Making Great Decisions Reflections: For a Life Without Limits
By T.D. Jakes
4/5
()
About this ebook
“My promise is that if you read this book, you will be equipped, you will know all you need to know about making foolproof relational decisions,” writes T.D. Jakes. Choosing the right partner, at home or at work, is one of the most consequential decisions we’ll ever make. How can we be sure that we’re choosing wisely? How do we know if we’re doing the right thing when we change careers? By breaking our decisions down into their five crucial components:
Research: gathering information
Roadwork: removing obstacles
Rewards: listing choices and visualizing consequences
Revelation: narrowing your options and making your selection
Rearview: looking back and adjusting as necessary to stay on course
Clear-sighted, realistic, and spiritually uplifting, Making Great Decisions is one of those rare books that can change lives.
T.D. Jakes
T.D. Jakes is the CEO of TDJ Enterprises, LLP, as well as the founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House of Dallas, Inc. He’s also the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books, including, Crushing, Soar!, Making Great Decisions (previously titled Before You Do), Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits, and Let It Go: Forgive So You Can Be Forgiven, a New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestseller. He has won and been nominated for numerous awards, including Essence magazine’s President’s Award in 2007 for Reposition Yourself, a Grammy in 2004, and NAACP Image awards. He has been the host of national radio and television broadcasts, was the star of BET’s Mind, Body and Soul, and is regularly featured on the highly rated Dr. Phil Show and Oprah’s Lifeclass. He lives in Dallas with his wife and five children. Visit T.D. Jakes online at TDJakes.com or follow his Twitter @BishopJakes.
Read more from T.D. Jakes
Wholeness: Winning in Life from the Inside Out Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Great Decisions: For a Life Without Limits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The T.D. Jakes Relationship Bible: Life Lessons on Relationships from the Inspired Word of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/564 Lessons for a Life Without Limits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From the Cross to Pentecost: God's Passionate Love for Us Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost and Found: Finding Hope in the Detours of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Overflowing, 6-in-1: 6 Pillars for Abundant Living Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Second Chances: Finding Healing for Your Pain, Regaining Your Strength, Celebrating Your New Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Woman, Thou Art Loosed! Devotional Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5T.D. Jakes Speaks to Men, 3-in-1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daddy Loves His Girls: Discover a Love Your Heavenly Father Offers that an Earthly Father Can't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So You Call Yourself a Man?: A Devotional for Ordinary Men with Extraordinary Potential Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Help I'm Raising My Children Alone: A Guide for Single Parents and Those Who Sometimes Feel They Are Single Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Making Great Decisions Reflections
Related ebooks
Reposition Yourself Reflections: Living Life Without Limits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Overflowing, 6-in-1: 6 Pillars for Abundant Living Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Woman, Thou Art Loosed! Devotional Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5T.D. Jakes Speaks to Men, 3-in-1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daddy Loves His Girls: Discover a Love Your Heavenly Father Offers that an Earthly Father Can't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5So You Call Yourself a Man?: A Devotional for Ordinary Men with Extraordinary Potential Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Help I'm Raising My Children Alone: A Guide for Single Parents and Those Who Sometimes Feel They Are Single Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Celebrating Marriage (Six Pillars From Ephesians Book #5): The Spiritual Wedding of the Believer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Memory Quilt: A Christmas Story for Our Times Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On the Seventh Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost and Found: Finding Hope in the Detours of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let It Go: Forgive So You Can Be Forgiven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Pursuit of God: A 100-Day Devotional Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecond Chances: Finding Healing for Your Pain, Regaining Your Strength, Celebrating Your New Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Colliding With Destiny: Finding Hope in the Legacy of Ruth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Choosing Life: One Day at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Mary: Lessons From the Mother of Jesus for the Modern Mom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Time Is Now: Get What God Has Given You Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Than Pretty: Doing the Soul Work that Uncovers Your True Beauty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wait Devotional: Daily Inspirations for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overcoming Fear: Eliminating The Bondage of Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Good, Sis? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walk With Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life Lessons A Purpose Driven Leadership Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Woman Evolve: Break Up with Your Fears and Revolutionize Your Life by Sarah Jakes Roberts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hollywood Commandments: A Spiritual Guide to Secular Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInspired to Pray: The Art of Seeking God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Scroll Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMake Room: Finding Where Faith Fits Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Inspirational For You
Finding God in Anime: A Devotional for Otakus: Finding God in Anime, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rumi's Little Book of the Heart Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way of the Shaman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celebration of Discipline, Special Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 50 Fridays Marriage Challenge: One Question a Week. One Incredible Marriage. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rumi's Little Book of Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When God Winks at You: How God Speaks Directly to You Through the Power of Coincidence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lessons from the Twelve Archangels: Divine Intervention in Daily Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rumi: The Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wisdom from Above: Daily Encouragement from the Proverbs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 4:8 Principle: The Secret to a Joy-Filled Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feeding the Soul (Because It's My Business): Finding Our Way to Joy, Love, and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Here Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus Calling, 365 Devotions with Real-Life Stories, with Full Scriptures Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Change Agent: How a Former College QB Sentenced to Life in Prison Transformed His World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Conversations With God, Book 3: Embracing the Love of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anam Cara [Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition]: A Book of Celtic Wisdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel of Inclusion: Reaching Beyond Religious Fundamentalism to the True Love of God and Self Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Jesus, Seeking His Light in Your Life, with Scripture references Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Day My Soul Just Opened Up: 40 Days And 40 Nights Toward Spiritual Strength And Personal Growth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Creative Cure: How Finding and Freeing Your Inner Artist Can Heal Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red Sea Rules: 10 God-Given Strategies for Difficult Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning to Walk in the Dark Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Basis of the Motion Picture 127 Hours Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Making Great Decisions Reflections
11 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eye opening.
Book preview
Making Great Decisions Reflections - T.D. Jakes
Reflection 1
Before I take any great step OR make any decision, I must deromanticize it.
You
I have seen far too many marriages and other kinds of great beginnings that ended horrendously. My focus must be not, on the plans, but on the far more difficult processes that follow, the long-term consequences of my relationship decisions. I must see not only the face of my sweetie pie but the face I will wake up next to for the rest of my life, the face of my partner of choice, the face I will run to when life becomes cold and pains are unbearable. The one I must choose as carefully as a warrior selects a weapon or an artist selects a medium—my weapon of choice when I fight layoffs, mounting bills, pressure, and unimaginable challenge. The face I will watch convulse with the aches and pains of disease and injury; the face that will comfort me and the hand I will squeeze in sorrow.
Do
I do not romanticize my perspectives based on commercials and soap operas. Life is not always easy. I must begin to glimpse what many don’t learn until they experience pain and regret.
Reflection 2
Before I choose a spouse or make any relationship decision, I must know how to deliberate carefully.
You
I must be as deliberate as possible, as logical, objective, and thoughtful in my decision to commit, cohabitate, and commingle my DNA. Love need not leave me intoxicated and blind to the realities that await me in a close relationship: bills to be paid, diapers to be changed, cars to be repaired, homes to be moved, jobs to be completed, on and on throughout all the seasons of my life. This is what I’m committing to. I’m not committing to a lifetime of good chemistry or shared ideals or that tingling feeling inside.
This reality also must not dampen my enthusiasm for a relationship, or make me cynical and suspect of the joys that married life can afford. But I must make every relationship decision with appropriate care and deliberation. So much of the rest of my life comes down to this one decision.
Do
I do act based on logic, objectives, and thought—not solely emotions—in all my relationship decisions.
Reflection 3
Before I make a pivotal decision, I will examine the power of one single choice to shape the rest of my life, and the lives of others.
You
The power of one individual decision can never be underestimated. Fortunes have been gained and lost, marriages mended and torn, children born or buried, all because of one person’s decision, which may have seemed of little importance at the time.
I understand that life has a way of knocking me down. My life will be easier the fewer mistakes I make. Life brings real challenges but I do not have to give way to pressure, anger, or disappointment and succumb to pain, losing sight of my passion and purpose. I realize that every important relationship decision affects the quality of my entire life.
Do
I do move into relationship decisions in a way that will ensure positive results. I will do everything I can to ensure the best choices for my life.
Reflection 4
Before I make an important relationship decision, I realize that I can’t afford to make a bad choice and face a setback.
You
I have to make every move count. I do not want to have to recover economically, emotionally, or spiritually from a massive setback that could result from a bad decision.
This means that sometimes, even after I spend time and money, even invest emotionally in a relationship, I have to decide against it. Others may say, You did all of that and still walked away?
What I spent investigating it might seem wasted to them, but not to me.
I have learned that relationship decisions come down to five crucial components:
Research—gathering information and collecting data
Roadwork—removing obstacles and clearing the path
Rewards—listing choices and imagining their consequences
Revelation—narrowing my options and making my selection
Rearview—looking back and adjusting as necessary to stay on course
In fact, these components can be applied to any area of my life. Whether choosing a spouse, selecting a major in college, acquiring property, deciding on a new career, buying a company, or determining where I will live, all my major decisions require due diligence and deliberation. I want to make significant decisions with as much certainty as possible. If I do, I’ll move confidently into the future with no regrets.
Do
I do gather as much data as possible before making a big decision.
Reflection 5
Before I credit extenuating circumstances beyond my control to my achievement or failure, I admit that I am a victim or victor of my own making, because of a key decision.
You
I can trace every success or failure in my life back to something I did or didn’t decide effectively—whether in the course of developing relationships, doing business, or selecting investments, or in any other area. My decisions set the course of my life. I must put in place the necessary prerequisites to accomplish my desired goals. Past decisions and their consequences can be offset by decisions I make now.
Do
I do hold myself responsible for my life and expect good results as I exercise the process of