Tag: earth

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Countdown to Blast-off for New Book

The days are numbered as far as when my book, “Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World,” comes out. I am working with the publisher with the final phase of getting the book done. That would be the back cover.

Check back here every few days to see the big announcement when the book actually comes out. You will be the first to know! You will be able to order the book  right off of this site.

I thought I would share with you some of the endorsements that will be in the book, plus the foreword. This will be a long post because of it, but please read through and see the many people who are excited about the book.

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Douglas Bolton is more than just an author – he is a breath of fresh air and beacon of hope to a hurting world. He addresses issues he’s struggled within his own journey -the journey we call life. His speaks openly and honestly about his own struggles with anxiety, hopelessness and depression that brought him to the end of himself. He brings a personal perspective into his story while weaving the truth he has found in God’s word as his means of finding a purpose that is larger than himself. He has an amazing ability to connect with and motivate individuals from all walks of life and provides them with a vision that leads to life-altering breakthroughs in their own life.

 

Chaplain-Addiction Counselor

Michael Clark

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Doug’s collection of sayings from bumper stickers and other sources provides delightful—and usually profound—insights into the spiritual truths he draws from them.

 Sue Miholer, owner of Picky, Picky Ink, her freelance writing and editing business.

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‘Kind words make good echoes’ is a good bumper sticker to describe Doug Bolton’s book. The simple truths he has written echo the truths we know and love from the Word of God. It is a good reminder of God’s constant love and care for us who are seasoned Christians and an encouragement to those just beginning their walk with their Savior.

 

Stacey Womack, Founder and Executive Director of Abuse Recovery Ministry and Services (ARMS)

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To anyone who hasn’t been able to experience a personal, intimate relationship with God, Doug Bolton’s book is a must read.  To the person who is exhausted from doing it all alone, who has lost their way, Doug’s beautiful journey to new levels of his purposeful life, will help you feel a most loving connection with a loving Father.  You will discover that you can never fail when following God’s quiet, most directive guidance.

   

-Mary Reynolds, Author of Make a Difference with the Power of Compassion

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“Plentiful in wisdom and experience, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, offers a lifeline to anyone adrift in the challenges of everyday living. Concentrated and easy to apply, Doug Bolton has smoothed the road for the weary traveler with Scriptural counsel that touches on the most paramount matters of life.”

-Chris Coppernoll, author of Screen Play and a Beautiful Fall

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“Sometimes it is only after we go through the darkest of valleys that
the light-beams of wisdom can shine through and illumine our path.
Doug Bolton has walked through that dark valley and, by the grace of
God, has discovered some wonderful lessons for life. You will enjoy
his ‘bumper sticker’ nuggets of wisdom.”

 

Pastor Scott Nelson

Morning Star Community Church 

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Doug Bolton openly shares his vulnerabilities while intertwining them with his experiences in his book Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World. From coping with deep depression to failed careers, Doug’s encounters with life will give you assurance that you are standing beside a fellow traveler who understands and won’t offer pat answers. Throughout the book he reaches out his hand to accompany you on this difficult journey of life, and help you more fully grasp God’s unconditional grace and love.

Although this book conquers tough topics about why we must suffer, why loved ones leave this earth so soon, or why circumstances out of our control prevent us from helping someone in need, it is truly a book of hope. Doug’s insights, devotional-style encouragement, practical suggestions, and even his sense of humor, will guide you toward to a more intimate relationship with Christ, regardless of the complex circumstances you may be facing.            

Doug shares bumper sticker sayings throughout the book, and as one who lives with a chronic illness and daily pain, I found Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World heartening and filled with reminders of one of my own favorite bumper stickers, “Know God, Know Peace. No God, No Peace.”

I am delighted to recommend this book to anyone who needs encouragement, but especially those who live with chronic illness or pain.

Lisa Copen

Founder of Rest Ministries, joyfully serving those with chronic illness or pain

www.restministries.org

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 We all love a story–especially one that leads us to answers for problems we may be struggling with. Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind is filled with encouraging and inspiring stories that lead us to God’s answers for all those personal struggles.

 

Sally E. Stuart, author of the Christian Writers’ Market Guide, stuartmarket.com

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This book that Doug has written is one to have on your shelf so that you can pick it up and read it time and time again. It could be used as a daily devotional. He gives us wonderful messages using his humor and personal experiences to make them real to each of us.  Doug’s use of Bible verses is so very relevant to each subject he is discusses.  I found myself writing them down to hopefully memorize later. The book ends with chapters challenging us to be witnesses of God’s salvation and then gives us tools and references to help us be fruitful. I will have this book on my shelf and I know I will give it as a gift to Christian and non-Christian friends.

 

Bonnie Nester, Author of Moments this Good, the story about a caregiver of a family member who has Alzheimer’s.

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Are you trying to make sense of your life?  Do you long for purpose and meaning in your heart?  If so, Doug Bolton’s masterpiece Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, is a must read for you.  Doug is passionate about his relationship with Jesus Christ and he wants everyone to know about it.  The words he writes on the pages of this book paint a beautiful picture of the truth from Scripture that God loves you and created you for a personal relationship with Him.  Just as Doug testifies in his book you too can find purpose, love, and hope by living your life all for Jesus!

All for Jesus!

International Evangelist Reid Saunders

Reid Saunders Association  
www.reidsaunders.org

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Signs of Hope
Foreword

Stories have their own unique way of teaching us things. When Jesus taught the crowds from Capernaum to Jerusalem, He chose stories about everyday people in everyday places to teach us about ourselves and about the God we serve. With their panoramic perspective, stories give us insight into the essential matters of life. We learn from the truths embedded in the journey of others.

In Signs of Hope, Douglas Bolton extracts wisdom from his personal life experience, mining it for the faith lessons God’s urged his heart to pen for us. In his words, we find simple answers to the harrowing and the complicated, as he shares timely and powerful lessons on living with hope in the midst of this challenging age.

Hope refreshes, when we feel overpowered by the world around us. We observe bleakness in another’s eyes (and sometimes in our own), and wonder how our peace can be restored. Self-generated resources are inadequate. But when we turn back towards God, we discover His supply, an unending fountain for us to drink.

The power and richness of stories are themselves a fountain, if flowing with God’s eternal truth. It’s in this spirit, I recommend the journey Douglas Bolton has arranged for his readers. His experience of walking many years and miles with the Lord have infused these pages. May Signs of Hope, with its offering of refreshment, grow your faith in God, and lead you to a closer walk with Him.

Chris Coppernoll

International Radio talk show host on Soul to Soul

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I Wanted to Check out of this Hotel Called Earth

I will be changing the format on my author site. I need to get back to sharing with you about my book, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.

In about two weeks the book will be officially in the marketplace.

It has been a hard, long road I have traveled to get to this point. I started writing, Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, almost ten years ago. It will be ten years next March.

Why did I start writing the book? I am glad you asked.

I was at the end of my rope. I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I felt the ship sinking and I didn’t have a life jacket.

I was having weekly pity parties, and no one was showing up to help me celebrate.  I was fighting self-doubt, anxiety, fear, failure, depression, hopelessness, and the many other usual suspects.

I was ready to check out of the hotel called earth.

I was in a school parking lot on March 31st 2001 sitting in my Ford Explorer considering suicide. I didn’t want to face the trails of life any more.

I had retired from teacher, and was going from one job after another searching for something that I could feel good about after retirement. Nothing was working for me. I failed at each job I partook in. I even started my own business of find funds for businesses when they needed some while waiting for their invoices from costumers to come in. That failed because I couldn’t see taking money from them when they desperately needed cash at that time.

Every job I tried I needed to try to convince people of getting something they may not need. I worked at a department store in the housewares department. I sold pots and pans, coffeemakers, knifes, etc. I was pretty good at it. I even earned a seven day free trip to a health spa for me and my wife because of my efforts.

One Christmas Eve, I was working the late shift. I noticed that there weren’t any women shopping in my area. It was all guys desperately looking for something for their wives at the last minute. I had a field day. I came up to a guy and asked him if I could help him, and he said, Yes! please find something for my wife for christmas. I can’t think of anything! I saw dollar signs in my head, and directed him to the sets of pans. I convinced him his wife would love a $500.00 set of new pans.

There were several men just like him wandering around, lost in my section. I sold something to eveyone of them. I set a record for sales that night. They bought from me because I was  a man and they trusted me.

I went home that night and wondered, What have I done? I sold a bunch of men something their wives probably didn’t need just so I could make another sale. I was very upset with myself, and quite the job a couple of weeks later.

( Men…never buy your wife something for the kitchen at Christmas. Go down to the jewelry department. You will be rewarded much more if you do that.)

So I went on like this, going from one job after another in sales. The last sales job I had was in leasing, and the same nightmare was forming while doing that. I was trying to have someone lease something when it may be better to buy it outright.

I hit rock bottom on March 31st. I drove to that parking lot I told you about. I was sobbing so much I could hardly see out the window of the rig. I stopped and parked, and was on verge of doing something very drastic.

I finally cried out to God, “I can’t take this anymore!” There was a sudden calmness inside my rig, and in me. The air even seemed different. It was as if God was saying, “It is about time you came back to me. Now let me carry you the rest of the way.”

The rest is history. I started writing Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, a couple of weeks later.

It took me almost ten years to get my thoughts down, and organized. There were doubts along they way. Satan did every he could to stop me, but I prevailed, and now you have to chance to read my story and learn for yourself how to survive in a not so friendly world.

I hope you will read it and let me know what you think of it. I have been blessed with some very impressive endorsements written in the book. I have had many authors and important people in the publishing world recommend the book.

You can preorder Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World, and save 27% by going to www.winepresspublishing.com. Go to the top and click on “bookstore.” Write in the search area, “Signs of Hope.” That will take you right to my book page. The book will only cost $14.59 there for a short time, and then it will be $19.99 once it is public. Take advantage of that now.

God bless you nad NEVER give up. Fight back the attacks of Satan and turn to God to supply you with all the armor you need to survive.

 

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Pain and Suffering Visit you Like long Lost Relatives

 

God Promises a Safe Landing,

Not a Calm Passage

 

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25–26

 

This earth is a wonderful place to be. God has provided breath-taking beauty and the opportunity to live an abundant life.

I often look in wonder when I see the Cascade Mountains from my home in Oregon. Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters, all still covered with snow, are all in view on clear days. Every time I see them, I think of the awesome power of God, and yet I also see His fine-tuning of our earth for us to enjoy.

He wants us to love our earth and to enjoy our days, but He does not promise us a rose garden. Sometimes we have to face trials and afflictions that put us on the edge of questioning God’s love.

Suffering and pain are everywhere is this world. Why would a loving God allow this? Are we doing something wrong? Are we being punished for some sin we’ve committed? After all, He allowed millions of His own chosen people to be put through torture and death during Hitler’s time. Why would He allow all that to happen?

Pain is no stranger to me. I have faced numerous times when pain and suffering tried to control my life. Let me briefly explain some of the pain God has allowed me to have:

 

  1. A double ruptured hamstring with internal bleeding causing pain down my entire left leg.
  2. Double mumps as a child so bad that at one point I could hardly breathe.
  3. Apnea, so I sleep with a mask that helps me sleep more deeply.
  4. An ulcer that kept me on baby food for a month.
  5. Pneumonia that had me down for long time.
  6. Both ankles badly sprained, severely damaging tendons.
  7. Hearing loss that requires hearing aids in both ears.
  8. Throat constriction so severe that I wear a medical alert bracelet to warn doctors about putting tubes down my throat.
  9. Neck surgery to relieve severe and constant pain in my right arm.
  10. Quadruple cardiac bypass surgery.
  11.  Gall bladder surgery, prompted by severe abdominal pain.
  12.  Back surgery because my spine had narrowed (stenosis) so badly that I had numbness down both legs, including my feet.
  13.  Achilles tendon surgery.
  14.  Skin cancer surgery.
  15. The embedding of a pacemaker to keep my heart beating properly.
  16. I had a kidney stone rip through last week.
  17.  Three other minor surgeries.

Eighteen incisions—and counting. (Of course, that doesn’t include the unseen scars from my bouts of depression.) The bright side is that there aren’t too many places left to cut for surgery. (OK! I know there are many more places, but I am trying to trick the doctors who may read this.)

Pain comes knocking at my door, lets itself in and stays—sort of like relatives who say they’re just popping in for the weekend and end up staying for more than a month.

People have asked me how I have managed to stay positive during all the times of discomfort.

What they didn’t realize is that not all days have been positive. I have dealt with depression and my own doubt that God loved me during these times. I am like any other person on this earth. I understand the anxiety and depression that can set in during times of pain.

Even Paul had some hard times with trials. He talks about a “thorn in the flesh.” Perhaps it was some kind of physical ailment.

 

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:8–9

 

I have prayed many times for all the pain to go away, but I sense God saying, “Lean on Me and you will survive.”

Another version of the Bible words the above passage, “My power works best in your weakness.” God uses those who are afflicted to help others who are in similar situations. We can relate to their pain and suffering if we have gone through it. And because of that, they will listen.

 

Another person may try to help, but they do not know the pain. They do not know how depressed a person gets during a time like this.

I can truthfully say to them, “I’ve been there and done that.” What a blessing that is. They’re more willing to talk freely and share their deepest feelings, and I can help them by sharing what God has done for me during similar times.

Once I tried to help a friend who was working through issues I had never faced—nothing even close. His response was that I had no idea what he was going through and to back off. He was right. All I can really do for him is continue to pray for him and be there when he wants to talk. And keep my big mouth shut until then.

The all-time winner for having pain—both physical and mental—has to be Job. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, 500 donkeys and many servants to take care of them. In one day:

  1. 1.      all of his oxen and donkeys were stolen and all but one of his servants caring for the animals were killed
  2. 2.      his sheep and all but one of the servants herding them were destroyed by fire
  3. 3.      all his camels were stolen and all but one of the servants tending them were killed by the marauders

“Enough,” we would say. But then a messenger came to tell him that all ten of his children had died when the house they were in collapsed in a windstorm.

Most of us would be yelling at God and wondering why He allowed all of this to happen. But in all of what had happened to Job “did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:22).

This infuriated Satan, so he asked God for permission to test Job further by afflicting him physically with “painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head” (Job 2:7). The litany of my pain that I shared in this chapter doesn’t begin to compare to what Job went through.

            Even though his wife suggested he simply curse God and die, Job responded with a question: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2: 10).

Job went through some depressing times, and even questioned God as most of us would do under similar circumstances. But in the end he never turned away from God. Because of this God gave him back much more than he had before, including children.

The key to all of this is what Job said: “Shall we receive only pleasant things from the hand of God, and never anything unpleasant?”

God is powerful. He could destroy everything in an instant. We expect Him to always protect us from harm and hardships. In the case of Job, God allowed him to be tested, and Job became even stronger in the end.

God allows us to be tested. We should look at pain, suffering and hardships as God’s way to make us stronger, like Job. Through trials, we learn to rely more on God. We sometimes move Him out of our thinking process when everything is going smoothly. So He may use pain to get our attention back on Him.

Many of those who survived concentration camps have said their faith in God became even stronger while they were going through the torture. They had only God to cling to. That was the only way they had been able to stay strong from day to day.

 

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5

 

“Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”

– M. Kathleen Casey

 

Further adventures

Praise God under the worst situation you are going through, and He will bless you far more than you could ever imagine. Try it and see how He puts His arms around you and holds you through the storm.

 

Something to ponder

Isn’t it funny how God is always there no matter what you’re going through?

* Excerpt from: Signs of Hope: Ways to Survive in an Unfriendly World.