Tell Your Heart to Sing Again E-Book

James W. Goll

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 236

Beschreibung

There is hope for you! How do you cope, let alone rebuild your life after a series of trials, stressful difficulties, and traumatic experiences? Is there life after tragedy? How do you move forward into a meaningful life filled with purpose and destiny?   Noted author, James. W. Goll, takes us on his personal journey of facing three bouts with cancer, the death of his beloved spouse, becoming a single parent, overwhelming debt, intense sorrow, being left with many profound questions—all while being exposed to public scrutiny as he carried on a global ministry. James shares his story and unpacks wisdom gained when the bottom fell out of his world.   In Tell Your Heart to Sing Again, learn how you can: - Catch the little foxes that lead to downward spirals - Navigate through the stages of forced change - Maintain your faith that God is good no matter what comes - Never, never, never give up - Become a hope ambassador, and much more   Deeply personal and intensely practical, Tell Your Heart to Sing Again will give you useful tools whether for you or someone you love. You can rediscover life after tragedy!  

Leseprobe

Our friend, James Goll, has faced many challenges in recent years. We have watched him not only discover hope but also grow in faith, hope, and love in his arduous journey. May the lessons he has learned grip your heart and inspire you so that you, too, can become a hero of hope in our generation.

Michael W. & Debbie Smith | michaelwsmith.com

Tell Your Heart to Sing Again is raw and real life. It is a true-life story of love and loss and regaining hope through it all. Navigating through such suffering and being willing to share with others is a great gift, and James has done an excellent job. Thank you, James, for your transparency and for writing this book.

Bill & Beni Johnson | bjm.org and benij.org

We’re so grateful James took the time to pen this portion of his life’s story, one filled with lessons learned from the trenches. May many be strengthened and encouraged so they, too, may be ambassadors of hope.

John & Lisa Bevere | messengerinternational.com

The life of our friend, James Goll, is a testimony of God’s endless hope. With decades of experience in bringing hope to churches and individuals, James writes from a rich treasury of insight. Tell Your Heart to Sing Again is your opportunity to taste and see how good God’s plan is for your life. Read it for the riches it contains and let hope live again inside of your heart!

Lance Wallnau | www.7mu.com

Life can have many twists and turns. It’s not how you start the race but how you finish. As you read this book, listen with your heart so you, too, can emerge from any fiery trials better than when you went in.

Brian & Candice Simmons | thepassiontranslation.com

Hard times will come to everyone, but few make it through complexities with strength still in their step. Through real-life tales of resilience and key biblical insights, James Goll lights a beacon of hope that shines brightly with the testimony of Jesus Christ. Read and be encouraged—and just watch as that encouragement spreads to others!

Dr. Ché & Sue Ahn | cheahn.org

Do you need perspective on the trails of life and tools to help you to keep moving forward? I know this man and his life. The wisdom contained in this book will give you hope and be a source of good news to you.

Cindy Jacobs | generals.org

In Tell Your Heart to Sing Again, you will journey with James Goll as he uses his words to surgically open his own heart to share with you the treasures of life he has gained. This is an essential legacy gift from a true father of the faith.

Mickey Robinson | mickeyrobinson.com

In Tell Your Heart to Sing Again, James intentionally pushes past the boundaries of safe subjects and pat answers and reminds us that hope is both a disposition and a helmet. This book may be coming into your hands at the very moment you need to secure your helmet. You can trust James. I do.

Harry R. Jackson Jr. | thehopeconnection.org

James identifies heroes in his own walk through tremendous tragedy. However, I found myself thinking, James Goll is my hero. This book will provide you with the necessary guardrails for finding and staying connected to the goodness of God and a lifeline of hope.

Johnny & Elizabeth Enlow | johnnyandelizabeth.com

Tell Your Heart to Sing Again shines a light through the darkness for those struggling through situations of loss, pain, confusion, and illness. James combines practical wisdom with his own moments of revelation as he passed through the valley of the shadow of death to produce the reality of overcoming faith. If you apply the lessons James learned, I believe you, too, will be numbered among those who overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

Joan Hunter | joanhunter.org

Your destiny can be born in life’s darkest moments. I know. Like James, my life went into a downward spiral until I discovered the God of hope. This book will feed your soul, and you’ll find hope right in front of you.

Danny Gokey | American Idol finalist, author of Hope in Front of Me

Tell Your Heart to Sing Again may be the most important book James Goll has ever written. James is one of the most unique leaders I know. His soul is a deep well. He is a theologian and a man of the Spirit. You will definitely discover hope for your life. Get ready to be strengthened and encouraged in the ways of God.

Brian “Head” Welch | recording artist, author

Do you need hope? Do you need strength? Do you need a song in your heart as you walk through to victory? I have watched James walk through some of the most horrific challenges that one can endure. He knows how to take God’s hand through the valley of the shadow of death and come through with hope as his greatest weapon. This book is for you!

Patricia King | author, minister, television host, patriciaking.com

Jesus said that we are to keep our hands to the plow and keep looking straight ahead. Over the last few years, we have observed this type of lifestyle in our friend James Goll, which gives him the authority to speak on this topic. If you need some lessons in hope and to how rebuild your life, then Tell Your Heart to Sing Again was composed with you in mind.

Henry & Alex Seeley | co-pastors of The Belonging Co., Nashville, TN

Paul tells us in Romans 5 that the road to character involves suffering, but it seems like we are never prepared for the type suffering that comes our way. Everyone can connect to Tell Your Heart to Sing Again and be challenged to respond to the Lord in the way that James Goll has responded. His vulnerability and honesty are both refreshing and helpful!

Dr. Don Finto | founder of the Caleb Company, author, and international speaker, Nashville, TN

BroadStreet Publishing Group®, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

www.broadstreetpublishing.com

TELL YOUR HEART TO SING AGAIN: Discovering Hope for Your Life

Copyright © 2020 James W. Goll

978-1-4245-6066-0 (paperback)

978-1-4245-6071-4 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Scriptures marked NASB taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked NET taken from the New English Translation. NET Bible® copyright © 1996–2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. (http://netbible.com). All rights reserved. Scriptures marked NIV taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scriptures marked NKJV taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked NLT taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Cover and interior by Garborg Design at GarborgDesign.com

Printed in the United States of America20 21 22 23 24 5 4 3 2 1

DEDICATION

As you read this raw and transparent book, you will eventually come to the chapter “Never, Never, Never Give Up!” For those of you who know my life, history, and stories, you already know what I am referring to. But I will not spoil the story line of the roller coaster ride contained in this book of redemption and the stunning statement concerning the admonition never to quit. But you will understand in due time.

With this backdrop, I dedicate this book to my late wife, Michal Ann Goll, and to the ministry she founded, Compassion Acts, that we carry on in her honor to the nations to this day. She has been worshipping unabated in heaven now for several years.

Michal Ann, you gave me hope. You never lost your smile. You were the most Christ-like person I ever knew close up. Yes, I am forever a better man because God sent you, my all-American girl, into my life.

We will meet again at the waterside.

Acknowledgments

Years ago, I was taught to pray for three things on a regular basis: to ask God for the release of the fullness of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in order to have character to carry the gifts he gives; to pray for the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit to release something that lasts beyond simply man’s efforts; to pray for the wisdom ways of God in every facet of church and kingdom life.

Perhaps this book you hold in your hands goes more into this third category of prayer for the wisdom ways of God in every facet of life. I never dreamed I’d walk through the valley of the shadow of death. For me, Psalm 23 is a psalm for the living. The book of Psalms has been my guiding light for many years…and the book of Proverbs…and the book of John… and the book of… Well, I’m sure you get the picture.

So I want to give credit where credit is due—to all the writers of the sixty-six very diverse books of the Holy Bible. In doing so, I wish to honor God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the Three in One.

The Bible has been my mainstay. My Bible is my close friend. The ultimate Author of this unique Holy Book is the One who gives me life, hope, and resiliency to keep on bouncing back. Thank you, God, for the Bible. Thank you, God, for abounding in hope! Thank you, Papa God, for another opportunity to discover hope for my own personal life and share that with others.

CONTENTS

FOREWORDBY KRIS VALLOTTON

INTRODUCTION:HAS HARDSHIP EVER STRUCK YOUR HOUSE?

CHAPTER 1WHEN THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT

CHAPTER 2ANYBODY GOT A ROAD MAP?

CHAPTER 3CATCHING THE LITTLE FOXES

CHAPTER 4METAMORPHOSIS: THE PROCESS OF CHANGE

CHAPTER 5THE DOOR OF HOPE

CHAPTER 6DUSTING OFF WEARINESS

CHAPTER 7A HEART THAT SINGS

CHAPTER 8LET GOD PUT A DREAM IN YOUR HEART

CHAPTER 9NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!

CHAPTER 10NO MATTER WHAT COMES, GOD IS GOOD

CHAPTER 11BEAUTY FROM ASHES

CHAPTER 12AMBASSADORS OF HOPE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Foreword by Kris Vallotton

Historically, the church has not always excelled at walking with people through their pain. We know how to rejoice with those who rejoice, yet we often fall short of Christ’s standard when it comes to mourning with those who mourn. Our Savior wept with his bereaved friends at the tomb of Lazarus, yet many Christians today are more likely to respond to tragedy with poorly reasoned explanations, weak attempts to cheer, or dark hints that the mourners should have had more faith.

Sadly, I am no exception. In my unconscious ignorance, I used to casually joke about Christians needing antidepressants until depression became profoundly personal. My family went through a terrible crisis that lasted two years. I put all of my time, energy, and thought into helping them, pushing beyond my soul’s capacity to cope with such extensive amounts of pain. I started experiencing high levels of anxiety that taxed my mind and body like a plague. Before long, I found myself in a battle with anxiety and depression that left me hopelessly glued to my couch for months. Every day was a living hell as I fell deeply into a seemingly endless pit of despair. At last, I was set free in a moment when I heard God’s resounding truth for my situation and chose to believe it. This book you are holding is full of the same kind of shackle-breaking power and illuminating truth.

As you can imagine, my compassion for people walking through anxiety, depression, and grief has grown astronomically since my nervous breakdown, and I’ve since had the privilege of walking many others through their darkest seasons. I’ve come to find that when people are grieving, they don’t need answers as much as they need empathy. In these pages, you will find both. After walking through terrible loss himself, James Goll understands the process of pain and the purpose of grief as well as the tormenting guilt and questions they can ignite. He also understands that grief is a process, not a place where we set up camp for the remainder of our lives. Mourning is God’s way of bringing closure to our pain. In fact, I’d like to propose that true grief leads us not to despair but rather to renewal. Wherever you are on that highway to wholeness, Tell Your Heart to Sing Again will help guide you to your destination: new levels of peace, promise, and purpose.

If you’ve picked up this book, I imagine that you or your family have found yourselves facing a mountain of pain that feels impossible to summit. Grief is not the end of your story! Romans 8:28 tells us “all things work together for good to those who love God” (NKJV). In other words, if it’s not good, it’s not the end. We have a good God who promises that you will get through this and that the darkness will not consume you. I can tell you from experience that it is possible to emerge from a season of heartache and disappointment healed, hopeful, and wholly free. Mary Anne Radmacher once said, “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”1

I pray that God will meet you in these pages and give you fresh courage for tomorrow, faith for today, and hope for a future glistening with joy and possibility.

Kris Vallotton

Senior Leader, Bethel Church

Co-founder of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry Author of thirteen books, including The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, Spirit Wars, and Poverty, Riches and Wealth

1Mary Anne Radmacher, Courage Doesn’t Always Roar, 2009, Conari Press

Introduction

HAS HARDSHIP EVER STRUCK YOUR HOUSE?

“The Long and Winding Road” was a popular hit song years ago. I loved the haunting melody, but as a disciple in Jesus, I was sure that my path would be smooth and easy. Was I ever wrong! My life has not circled a cul de sac, but it seems to have steered off the primary highway and onto a trail leading to who knows where. It was a road I was unfamiliar with and one that I was not expecting. Twelve or more years were filled with winding roads and an unfair share of trauma along the way. My heart became dead. Well, at least part of it.

As a result, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons as I went on an intentional journey to discover what it would take to revive my own heart and soul. I did not pick this subject. I would never have picked it. If it had been up to me, I would have run a hundred miles in the opposite direction. But in the providence of God, I think this topic has chosen me. I now realize that God has called me to be an ambassador of hope and to call others into this resilient, bounce-back-kid lifestyle.

If any of us is ever going to look for hope, we must have a reason for needing it. Most of the time, that reason involves some hardship that is almost more than we can bear. Although I hope that hardships have not struck your house, I suspect they have in one form or another. Now, you may need to discover hope for your life too.

By “hardships,” I am not referring only to car accidents or natural disasters; I am thinking of just about any kind of significant loss that can cause trauma or anguish to a person. You might deem your own life events as calamities, misfortunes, catastrophes, heartbreaks, adversities, tribulations, distresses, hardships, privations, miseries, troubles, conflicts, griefs, sorrows, sufferings, pain, or just plain hard times. Everybody is different, and what would seem like a loss of hope to one person would be easy for someone else.

The difficulty often strikes abruptly. You lose your job. Your friend rejects you. Your spouse or even your beloved pet dies. You send off your precious son or daughter into military service in a war zone. Your church falls apart. Your spouse serves you divorce papers. The economy nose-dives and takes your savings with it. (How did the economic downturn of 2008 affect you? It created some real tragedy for some of my friends.)

Hard times reduce you to your elemental self. You often feel weak. Temptations might assail you, especially the temptation to despair. Joy appears to vanish, and the air around you seems heavy. Woe becomes part of your vocabulary, and the grass looks greener just about everywhere except where you are standing (or are curled up in the fetal position). You find it hard to get back up on your feet again every time you get knocked down, let alone to keep on walking forward.

BOTH SIDES NOW

“Both Sides Now” is the name of a folk song from the ’60s, and it captures a truth. I can look at life from both sides, which I previously could not do. I have experienced both heaven-sent highs and the bleakest lows—sometimes in the same day. And, firsthand, I have learned some things about God that I did not know before. I have experientially learned that God is the author of hope. God abounds in hope, and he wants to restore the song of your heart. Yes, your heart can beat again!

I have learned that it is okay to be real. Raw reality is better than any mask, especially the pat answers and sugary smiles of religion, which ignore the fact that you may be bleeding to death inside. You will never be healed until you admit that you are sick!

I have learned to live life in the light of eternity, and I can identify with my namesake, James, when he says that life is but a “vapor” (James 4:14 NKJV). That does not mean I am living some kind of pie-in-the-sky existence. It just means that I get it now. I get it. I know both sides of the stormy clouds now, and I know that my faithful, hope-imparting God holds me in his strong hands day and night. I have found that he is bigger than any hardship you or I can cook up in our worst nightmares. He can handle anything, and joy does come in the morning (Psalm 30:5 NKJV). Now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that:

Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and [we can] rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:1–5 NKJV)

I can look at the storm clouds from both sides now, and I can look at life from both sides of the pulpit. I have been a full-time vocational minister now for over forty-five years. I have prayed for people; I have counseled people. I have learned many of the promises that are in the Bible, and I have tried to live up to its character values. But some things I never understood until I went through more than twelve years of what could be considered ongoing trauma. My yardstick of judgment was tossed out the window. Now I understand some things about human frailty. I know what the driving force of pain can make a person do, even though it does not give anyone a license to sin. I did not enjoy the experience of my life spiraling out of control, and I do not like pain any more than the next person—but now I appreciate what God can do with it. I never knew. Now I know.

In the pages that follow, allow me to give you a guided tour of my own triumph in the midst of a roller coaster ride in life. If I can learn new things about God’s nature and tell my heart to sing again, then I think you are a great candidate as well. I hope to show you how to discover hope for your journey. I promise to be real because this is not going to touch your heart unless I share from mine.

Are you ready? Here we go onto the path less traveled!

CHAPTER 1

WHEN THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

PROVERBS 13:12 NASB

While showering after working out at the YMCA one day, I noticed a little nodule. I thought, Well, that’s weird. Never noticed that before. What’s that? I wasn’t exactly afraid, but it concerned me enough to go to the doctor. And that took me on a completely unexpected, unasked-for journey.

A stern oncologist did an initial bone marrow exam. The doctor’s bedside manner did nothing to soften the impact of neither the test nor the results. I was so unprepared for this to be serious. They did not even take me to another room. They just brought this machine in and started the test. I am sure they anesthetized me, but frankly, I have no recollection of the whole thing. I do remember being scantily clothed (which makes you feel even more vulnerable) and this machine making a buzzing noise. Next thing you know, the doctor is telling me that I have something called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—cancer.

THE BIG C

I was battling the Big C. Or is it the little c? Yes, it must be the little c because Christ is the Big C, and that proved to be the truth through seemingly endless rounds of treatments.

I remembered a dream I had had earlier, and I realized that God had sent it to fortify me for what was about to happen. In the dream, fierce and foreboding enemies surrounded me. Then my perspective changed, and I rose up so that I could look down on them. My paralyzing terror receded as I viewed these enemies, who now looked like little stick figures. The voice of the Holy Spirit came to me in that dream: And your enemies shall be like grasshoppers in your own sight, which echoes a verse from the book of Numbers in the Bible.

Okay, but I still had to fight. Round one involved twenty-five radiation treatments, and they were not pleasant. In fact, it got pretty gruesome. At first, the nodule grew so fast it was the size of a cluster of grapes, and the radiation treatments burned me badly.

I prayed, of course. And people around the world were praying for me. I think I was at the point of about treatment number eighteen when individuals at a gathering prayed over me, and it seemed like the authentic fire of God started flowing through my bloodstream. I had come in with the skin under my clothes blistered and broken, intensely painful and burned from the radiation. By the next morning when I got into the shower, I realized that I had received a miracle. The fiery presence of God had healed my burned skin. I had baby skin where the day before I had looked like a burn victim. I did not have to put special oils on anymore or wear dorky, loose-fitting clothing.

I went back to the radiologist, hoping that I wouldn’t have to endure the next scheduled treatments, but they made me complete the whole regimen. It was so great to be healed. But the whole thing was like a roller coaster ride. When it was over, we declared that I was cancer-free, and we had a celebration in the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Treatment Center. And even though we did not really have the money for it, I took my family on a cruise. I had my life back, and my wife, Michal Ann, and I wanted to celebrate in a special way.

WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?

After a couple of years, I went back to the doctor for a checkup. Unbelievably, the non-Hodgkins lymphoma had come back. Scans showed that it was now located in new places with some growths behind my stomach, which made radiation impossible. I started taking communion every day and doing everything I could to fight the disease. I initiated all sorts of therapies—alternative, naturopathic, praying the Word, soaking in worship, and more. I received lots of prayer, but I was full of questions, and so were the people around me. Why me? What did I do wrong? I tried to figure out if I had opened the door to this somehow, but I really could not find anything. Seriously, how could this be happening? I’d had amazing encounters with God, and he had healed me, hadn’t he?

All I could do was keep walking with God and my family, believing that these enemies would yet become like grasshoppers in my sight.

The growth behind my stomach grew some more and then just sort of went on pause. Then overnight I found a goose egg emerging on my left shoulder. I was then thrust into a second round of passive immunotherapy treatments at yet another hospital. These treatments, in my situation, were even more intense than the first type of therapy, and it ravaged my immune system. All this was happening in the midst of a terrific amount of prayer from people who really know how to pray. But I was internally struggling. How could this be happening to me?

ROUND THREE

Eventually, the growth on my shoulder disappeared, but the growth behind my stomach was just sitting there, rather large and looming. I had half-beaten cancer a second time. Then around Christmas-time, my dear wife, Michal Ann, had severe pain followed by some tests that revealed seven bleeding polyps in her colon. They had to act quickly. She had cancer, too, and they put her in the hospital for major surgery. Now it was as if the bottom of the boat had fallen out. Our four young adult kids (who we always called our miracle kids, but that is another story) had both of their parents fighting cancer at the same time.

Michal Ann was plunged into a fight for her life, and she did a magnificent job. Everybody loved her because of her upbeat, positive personality. She was as genuine and unpretentious as they come, an All-American girl who, like me, grew up in rural Missouri. She had never let one negative word be around her, especially now. We were friends; we were lovers; we were partners in ministry. Together, we had founded Ministry to the Nations and then Encounters Network. We had started Women on the Frontlines before she got sick, and then, even after her diagnosis, she launched Compassion Acts, a ministry that pulls together people and other ministries to bring hope to the poor and sick and to victims of political strife and natural disasters. As part of her work with Compassion Acts, she started going on mission trips to southeast Asia and Pemba, Mozambique, to pray for people and to speak at the Iris Ministries school there.