Maximize The Moment: God's Action Plan for Your Life

BY FERN MARCYA EDISON

How do you measure this time called life?

Some people think a person's life can be measured by the longevity of days. Others measure people's lives by the amount of material possessions they have attained or the business success they have achieved.

But when we stand in the face of eternity, real success is clearly calculated by more than riches alone. It doesn't matter how long we live or how much wealth we've gathered. What matters is how well we live. What is important is how we fill in the blank that comes between the first and the last day of our lives.

In Maximize the Moment: God's Action Plan for Your Life (G. P. Putnam's Sons; Jan. 18, 2000; $19.95), T. D. Jakes, author of the No. 1 best-seller The Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord and other inspiring volumes, offers a book to show men and women how to maximize their potential and fulfill the divine plan that God has for them. With the clear, down-to-earth style that has become his trademark, and an ability to cut through commonplace generalities, Jakes offers a message for creating balance and fulfillment in life.

In doing so, he focuses on the gift God has given us to determine how we utilize the life we have been given.

"One of life's greatest tragedies is to arrive at the end of your journey and realize you could have done more, laughed harder, played more intensely, and lived more vivaciously if only you had taken the day by the throat and steered it the way you wanted it to go, if only you had made a conscious decision about what you wanted to do," Jakes said.

In his million-copy best-seller, Woman, Thou Art Loosed!, T. D. Jakes -- the best-selling author and motivational speaker, preacher, and counselor -- showed women how to heal the scars of emotional wounds left by the verbal, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse they have suffered at the hands of the men in their lives.

In the Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord, Jakes gave inspired and clear advice to women looking to transform past pain into fuel for future achievement, and to men looking to enhance their relationships with their wives and companions.

Now Jakes shows us all how to maximize our potential at work, at home, and in our spiritual lives in Maximize the Moment: God's Action Plan for Your Life.

Drawing on his experiences as a preacher, author, motivator and entrepreneur, Jakes teaches practical, hands-on principles that reveal the keys to personal success available to each and every one of us, if we know where to look.

In Maximize the Moment, Jakes shows us how to:

* Minimize liabilities, plan for the unexpected, face the inevitable, enjoy the ecstasies of life, and endure life's disappointments.

* Release ourselves from damaging relationships and debilitating fears, and move beyond our painful pasts.

* Courageously face and conquer obstacles that may stand in our path to success.

* Recognize and utilize our God-given potential to its fullest.

* Set goals and develop strategies so that we may be all God wants us to be and fulfill the plan He has for us.

In this guide to an abundant work, home, and spiritual life, Jakes illustrates how the sum of our lives lies in the choices we make. For those who choose wisely, life will be rich and rewarding. Those who fail to choose with a plan in their heads and God in their hearts will surely falter. Maximize the Moment shows us how by maximizing and prioritizing our precious time on earth, we can hold fast to a vision of crossing life's finish line knowing that we have run the race with bold integrity.

T. D. Jakes will be signing books on Thursday, Mar. 2, 8 p.m., at M-DCC Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., in Auditorium Building No. 1.