In the fall of 2015 Graham came to participate in our Church’s fall conference. As Graham shared his content I was very struck with how it was resonating with me. I couldn’t wait for each session to start. The things he was sharing were really meeting me at a point of need. During the conference my wife and I volunteered to work at the book table. Graham suggested that those of us working the table could pick a product to take for free.
I picked the CD set The Art Of Brilliant Thinking. I’m not sure Graham expected me to take one of the more expensive products on the table… But I think God was motivating me to pick that one. I began listening to the CD set shortly after the conference. I realized at that point that the content in The Art of Brilliant Thinking was the material that Graham was sharing at the conference. Score for me… For years I have struggled with anxiety and worry and fear.
My primary motivational gifting in the spirit is that of administrations. I suppose the perversion of that is longing to walk by sight and obsessing over details, rather than walking by faith. As I listened to the series the whole idea of walking in the mind of Christ, seeing things the way that God sees them, and cultivating an eternal perspective was revolutionizing the way I think and changing how I perceived circumstances. It’s hard for me to describe how that has been altering my mindset. I imagine during the course of early 2016 I listened to the entire teaching series all the way through close to 10 times. I was really drawn to that message. It seemed to be exactly what I needed. At the time, I didn’t realize it but God was preparing me to walk through some challenging days.
In October 2016 our first grandson Josiah Daniel died during his delivery. There was no apparent cause. I don’t know of any other grief that is immediately preceded by such high expectations. We were devastated. However, as I begin to consider the mind of Christ… seeking to see events as heaven sees them, and acquiring an eternal perspective… seeking to align with how God sees the situation… this really helped me in the process of responding more to God in this circumstance rather than reacting to the circumstance itself. It certainly was an up-and-down experience…
However, I believe that my starting point was a much healthier place than it might have been before. I began to write out some of my reflections and thoughts while we were walking through our grief, primarily in an effort to help me process what we were going through. I would post my reflections on Facebook and interact with friends around it, which was a tremendous help to me. I am now storing some of those posts on a blog site… (Read David’s blog post about losing Josiah here.)
2017 was a year of regrouping and sorting through that experience… I continued reviewing the content of the art of brilliant thinking series. I also continued to write some on my reflections on some of the teachings I was hearing, on new insights, and on some miscellaneous musings. The year 2018 has brought with it some truly joyful events as well as a major challenge of it’s own. January through March we have had the joy of receiving two granddaughters into our family… and one of our daughters got married.
The challenge: I learned that my job was being transferred approximately 600 miles from our home. I elected not to follow my job thinking that being near family should be our priority. So, I’m a 59 year old caught off guard by a job transition. I am in a job search that is still ongoing and has been lasting longer than anticipated. The Brilliant Thinking content as well as Much of the new content that Graham has shared this year, particularly the content on rest and peace, has helped us significantly and has contributed to remodeling our thinking even more. I want to extend a special thank you to Graham for his willingness to be used by the Lord to promote more of a kingdom mindset in our lives.
We are truly grateful. Thank you.
By David H.
Thank you David for this honest and beautiful testimony. We are so sorry for the loss of your grandson, but so happy to hear you have granddaughters and happiness is coming back into your life. Thank you for being part of this community – Team Brilliant.
