“Happiness That Is Guaranteed” is a book that gives
the whole truth about finding fulfillment. It shows you how to obtain
fulfillment by freeing you so that you are able to discard limiting beliefs
about happiness and pursue your purpose in life. The book goes a step further
by guiding you to the other part of fulfillment, which is to develop a
relationship with freedom itself...God. You embark on a process of encountering
God in a way in which you may have never encountered God before. You won't be
the same after reading this book.
Gregory Bearstop has a Master of Theological Studies
degree from Washington Theological Union. He is also certified as a Master
Addiction Counselor. He has been a substance abuse counselor for over ten
years. He is co-host of the local television show, Turning Point, which airs in Annapolis, Maryland. Bearstop says,
“writing this book comforted me in dealing with the painful death of my
mother.” His goal in life is to be an instrument through which others can come
to know and develop intimacy with God.
When we consider our lives and where our energy, time, and attention
are expended, we notice that a lot of it is used to serve things that will
never give us lasting joy. For instance, we spend much of our time trying to
take care of things that have finality. We buy clothes, but they have to be
washed, tailored, and taken to the cleaners. Our possessions at home need to be
dusted, vacuumed, cleaned, mopped, repaired, replaced, and so on. If you own a
car, just look at the maintenance schedule of your car manual to see the care
it requires. In addition, sometimes we have to work two or three jobs to earn
the income to take care of our possessions. The labor and the enormous energy
that this process consumes causes many of us to live very stressful lives. Because
of the unnecessary exertion that we put into things and situations that are not
going to give us lasting joy, we become stressed to the point where it is
making us sick. It has been proven time and time again that stress causes
serious diseases that are fatal. Too many people are dying unnecessarily
because they are wearing themselves out in pursuit of things and situations
that will never fulfill them.
Fortunately, there are times when
we give ourselves a break from the stress; however, sometimes we don’t give
ourselves the break we need and really desire. We try to eliminate our stress
by returning to those same pleasures that didn’t last because we really don’t
know where else to turn. So we come full circle: To get some relief, we go back
to buying toys, killing ourselves to make more money, or trying to get rewards
from society. We look for more sex or find a new drug on the market. Just as
before, they may give us pleasure for a short while, but then stress returns.
Tired of this unending cycle, the core of our being cries out: “If my
possessions, money, success, drugs, sex, significant relationships, and other
short-lived pleasures cannot give me lasting happiness, then what can? What
can?”