The Country Preacher

I have told this story so many times to friends and on other podcasts over the past 6 years since I've heard it. The Country Preacher teaches a powerful model for decision-making that I have used in the toughest of decisions.  Are you familiar with a Venn Diagram or the overlapping circles? Look it up if you're not familiar. Picture 3 circles overlapping in a way where there are 3 areas where any 2 circles intersect and only 1 area where all 3 circles intersect. Here are the 3 circles the Country Preacher used:

1. Desire - Do you want to do it? Whatever the decision is, do you want to do it. Are you excited about the potential of i t working out? Are you passionate about going that new direction?
2. Open Door - Is the opportunity available right now? Or is the door closed right now?
3. Peace - How do you feel in your spirit about this decision? Does it give you anxiety or total peace?

If you have a scenario where you have the desire and the opportunity is open, but there is no peace, do not do it.
If you have a scenario where you have the peace and the opportunity is open, but you don't want to do it, do not do it.
If you have a scenario where you have the desire and the peace, but the door is closed, do not do it. In this case, pray through the closed door until it opens (if it ever does).

Let's use an example of a difficult decision our family faced in 2017. Do we leave 16 years of family and business roots we've forged in Upstate New York and move back home to the Philly Area? And by the way, I heard this message in 2016 and used this decision-making process to make this vital decision. We had a deep desire to go back to our hometown and be with our family. We missed Sunday dinners after church with my Nana and Pop-Pop after 18 years of living in other states. We missed my younger siblings having babies of their own and spending time with them. Yes, we had desire. After much prayer and talking as a family, we felt total peace that this was the right time to go back home. The kids were excited about it. We were excited. Sure, it was stressful to think how it would all work out. But that wasn't up to us to make work. We could only take action on the desire and peace we had. Was there an open door? Flashback. We wanted to go back to Philly just about every year we were in New York. But there wasn't an open door. This time there was. We prayed hard and long about this part. We'd have to sell the cleaning business. I'd have to replace myself as a Royal Rangers leaders. We'd need to find somewhere to live. In October 2017, we got the desire and prayed. In November, we were offered a free place to live with our family of 7 for a year with Teresa's mom. In December 2017, I replaced myself as a Royal Rangers leader. And in January, I took Ian to Dallas to a Debbie Sardone event called Speed Cleaning. Ian decided that he wanted to buy the cleaning business. There was the last part of the door opening. This one was hard as we didn't get the answer right away. We had to take action. The open door came. We've been out of New York for over 4 years now and it seems like a dream that we were ever there.  We are so thankful to be back home. We got to spend Sundays with my Nana and Pop-Pop for 2 years before they both passed. We have been to birthday parties and beach days with my 3 nieces and 1 nephew. We have seen and rebuilt relationships with friends and family members that we haven't seen in years. I am back in a position of leadership with the Royal Rangers and the new cleaning business is growing! This decision has been blessed because we sought after God's Heart on the matter. We made sure there was intersection of desire, an open door, and peace.

I hope you consider this decision-making model when difficult decisions are presented to your family.

Check out my interview with the CBF Founder, entitled "A Buffalo Charges the Storm with Debbie Sardone". Debbie is offering free consultations to listeners of this show through the Smart Cleaning School Resources Page  at smartcleaningschool.com/resources to see if CBF could be the right solution for you.