What If's of Life: Second Guessing the Decisions That We Made

WHAT IF’s OF LIFE

Second Guessing the Decisions that we Made

REV. DR. B. W. LeCORN

Copyright © 2013 Rev. Dr. B.W. LeCorn.

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Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7569-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7570-4 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7568-1 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012921396

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/16/2013

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Preface

Introduction

1. The What If’s of Life

2. In The Pursuit Of Your Eternal Destiny And Purpose

3. Challenging Your Challenges And Being Victorious

4. Transitioning From A Conformer To A Transformer, And Into A Reformer

5. Avoiding False Starts

6. Let It Go

7. What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do

8. Take A Look In The Mirror

9. Turn Your Tears Of Sorrow Into Tears Of Joy

10. Being Blessed In The Midst Of Your Storm

11. When Birds Of A Feather Flock Together

About The Author

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

•   I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family, to my loving sons, David who is a senior in college, my youngest son Preston, who is in the first grade this year, and his mother Dawn. Without their loving support and patience with me during the time this work begun, this project would never have materialized.

•   I would also like to express my heart-felt appreciation to First Missionary Full Gospel Church where I presently serve as Senior Pastor. I am eternally grateful to this wonderful congregation for allowing me to serve as their pastor for the past ten glorious years. They have truly deposited much inspiration and edification into my life during my tenure here.

•   Additionally, I am very grateful and appreciative of that wonderful, loving, and warm-hearted congregation of Town Creek Missionary Baptist Church, who allowed me to serve as Senior Pastor for 18 beautiful, glorious years as they serenaded me with unconditional love, and affection. They allowed me to pastor them even as I was maturing into God’s mortal vessel made of clay that was marred with imperfections, faults, flaws, and blemishes. As long as breath is in my body, they will forever be in my heart, and I will always be an official member of that church’s family.

•   Much love and charity is also extended to my siblings for their much support and their implicit involvement in this work. Robert, Rose Mary LeCorn Jackson, Charles, Calvin, Larry, Joyce LeCorn Shelton, Don, and Michael LeCorn.

•   Special thanks and deep appreciation are also extended to Ms. Shannon Landstrom who typed this entire book, ran errands, answered the forever ringing phone lines, and ensured my appointments were kept.

•   Special thanks and appreciation are also extended to Ms. Leslie Sweet who inspired and motivated me to begin dictating this work.

•   Special thanks and appreciation are also extended to all my teachers and professors of all the various schools I’ve attended:

Belleview Santos High School

Lake Weir High School

College of Central Florida

Alabama A&M University

University of North Alabama

Trinity Theological College and Seminary

American College of Metaphysical Theology

Special thanks are extended to my devoted uncle and friend, Rev. Harold Damon who has been very supportive of me since birth.

Thanks to Mr. Eugene Poole who stood with me in difficult and challenging times during my brief stint in running for public office.

Thanks to Mr. Hank Whitter, of the Veterans Association for his untiring efforts in my support of public office.

Thanks to Doreen Thomas Lovell for her eternal commitment to the ministry of my present work.

Special thanks to Dr. Vernon Murray who worked untiringly as my campaign manager during my run for public office.

Special thanks to Mr. Paul Appelbaum for embracing the vision and the dream of our Sovereign God has given us to execute for His glory.

Finally, much grace and love are extended to my friends and loved ones who are too numerous to be identified by names. Each of them has left an indelible impression upon my psyche’; thus enhancing my Christian character. I am eternally grateful for their continuous support and motivation while working on this project.

DEDICATION

•   This work is dedicated to all those Christ-centered/Theocentric souls who have entered their infinite and eternal home in God’s celestial shore, and who influenced the direction of my spiritual pilgrimage in my pursuit of divine purpose and destiny.

•   To every individual who finds himself trapped and sandwiched between past experiences, present realities, and future possibilities, and are in an inescapable net of What if’s.

•   To all those individuals who are seeking fulfillment, authenticity, and validation from a bible-based and theological perspective.

•   To all those who desire to possess the faith, courage, and confidence to make informed decisions without ever going through the process of What if.

•   To all those individuals who absolutely refuses to allow their past to disqualify their present, and future destiny.

PREFACE

O NE OF THE MOST AGONIZING, and tantalizing realities that all people experience which transcends race, creed, color, religious affiliation, or national origin is; the What if’s of life. The What if encage, constrains, and harass us at the very moment of realization, actualization, comprehension, and perception. What if’s epitomizes the preemptive attitude of faith, trust, hope, and belief as it relegates to a spirit of doubt, uncertainty, wavering, unbelief, and as usual the fear factor. At the very root of What if syndrome lies one of the most hideous, and horrific emotions known to mankind - fear. Fear will snatch the smile off your face, and brand a frown across your brow. Fear will seize the pep out of your walk, and bring you to a screeching halt. Fear will extinguish the flame of success and optimism out of your life, and will turn your reality into a nightmare of pessimism, and agnosticism. Fear will turn your brightest day into your darkest midnight hour. Fear will cancel out faith, trust, hope, and belief into the dark abyss of doubt, unbelief, disdain, contempt, and scorn. Fear will rob you of your scriptural, promised land blessings, and will hijack you to a foreign land of the indigent, destitute, and the poverty stricken, or the poor house. Fear will catechize your sanctified motives, and will deposit seeds of undesirable weeds to choke out your destine purpose, infinite destination, and your inspiring motivation. Fear will compromise and bargain away your cosmic covenant conciliation with God, and will reduce your relationship, and fellowship with Him into a comatose state of lethargic oblivion. We read in 2 Tim. 1:7 Missionary Apostle Attorney Paul as saying,

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. KJV

If your What if’s are a derivative of your psychological innate fear, I issue a Holy Ghost invocation citation, to serve notice on you that your fear is false, fallacious, and fraudulent at the very core of your emotional inner-man.

So then, if you are ever going to defeat the What If syndrome you must conquer the fear factor, and render him defeated and disarmed on your mental battleground, and you can raise high your battle book (Bible) into triumphant victory!! The What If’ syndrome can be completely annihilated, exterminated, obliterated, and decimated whenever you begin your destined transitory journey trajectory into faith, scriptural confidence, and biblical assurance in the providential pavilion of your infinite, eternal, immutable, and Sovereign Creator and Preserver of the universe. So then my brother/sister, transform your What If’s into the colossal sea of What’s Next", by the power that worketh on the inside of you!!!!

INTRODUCTION

T HE WHAT IF’S OF LIFE is a reality that every human being has to grapple and wrestle with throughout one’s life time. It doesn’t matter if you are a prince or a pauper; president or piper; pilot or pimp; young or old; rich or poor; black or white; a believer or unbeliever; educated or uneducated; a man or a woman; or somewhere in between; whether you are living or nearly dead, the What if syndrome either has, or is seizing hold of your mental progress and is dominating your thought process. Is it possible to escape the What If syndrome, and shed the shackles of regret by embracing Kingdom Principles and Laws and living in conformity to the Cosmic Rules Book of God’s Word? When Christ-centered/Theocentric individuals ever learn that through the logos word that our identification has been substantiated and validated through Christ’s human nature, and His Shekinah glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father.

What If is always birthed out of some type of negative, derogatory situation that moves a person into a climate and atmosphere of regrets, second thoughts, and an attitude of remorsefulness. Out of those regrets a sense of anxiety emerges out of one’s inner-man, or psyche’ which totally and completely clouds our judgment, and logical solution, and conclusion to the "What If’ dilemma, or predicament.

The What If’s of life, if left unchecked, or improperly managed and supervised have a way of paralyzing, and crippling us, thus preventing us from reaching and obtaining our optimum possibilities and our purpose, calling, aspirations, resolutions, and our destination by way of our destiny. Allow me if you please to announce this factual, true statement; everyone deals with their own set of distinctive, and discriminate What If’s from one level to the next level. The What If’s challenges the choices we make; it questions our selections; it also clouds our judgment; and it causes us to doubt the preferences, options, and decisions we are confronted with. When we allow our What If’s to emotionally confuse, and misinform us, then wrong actions become a possibility, and eventually inevitability. Your entire destiny walk, conquering the fear factor, and render him defeated and disarmed on your mental battleground, and you can raise high your battle book (Bible) into triumphant victory!! The What If’ syndrome can be completely annihilated, exterminated, obliterated, and decimated whenever you begin your destined transitory journey trajectory into faith, scriptural confidence, and biblical assurance in the providential pavilion of your infinite, eternal, immutable, and Sovereign Creator and Preserver of the universe. So then my brother/sister, transform your What If’s into the colossal sea of What’s Next", by the power that worketh on the inside of you!!!!

ONE

The What If’s of Life

A LL PEOPLE OF THE WORLD deal and struggle with the problem of the what if of life. Some people are consumed and are decimated with their what if’s. What if can either be a blessing to an individual, or by the same token it can become a cursing, it all depends upon one’s attitude as they reflect upon their own what if’s. What if is always birthed out of some type of negative, derogatory situation that moves a person into a climate and atmosphere of regrets. Out of those regrets a sense of anxiety emerges out of one’s inner-man, our psyche’ which clouds our rational judgment, and logical conclusion of the matter. If we can ever learn how to transcend our what if’s into a positive chord of melodious sound, then we can enjoy a life of prodigious, wonderful, and abundant victorious living thus fulfilling our own eternal, and infinitude destiny. Never allow your what if’s to suspend you into, and over the hot volcanic lava of regrets, and remorsefulness.

The what if’s of life has a way of paralyzing, and crippling us, thus preventing us from obtaining and reaching our optimum possibilities in our destiny walk.

Often-times, we find ourselves trapped and sandwiched between our past experiences, our present realities, and our future possibilities; we are in an inescapable net of what-if.

There are many loving couples who have been unable to extrapolate complete romantic love and adventurous passion from their partner because of this what if syndrome. This what if syndrome, if left unchecked could affect every area of our lives. Your profession, your career choices, and the home you purchased, your partner, your church affiliation, the city in which you live, the automobile you purchased, and the school you attended. The list is infinite concerning our what if’s.

Let me make this very clear to you, everyone deals with the what if syndrome, from one degree to the other. Because the what if’s challenges our choices; question our selection; clouds our judgment; and doubt our preference. If you allow the what if’s to dominate your psyche’, or your mental state, you could very easily slip into a state of emotional depression and psychological instability.

The apostle Paul said in Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. KJV

This Holy Ghost prognosticator, this apostle reminds all of us that whenever we have carefully weighed our choices, our preferences, and have made the best choices, according to the most superlative information available to us, coupled with this decision and prayer we must have faith and confidence in knowing whatever happens, it happens for our ultimate good. Whenever you make a decision based upon the afore-mentioned criteria, chances are, you have made the right choice. There should be no regrets, no questions asked, and no doubts about your decision. When a decision has to be made, gather all the facts, gather as much information available that’s at your disposal (pro’s and cons), pray about your decision, and then finally act upon it. I understand that some decisions are much harder to make than others. But if you would apply the afore-mentioned principles, I would guarantee 90% of the time you would have made the right decision. To prolong, procrastinate and wrestle too long over a decision will result in you having to deal with your what if’s. After praying, you must act upon your own sense of what’s right for you, independent of what others think.

Making decisions empowers you to be in control of your circumstances, and not your circumstances controlling you. The greatest aim of