How to Activate Peace, Purpose, and Fulfillment at Home.

How do you find peace, purpose, and fulfillment yourself, and how do you integrate these qualities into your home? For many, the answers to these questions are elusive. You might as well ask, What’s the secret of life? or Where is the fountain of youth? But Brian Goslee doesn’t think this is the case. Instead, he believes that peace, purpose, and fulfillment are attainable and available. But they must be activated.

Brian serves as Board President and volunteer Executive Director for Changed Through Faith Ministries. He experienced a radically changed life through active faith in God. As a child, Brian was raised by a single mother. As an adult, Brian developed a passion for bringing families closer to God and closer to each other.

One thing I especially appreciate about Brian is that he knows we never fully “arrive.” But Brian also knows life can be joyous and peaceful. In Brian’s words, “That is what I want for you. I want to help you get there faster than I did and be supported and encouraged while you do! My life was radically changed through faith, and yours can be too!”

During our Thriving at Home Summit, I had the privilege of diving deep with Brian into the topic of activating peace, purpose, and fulfillment at home. In this post, you’ll find some of my favorite snippets of what Brian shared.

Activating Peace, Purpose, and Fulfillment

• Peace, purpose, and fulfillment must be activated. You won’t accidentally trip and fall into them.
• The starting point for activation is identifying and eliminating barriers. For example, Brian viewed himself as a good dad. But this became an idol in his life and a scapegoat to excuse his bad habits. For Brian, this negative habit was alcohol, which he used as a crutch to escape.
• Brian’s challenge for us is to examine ourselves. Is there a secret, dark place, or something you use to self-medicate? The path to peace, purpose, and fulfillment begins with a heart check. What is it that you lean on when you’re in a high-stress mode?
• Making the wrong choice over and over and sinning habitually are barriers to peace, purpose, and fulfillment.
• Activating a friend we are honest with and who is honest with us is another important first step.

Activating Peace, Purpose, and Fulfillment by Eliminating Selfishness

• Another common idol is selfishness. The next step is to examine ourselves and see if we expect our wife, kids, or someone else close to us to provide us with peace, purpose, and fulfillment. This examination is important because looking to another human being for fulfillment is a bottleneck for true peace.

Four Steps to Peace, Purpose, and Fulfillment

• Step #1: Belief: The first step is to believe in God. This is more than just believing God is out there somewhere. Instead, it believes God is who he says he is, you are who God says you are, and that the people in your home are precious in His sight. Then, make these people precious in your sight too. Believing means believing all that the Bible says!
• Step #2: Receive: This step involves absorbing it—deep within your bones. Great ways to do this are getting connected to a Christian community, getting plugged into the Bible, and finding hope in others’ stories.
• Step #3: Live it: Our heart has to be facing God. This is the action piece. If someone followed you around with a video camera, would there be evidence that you spent time with God? Living it means looking for times when God shows up and opportunities to serve him. It’s going through life with our spiritual antenna up.
• Step #4: Give it away: Giving can be giving time, attention, money, and prayer (even for the person at the drive-through window). Often, it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Jesus gave away his faith by 1) Loving, 2) Serving, 3) Teaching and 4) Obeying. Our job is to follow his example.

Activating Peace, Purpose, and Fulfillment at Home

• A worthy goal for parents is to create an environment at home where their kids want to come back, even when they don’t have to.
• Parents can give their kids visual reminders that they love them, are proud of them, and believe they have what it takes. An example of this is a poster or softball that contains words that affirm your kids.
• Your kids can’t hear “I love you” and “I’m proud of you” enough.
• Parents can promote peace, purpose, and faith at home by sharing their faith stories. Older kids may argue with our beliefs, but no one can argue with your story.
• Know that parenting is dynamic. There will be seasons to push our kids out of their comfort zone and other seasons that require a lot of grace and a lot of faith.
• Finally, do not ever give up faith based on the evidence you see from your kids. In other words, even if you don’t see the fruit, don’t give up. Have the conviction that your faith and prayers make a difference. Make sure your love for your kids is unconditional, and they know it. And keep pressing forward regardless of what you see.

Diving Deeper

I love Brian’s passion for helping families be changed by faith! If you’d like to dive deeper into finding peace, purpose, and fulfillment at home, you may want to check out the Thriving at Home Summit all-access pass. This is where you can check out the entire interview and 18+ other amazing speakers.

For more great insights from the Thriving at Home Summit, be sure to check out the following posts:

• Dads Matter: Understand The Father Effect and Overcome Old Wounds.
• Raising Girls: Practical Parenting Advice and Dad Wisdom
• Thriving Love Habits: How to Feed Love and Love Your Spouse Better!

Continuing the Conversation

Jenny and I would love to continue the conversation in the comments below!

• What is your story of activating peace, purpose, and fulfillment in your own life?
• How are you activating these qualities at home?
• Which of the positive parenting skills in that Brian shared resonated the most with you?
• Which of these ideas have you already used, and which ones do you plan on putting into action?
• What thoughts on activating peace, purpose, and fulfillment at home would you add to this conversation?

Please add your thoughts below, and know that we can’t wait to hear from you!