Vision for a Better Life: Overcoming Everyday Hindrances (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781945793042)

In the fall of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina plowed through the Gulf States, Gary Morris found himself in a one-bedroom apartment on the north side of a Mississippi town that was proving to be a site for his painful demise. Everything he once held dear was now gone-his family, his ministry, his financial security, and most of his friends. Although he had grown up in a pastor's home, had become a pastor himself, and served in five different churches, Gary was now at rock bottom, underneath the weight of sin, guilt, and debt. There was no way out. His income had been greatly reduced due to the economic fallout from the hurricane. His utilities were slowly being disconnected. Every day his phone rang with bill collectors hounding him. Each night he cried himself to sleep as some country song played in the background. Thoughts of his son's grave thirty miles away, and of his family now living under another roof just as far away, only brought more pain with every sunrise. His survival tactic was simply rereading the list of reasons why he should not take his own life. On his birthday in April 2006, he grasped a vision of a better life. Without any lights or air conditioning, he fell across his bed and wept before God. The weight of his sin began to lift, the hope of a miracle took root, and a still, small voice spoke a verse from the Psalms to his heart: "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10). Gary grabbed and hung on to that promise because his entire life depended on it. Within two months, he was hired on with an investment company. Through his new job and the local church, he met a beautiful girl who soon became his wife. He spent nearly the entire month calling people whom he had bitterly hated. He asked every one of them for forgiveness. In the process, he forgave each and every one he spoke with. It was a time of coming clean in every area of his life. One year later, Gary and Karol were again seeking God for guidance, but this time, they were praying about the decision to accept the call to pastor the congregation of the church in which they had been restored. Gary now serves as pastor at Life Church Meridian, a growing life-giving congregation with a special ministry to those who have found themselves searching for a reason to live. Gary shares a life-changing message of forgiveness and hope that he has experienced firsthand, one that offers a vision for a better life. Learn more at www.garymorris.co, or email him at gary@garymorris.co.