I had just turned fifteen years old when I first experienced the Begin a New Life process.

It was summer time, and I was working in my grandmother’s vegetable garden. There was something on my mind that was troubling me. I don’t remember what it was. But I do remember that it had a real hold on me: it was tying me up in emotional knots, and it wouldn’t let me go. I had heard about the BNL process six months earlier, so I decided to run the problem through the steps of that process. As I continued working I did the following:

1. Took an honest look at myself.

2. Recognized and acknowledged my part in the problem.

3. Prayed to the Lord for help and power in resisting my part.

4. Began a new life.

This was the first time I ever practiced these four universal steps of life change. What happened was remarkable. By the time I'd finished going through the steps, the issue that had tied me up in emotional knots was gone—it had vanished from my consciousness. In fact, the shift in my mental/emotional state was so pronounced that I straightened up in the garden, leaned on my rake, and thought, “Wow, this process really works!”...and I was only fifteen years old!

Then the process disappeared from my mental radar screen. For whatever reason I didn’t think to make it a regular spiritual practice, or if I did, I was unsuccessful at doing so. But regardless, that one experience of the process is something I never forgot.

I grew up through my teen and adult years to age forty-four. During those years I practiced a number of approaches to spiritual life. Each one helped me along my path; but I wanted more. In my heart I wanted a practice that really worked for me—one that reached in, touched, and engaged my soul—and none of the ones I'd tried in my adult years had done that—not truly, not deeply, not completely. For all of those years, I felt like David the shepherd boy in Judaic scripture who was given king Saul’s armor in preparation for battle against the giant, Goliath (1 Samuel 17). But Saul’s armor didn’t fit David—he wasn’t able to walk in it—so he took it off (1 Samuel 17:38-39).

And for all of that time—from age fifteen to forty-four—I didn’t forget the experience I’d had in my grandmother’s vegetable garden. Occasionally I'd remember it or call it to mind; and when I did, I'd think, “What about those four steps of life change I tried years ago: What if I were to go through those steps over and over again…for different issues in my life? What would happen?” And what’s interesting, despite these thoughts, I still didn't return to the process. And so it sat in the mental inbox of my mind—waiting to serve me, waiting to help me, waiting to impact my life for good.

Sometime around my forty-fourth birthday, I decided to combine the four steps of Begin a New Life with the spiritual program I was practicing at the time. I did so. But combining the two approaches didn’t work—it was confusing. It made me feel like I was spinning my wheels spiritually, unable to get any real traction. It was like I was trying to give focused, quality attention to two married partners rather than one.

At that point I knew I had to choose one of my two “partners” over the other; and I knew in my heart which one it would be. I chose Begin a New Life.

That choice came in the fall of 2004. Since then I’ve never looked back. I haven’t needed anything more in a baseline approach to spiritual living. This one provides everything I deeply want, need, and hope for—and then some.*

What I’ve discovered in Begin a New Life is a process that can remove any stumbling block in my life, and one which allows me to realize my deepest longings, hopes, dreams, and aspirations. After many years of searching, I've found a process that suits my soul—truly, deeply, and completely. I am content.

Epilogue

As a final note, when I first began this process as a regular practice, I kept a record of the positive effects it had on my life. That list grew till it was fifty-eight items long. Then I stopped counting. Later, I culled the list down to include only my favorites. That list was still twenty items long. So I squeezed hard and brought it down to just three. My favorite three are these:

1. This process takes me to the real heart of any personal, life-related issue faster, more directly, more deeply, and more completely than anything I've ever experienced. At times it does so in a breathtaking way—literally.

2. This process provides me a sense of closeness and togetherness with God that I hadn’t experienced before. This has been a wonderful surprise and an ongoing blessing in my life.

3. Finally (and this is my all-time favorite) this process provides me a sense of hope—regularly and consistently. In fact, in all the years that I’ve practiced this process, there hasn’t been a single session that I’ve come away from not feeling a sense of hope—a sense of, “I can do this; with God’s help I will conquer this thing in my life.” Wise people say, “Don’t say always or never”; and yet what I’m telling you about hope at the hands of this process has always been true for me—every single time. This has been a real godsend in my life—one I couldn’t have guessed I’d experience.

* The BNL process was so immediately helpful in my life that by the end of 2004 I began formatting and packaging it for public use. I hoped that other people could benefit in ways that I personally was benefitting. I also wanted the process to be easily accessible, easily doable, easily repeatable, and easily reviewable for anyone who might discover it. The BNL website and worksheets are the results of that desire.