The Power of One Thing is the result of my personal passion to help people experience the freedom and peace I’ve witnessed in those who have de- cided to live an intentional life in Christ. This entire project evolved because of the dedication and hard work of a team of people who joined me in the passion to communicate the message in the power of one thing. First, I want to thank Barb Kois for her dedication in pulling together all my teachings on this topic, and then assisting me in shaping them into the book you hold in your hands. She spent untold hours helping to craft the final manuscript. I also want to ex- press my appreciation to the entire Tyndale House team for catching the vision for what the power of one thing can do in a person’s life and then joining me in this project.
Jan Long Harris, Sharon Leavitt, Kim Miller, Sarah Atkinson, Yolanda Sidney, along with many others at Tyndale, have patiently assisted in turning an idea into reality—one word at a time. I also want to extend much appreciation to my Intentional Living min- istry team for their support and encouragement while I worked on this book. Much thanks is extended to Dawn Heitger, Steven Davis, and Shanna Gregor for providing their editorial feedback and encouragement. I’m grateful to my radio listeners for providing the motivation for this book. I’ve witnessed in them the power of one thing at work. Each story in this book is a composite of what I’ve heard from all these dedicated listeners over the last several years. In any case where an actual story was used, we took care to protect the identity of the people who gave permis- sion for their stories to be told.
Finally, this book would never have been possible without the loving support and encouragement of my wife, Donna. Her willingness to allow me to take time away from home in order to work on this project, not to mention her willingness to read and provide feedback on the manu- script, has been invaluable. My love for her never fades!
Juliana was overwhelmed, unsure what to do next. She and her husband, Al, were the caretakers of their three young grandchildren. Their daugh- ter, Amisha, had been in and out of drug rehab programs for more than two years. Every time she tried to take her children back to live with her, she managed for about three weeks before relapsing. Juliana and Al had been looking forward to retirement in two years, but now the expenses of caring for their grandchildren had delayed that plan. Making matters worse, Al had atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that was aggravated by stress.
The couple also had a son in the military who had been in a war zone for four months. They watched the news frantically each evening, praying his area hadn’t been hit. On top of these major stressors, Juliana was faced with the daily pres- sures of caring for small children again. When she called my radio pro- gram, her youngest grandchild was sick with an ear infection, his third in the last twelve months. “I love my grandchildren and I love my daughter, but I don’t know how much longer Al and I can do this,” she said. “I’m so tired, and my husband isn’t healthy.
I don’t know where to turn.” Perhaps you haven’t experienced the stress of raising grandchildren, but like me, I bet you have been overwhelmed when setting out to un- dertake a big project or when faced with a growing list of responsibilities at work or home. How on earth am I going to be able to do all this? you ask yourself. Perhaps you’ve struggled for years to overcome a bad habit. You may not even have licked it for a while, only to relapse. How will I ever over- come this temptation for good? you wonder. Over the years, I’ve learned that intentional living is the only way out. Either you let circumstances control you or you take responsibility for what’s under your control. You may not be able to make big life changes overnight, but by committing to follow through on one small thing every day, you can inch yourself closer and closer to your goal.
There are many ways to fail in life, but the only way to succeed is to be intentional. Often when people are overwhelmed, they freeze, feeling trapped and unable to move forward. My focus when talking with Juliana, then, was to get her to identify her biggest source of stress. We could then iden- tify the “one thing” that would bring her the greatest relief. Clearly, her biggest stressor was her relationship with Amisha. Specifically, Juliana said she was tired of trying to motivate her daughter to make positive changes, only to be let down again and again. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Perhaps you’ve heard about goal setting on the job or read about it in a book.
Countless articles and books, talk shows, Web sites, blogs, and motivational programs offer great advice about achieving your goals. Experts always tell you to make a list of ac- tion steps to take you where you want to go. It’s good advice. So why do so few people actually follow through on something so basic? First, multiple-step programs or complicated lists of rules and procedures simply overwhelm us. And as Juliana discovered, no one can make multiple changes at once. She needed to change one thing within her control—how she responded to Amisha—and practice it until it became a habit. Second, change takes effort; inertia takes none. Once our initial en- thusiasm wears off, we have little incentive to keep working toward our goals—especially when we don’t see results as quickly as we’d like. Like most parents, Juliana wanted to support and protect her daughter, so step- ping back didn’t feel easy or natural at first. What we need is a simple yet effective way to take actions that will get us where we want to go. Gaining on our goals must be done incrementally, little by little, one step at a time. That’s actually good news; it means that if we are willing to do just one thing toward one goal today, we will be on our way to a better life.