The Secret

Have you heard about the best-selling book and DVD series called The Secret? It has sold over 2 million copies by explaining that the secret to life is the law of attraction. You become what you think about.

I heard Oprah Winfrey say that this was true, so I thought I would give it a try. Good things happen to people who think only good thoughts. Bad things happen to people who think bad thoughts. If you have a disease, trial, disappointing relationship, etc... it has come as a direct result of your thinking.

Hmmm! Sounds interesting. I tried it on a couple of life events. I am tired of getting up every 3 hours to change my baby girl's diaper and give her to my wife to feed. So I tried to think positive about her sleeping through the night. It didn't happen. I also tried this week to think that the stock market would go up every day and create great wealth for my clients and self. But it lost value. Is the universe against me?

I am all for positive thinking. I enjoy being around positive people. I don't like to hear constant complainers. But there is a problem with the Secret. It doesn't work. I mean it might "work" for some people. But is something true, if it doesn't work for all people all of the time? You can think nice thoughts all day long. But you will die. You can think every day will be sunny. But one day it is going to rain. And it might rain hard.

It is has been raining hard for my family lately. My wife got diagnosed with a neurological disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth about 3 years ago. Her muscles are wasting away because her nerves are not working properly. And there is no current cure. The Secret can't help her.

On top of that, she had a spinal cord tumor 2 years ago that we feared was cancerous and deadly. Praise God it wasn't but she had to have surgery to remove it and this tumor may reappear over and over again with more surgeries to come.

Despite these health trials, God continues to sustain and bless us. We have 2 healthy children. We sold a house in Dallas and we are building a home that was supposed to be completed in March of this year. We don't deserve it. But we are grateful.

Because our house wasn't ready, we had to move our selves and kids to live with my wife's parents for a few weeks. Not being in your own bed is a little inconvenient, but no big deal. But building a house is stressful- lots of things go wrong. Not the kind of stress that comes from not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Or the stress that comes from being in continual pain. But stressful nonetheless. I guess if I lived in the world of The Secret, the new house would have been completed on time.

Life was difficult enough with the new home; a 7-week old baby; a 3-year old; my wife's ongoing health concerns, etc... But then she fractured her leg last week. She did this in Joe Theismann like fashion. She was screaming as I rushed to her. I saw her ankle hanging to the side. In a panic, I reset her ankle which caused her extreme pain.

I don't know why I did this. I have to credit God's Spirit. I know it wasn't The Secret. But it ended up being the right thing. The surgeon told me that it might have saved her leg. If the ankle hadn't been reset, she could have had a broken blood vessel or major nerve damage. I am sitting with her in the hospital right now as she recovers from surgery. She will be wheelchair bound for 3 months. I don't look forward to it- I have to be honest. It is a whipping.

I guess you could say that we are living the anti-Secret right now. But God is enough. He sustains us through every trial. He is our joy. We don't need good health to be thankful. We don't need stuff- although God has given us an abundance. This is the message that must be communicated to the world. God is not a slot machine. Jesus is not the ticket to prosperity.

Jesus invites us to come to Him and die, "If anyone wants to follow me, let him take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."- Luke 9:23-24. Sound attractive? Not to the Secret followers.

But Heaven can wait. I believe in the Secret in this sense. God will have abundance in store for those who yield to Him and follow Him. He will make good on His promises when He eliminates sin, disease, war, evil, pollution, etc... He will give His children a perfectly renovated earth in a resurrected body. He gives us a taste of this goodness during this life. But to really experience this, we must die. This life is not heaven. There are problems. But one day all wrongs will be made right.

The Apostle Paul told us, "To live as Christ and to die is gain."- Philippians 1:21. There is no secret to that. The gospel is believing God's promises of eternal bliss. But is also a willingness to travel a hard road to get there. A faith that costs nothing is worth nothing. Jesus told his disciples, "I told you these things that you may have peace. In this world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."- John 16:33.

Life is full of trials. Thinking them away won't do anything to help us avoid them. But God gives us grace to handle them one day at a time.

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge