Live Like You’re Blessed

Author: Dr. Suzan D. Johnson Cook

In her new book, LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED, Suzan shares stories from her life that illustrate how faith can help overcome adversity and lead to happiness and fulfillment. Her remarkable life is a testament to the power of her message. —President William (Bill) Jefferson Clinton

“[A] charmingly anecdotal proposal for better living through faith.” —Publishers Weekly

What does it mean to have a blessed life? Are blessings reserved only for the lucky, the wealthy, or the pious? No, blessings are for everyone, writes Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook. They are waiting just outside, knocking on the door of life, just waiting for us to allow them in. And in her new book, LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED: Simple Steps for Making Balance, Love, Energy, Spirit, Success, Encouragement, and Devotion Part of Your Life (Doubleday; May 9, 2006; $17.95 Hardcover), she describes a winning formula for how all people can, with God’s help, make a profound change in the way they live.

Described by the New York Times as “Billy Graham and Oprah rolled into one,” Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook is an inspiring pastor and a dynamic woman. Her personal journey is one of fateful twists and turns, all of which have led her closer to God, introduced her to the power of serving others, and taught her to appreciate the blessings of family and community. She draws from her lifetime of experience in creating this practical and realistic plan for living life to the fullest.

LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED is a unique combination of engaging anecdotes and simple exercises. The reader can use this book in one of many ways – as a source to be read cover-to-cover during times of crisis, as a daily devotional with prayers concluding each section, or as a guide full of helpful suggestions when life is at a crossroads.

Dr. Cook illustrates spiritual concepts through storytelling – a technique she has mastered through her participation with other African American women from all walks of life in a group named Isis. Founded in 1998, the women of Isis gather throughout the year to share stories from their lives, experience God’s grace, and come away spiritually healed. In LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED, Dr. Cook shares this talent for storytelling with her readers, allowing them to find refuge in the stories of others who have struggled from darkness into light.

Between the stories of people she has known through her childhood, theological training, and pastoral work, Dr. Cook weaves in simple exercises that allow her readers to meditate on their own lives, bring their own issues before God, and map out a plan for the blessed lives they want. She breaks down the concept of the full and godly life into seven simple steps, each corresponding with a letter in the word BLESSED.

B stands for BALANCE, a concept first illustrated by her parents, two prominent community members in Harlem who worked hard but also found time for play, rest, and practicing their faith. By encouraging her readers to hold on to the mental picture of a children’s seesaw, Dr. Cook (a.k.a. “The Balance Doctor”) teaches them to find ways to realize their dreams and live the lives they truly want. She encourages her readers to distinguish between healthy guilt – that which tamps down arrogance and makes us moral beings – and unhealthy guilt – that learned behavior that acts as dead weight and can ruin life’s equilibrium. She also offers a number of approaches to finding spiritual balance – fasting, visualization, writing letters to God, and assembling a prayer group. The goal for each one of these practices is to keep life balanced so that we may discern God’s perfect will. L stands for LOVE. In LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED, Dr. Cook reminds her readers of the greatness of God’s love and the joy that love can bring. She also lays out a plan for allowing the overflow of that love to bless others. Experiencing love also means learning to love ourselves, and Dr. Cook helps her readers begin to let go of shame – that toxic, corrosive emotion that eats away at any hope of a healthy self-image – by acknowledging their past, no matter how ugly the reality, and using it honestly to work toward redemption. With specific ideas for developing a nurturing, positive internal voice, she explains that as we learn to love ourselves, we will also find a greater love for others.

E stands for ENERGY, which Dr. Cook acknowledges is a crucial component if we are to follow the advice on balancing our lives and loving others. She has developed the Emotional Energy Quotient (EEQ) test which allows her readers to analyze their own motivational levels and understand what sort of reserves of emotional energy they will need in order to live like they’re blessed. Emotional baggage presses our energy down, and pressed down energy can lead to full-blown depression. Dr. Cook has specific techniques for checking energy drops, both every day and over long periods of time. Hints for daily schedules, ideas for energizing prayers, and other ways to cultivate “an attitude of gratitude” will allow her readers to recognize their blessings, allow energy to once again flow, and create a deeper connection to God.

The first S stands for SPIRIT – God’s awesome power. “Maintaining a relationship with our inner spirit requires that we never neglect it or allow it to grow cold,” she writes. We do this by forgiving those who have hurt us, experiencing God’s creative power and expressing our own creativity, and learn how – like Adam and Eve in the bliss of God’s paradise – to be “not ashamed.”

The next S stands for SUCCESS. Unlike some ministers seen on national television each week, Dr. Cook does not equate faith with financial success. She does, however, believe that financial means can assist us in living blessed lives – that is if we continue to live in alignment with our deepest convictions and values and if we use difficult situations to acquire wisdom and discern God’s path for us and our resources. Dr. Cook challenges her readers to create a personal mission statement in which they tell God what they truly want – merging who they are today with whom they want to become. She then offers a twenty-step plan for working toward financial health. Only then can we become good stewards of our gifts.

Another E stands for ENCOURAGEMENT, God’s way of teaching us to see with new eyes, of reframing our lives. In LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED, Dr. Cook asks her readers to look closely at the people to whom they turn for advice and ask if they reflect the kind of encouragement all of us need. Do they help “reframe” the issues – to teach us to see with new eyes as Jesus encourages his disciples to do in the gospels? Reframing, she writes, is the key to being aware of what God provides. A combination of inspiring stories and meditation techniques also offer readers ways to encourage themselves so that they may tackle their problems with renewed courage.

Finally, the D stands for devotion, the key to a blessed life. Dr. Cook writes that we all have blessings waiting for us, if only we can practice steadfast love and loyalty to God. The people of such faith featured in this book give readers examples of those who have practiced devotion in the face of adversity. Although bad things do happen to good people, she writes, due to free processes in the world and the effects of nature, we must still love and trust God despite our lack of understanding. If we respond to suffering with renewed devotion, we will be able to claim the blessed life that awaits. Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook dedicates LIVE LIKE YOU’RE BLESSED to her parents, her first examples of blessed lives. In her words to them, she vows to live like she is blessed and to show others how to do the same. In this book, her practical guidance and encouraging examples do just that – shine a light on the path of a blessed life.