I have an amazing story to share with you, so get ready. 🙂
I’ve been sharing the Lifeonaire concept and message with people for many years now – informally in the context of my day-to-day life, and sometimes at live events. At times those events are small enough that I know every person in the room, and other times they’re very large. No matter how often I get to share this message, I’m not always sure how it’s actually received by others, or how well it even sticks, asking myself…
Will a ‘light bulb’ go off, and these people actually do something with this in their life?
I leave many events without ever knowing what kind fruit will come of it, if any. I can only pray for the best sometimes.
The Other Side of the Coin…
I’m also very fortunate when I get the privilege of hearing from people sharing their true stories, and the life-change often just blows me away – sometimes even years later.
Just this past week I heard one of the best stories ever, and it came 4 years after one of our Get-a-Life Getaways. Not too early, not too late – the timing of this story was just right for me, and it sends chills up and down my spine each time I read through it. I want to share it with you now, so we can all celebrate it together, and enjoy another example of how the Lifeonaire vision and message is bringing truth into the world, and literally changing lives.
Keith’s Lifeonaire story (in his own words)
My wife and I attended a Lifeonaire retreat in 2014 at Kalahari Resort in Ohio. We thought the program was very good at the time and we were anxious to get started on our vision. After the retreat ended, I was asked to provide a review and I had a hard time putting into words what the experience was like. Now that some time has gone by, I wanted to give my long overdue review.
In short, Lifeonaire has changed our life and our marriage.
At the time my wife and I signed up, we had just purchased our “dream home” in a gated lake community that we always wanted to live in. Needless to say, the cost of owning this dream home was quite high. In addition, in order to purchase this home, we had to rent out the town home that we owned because we were unable to sell it due to the real estate crash of 2008.
My wife and I both have good incomes, but in order to pay down our mortgage debt, it required a lot of hours at work. The stress that this caused often showed up in how we treated each other. Our only goal at this time was to pay off these homes and be debt free as soon as possible. We were hoping this could happen within 7 years.
Enter Lifeonaire…
I was given a copy of your book by my friend Mike Neubauer and it immediately struck a chord with me.
While living in our dream home, I still felt a void and felt “disconnected” to my wife. I had been asking her for months (poorly I might add) on what she wanted out of life, not knowing what I really needed was a vision for our marriage.
She responded that her plan was to work hard and pay off the house. My response was a sarcastic…
“Really? I didn’t think you would be that shallow.”
Needless to say, that lead to some heated fellowship.
I gave her a copy of your book and it also struck a chord with her.
We immediate signed up for the retreat and for the first time in our marriage we became aligned on what we wanted. We found out that we both have a passion for marriage, real estate, our church, travel and kids.
Once we got home from the retreat, we immediately began putting our plan into action.
- We sold our dream home so quickly, that we had to live in a hotel for over a month while our tenant vacated our townhome.
- Next, we became completely debt free.
- We then started to look for a more convenient home for us to live in, which we paid for in cash.
In the months that followed, we methodically implemented our vision. Since that time, we have traveled to Germany, Puerto Rico, China, Switzerland, Ireland, Mexico, California (several times) and Arizona (several times). We have become leaders in our church’s marriage ministry, we have been able to donate more money to our church than we ever thought possible, we have begun the process of adopting a child from China and this month we began our very own Marriage ministry!
A Purpose-Driven Marriage…
I am convinced that what is missing from marriages these days is alignment and purpose. I have gone through many of the marriage books recommended by my church such as Love and Respect. All of them are great and have some good things in them, but many of them miss the crucial factor of Vision! I can say because of Lifeonaire, that my wife and I have a purpose driven marriage and we intend to leave a lasting legacy not only for our children but for other married couples as well.
As I watch many marriages crumble around me for no reason other than lack of vision (and living without restraint), I can’t help but to act on this holy discontent that I have. I am wondering if you have a small group study available?
My vision for our marriage ministry is to provide “date nights” in which we will provide dinner, babysitting and cover a marriage topic that can be implemented right away to improve relationships. Obviously, Lifeonaire is tops on my list!
Feel free to use this review any way you see fit.
Wow!
…Just wow.
Like I said, one of the best Lifeonaire successes I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing (and we do enjoy seeing more than a few success stories these days.)
Did Keith’s story resonate with you too? I’d love to hear a comment from you below.
Maybe got your own Lifeonaire story? I want to celebrate it with you, so please reach out and share it! I enjoy personally reading every single success story that comes in. 🙂
Blessings,
—Steve