years. Without question he is blessed with one of the finest strategic ministry minds in America. I have deeply benefited from his mentoring and friendship.

Dan Webster, founder of Authentic Leadership, Inc.

Don Cousins is by far one of the most effective communicators in the world. His profound insight, practicality, and relevance are the best.

Dan Chun, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu

UNEXPLAINABLE

Published by David C. Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C. Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a

resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an

endorsement on the part of David C. Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard

Bible 1960, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Other Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, King James Version ( KJV ) The Holy

Bible, English Standard Version ( ESV ) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News

Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New International

Version ( NIV ) 1973, 1984 by International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan.

The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis.

LCCN 2009929975

ISBN 978-1-4347-6808-7

eISBN 978-0-7814-0353-5

2009 Don Cousins

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

The Team: Terry Behimer, Thomas Womack, Jaci Schneider, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Amy Kiechlin

First Edition 2009

In memory of my father,

DONALD J. COUSINS,

who went home on September 27, 1990,

but whose influence lives on to this day, in and through me.

My ability to understand the unexplainable nature of Gods grace

was made significantly easier by the grace I experienced

through this man I called Dad.

CONTENTS

Rejoice In The Lord

Pray About Everything

Celebrate Thanksgiving Every Day

Embrace Gods Truth

Practice These Things

Acknowledgments

There are a number of people I would like to recognize and thank for the role they played in the completion of this book. For each of them I say, Thank You, Lord; I am blessed.

Thank you to the team at David C. Cooknamely, Terry Behimer, Don Pape, Jaci Schneider, Ryan Dunham, Mike Kennedy, Marilyn Largent, Ingrid Beck, Michelle Webb, Amy Kiechlin, Dan Rich and Cris Doornbosall committed, capable, and a joy to work with.

Thank you to Thomas Womack, who loves Gods Word and joyfully used his editorial abilities to improve upon my efforts.

Thank you to the team at Wolgemuth and Associates, who have stood with me since day one, and jumped in to assist wherever and whenever called upon.

Thank you to Nancy VanDyke, who once again typed out every handwritten page, and did so with the heart of a servant.

A special thanks to Dave and Cindy Siegers and Ed and Dimple Owens, who gave me the freedom to share their stories.

An extra special thank you to my wife, MaryAnn, who provided valuable insights that improved this manuscript in addition to the daily support thats so important; and to my three children, Kyle, Kirk, and Karalyne, who serve as daily reminders of Gods unexplainable grace to me.

Most of all, I thank God for His grace which abounds in my life, and for the truth of His Word which truly does set us free.

UNEXPLAINABLE APART FROM GOD

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the L ORD . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

ISAIAH 55:89

God is beyond usable to think and act in ways that defy human logic and surpass human understanding. Hes limitless in power and Hes infinite in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

For the sake of relationship, He lowers Himself to our level in many ways. Yet He often chooses to express Himself in ways that are, well, unexplainableapart from Him. And He does this to point us to Him.

A Story of the Unexplainable

Abraham was seventy-five years old when God told him he would be the father of a great nation. God instructed him to leave his relatives and his homeland and to venture out with his wife, Sarah, to a land that the Lord would show him, a land that would one day belong to his descendants. It was an incredible promise, an outrageous offer.

There was just one problem. Abraham and Sarah were childless. Its impossible to give land to descendants you dont have. Its equally impossible to father a nation when you havent fathered a family. While Abraham and Sarah had certainly tried to bear children, it hadnt happened. And now, at the ages of seventy-five and sixty-five respectively, their chances of doing so were virtually nil.

Nonetheless, Abraham and Sarah, in obedience to the word of the Lord, left home in quest of this Promised Land and the birthing of a nation. They must have believed God would perform a miracle, enabling them to bear a child.