THE
LIFE CHANGE EXPERIMENT
FINDING ANSWERS WHERE WE
LEAST EXPECTED
WE'D HAD ENOUGH!!
As Best-Selling Authors, Media Entrepreneurs & TV/Radio Personalities, it seemed happiness was always 'just around the corner.' My husband and I had spent 15 years pursuing 'meaning' and 'happiness' through Goals, Fame, Self Improvement, the High-Life & Hard Work - yet, the more we 'got,' the more we realized...... "THIS ISN'T IT!"
We had it ALL and life still felt empty, meaningless, and unfulfilling... Sound familiar?
THE RADICAL RE-BOOT
TESTIMONY
Bessie Speaking at Dallas Theological Seminary
Talking about the Life Change Experiment
Giving away everything she owned and
setting out on a journey to find the meaning of life
SO, WE DECIDED TO TURN LIFE UPSIDE DOWN We uploaded a clip on YouTube—then, 64,000 emails and 12,000,000 hits later, we had given away EVERYTHING we owned for FREE to people in need: our cars, clothing, jewelry, furniture, electronics, designer collections, and three businesses, among other things. (NOTE: We do not recommend this—we just felt inspired to do it at the time).
CRAZY? Perhaps. But it was our first real lesson in FAITH: NO excuses, NO retreat, NO chickening out. So, we jumped in a van (see image below) and embarked on 7-year, 33-country, soul-searching adventure to find out if God was real, if faith was a practical way to live or just wishful thinking, and if there was a secret to happiness we had been missing.
WISDOM HUNTING: We immersed ourselves in the world's religions, living among, volunteering with, and interviewing hundreds of people—from Gurus and Pagans to Preachers, Buddhists, Muslims, Indigenous Tribes, Hindus, Evangelists, Hippies, Hare Krishnas, Mystics, Witches & Warlocks, Psychologists, Psychics, Atheists, and many more wonderful people. Each one their beliefs and cultures. Sometimes we would stay a day immersed in their worldview, other times a month, sometimes more. It was scary, uncomfortable, humbling, exhilarating, shocking, challenging, and, of course, utterly life-changing.
Ultimately, through a winding, whirlwind-of-a-path, including getting lost for some time in the allure of the New-Age teachings , we found a Freedom and Truth we never knew existed. A fresh start, and a new perspective on life that changed everything. Our hunch was right: there was far, far more to life than we ever imagined and it came in a way we least expected. Through crazy experiences of the overwhelming love of Jesus Christ - the very last place previous atheists expected.
WHAT WE DISCOVERED WAS SO TRANSFORMATIONAL AND REAL WE COULD NOT GO BACK. Instantly, almost overnight everything changed. Now, we share our journey. Don't give up. The Truth is waiting for you. Let us help you find it.
THE Quest
7 years, 33 countries, 100's of interviews, 1000's
of experiences. A soul-searching adventure to find out:
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Is there more to life than we are led to believe?
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Is God a real thing?
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Is Faith a practical way to live?
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Is there a secret to happiness?
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Who has the answer? Or is all this spirituality stuff a fairytale?
WHY DID WE WORK FOR FREE?
As part of our experiment, we decided we wanted to take things to the next level by pitching in, easing burdens, solving problems, working and adding value where needed for absolutely FREE- without thought of payment, barter, time or trade. No strings attached.
Many religions talk about helping your 'neighbor without thought for yourself'. This seemed naive to us, coming from a world where everything we did was measured and paid for, but we were curious and up for the challenge.
We did things you could not have paid us to do in our previous life, shoveling tons of animal poop, cleaning public toilets, comforting the grieving, helping out in nursing homes, fixing broken businesses, marriage counseling........you name it, someone, somewhere asked us to help them do it!
I am still mystified and amazed at the miracles that unfolded when we learned to truly show others GRACE. I know it sounds nuts and I wouldn't have believed it either, but it radically transformed how we saw 'lack', 'provision' and doing life with others.
You can read more about our adventure in my latest book.
