by Angela Walker

If you want to live a life that's beyond what you can do on your own, this book is for you.

Synopsis
What's the real reason behind whatever we've accomplished in life—whatever we've been able to become and achieve and fulfill? Is it our own hard work, our own talents and abilities, our own perseverance? Or have things happened in and through our lives for which none of those factors can account? In Unexplainable: Pursuing a Life Only God Can Make Possible, trusted author Don Cousins guides readers in how to experience lives of such remarkable quality and impact that people who watch them have to shake their heads and honestly say, "There's really no explanation for it—except God!"

Cousins, co-creator of the Network curriculum, believes that this kind of living is impossible—until we bring God into the equation and “lifeshift” our values away from worldly standards to be more in sync with God's initiatives. "We must discover and cultivate lives that can be explained only by God’s participation…so that He's the only explanation for our lives," says Cousins. "In Unexplainable I explore how we can attain the kind of lives where God Himself becomes the all-fulfilling dynamic behind our unshakable contentment, our profound significance and our abiding success."

In Unexplainable, Cousins offers readers a systematic approach to changing the way they live as he guides them through "lifeshifts" for experiencing contentment, success and significance to a degree that’s beyond anything the world offers. Readers will learn the five secrets for finding contentment in life, regardless of their circumstances, and discover God’s criteria for measuring the success of their lives. They’ll also come to see that God has already given them all they need to make a difference in the world.

Stop Living This Way
From the opening sentences of Unexplainable, we're challenged to shift our life view, to stop living from the outside-in and start living from the inside-out. Most of us are living outside-in, trying to make the outside work so that the inside will be satisfied. But this is backward.

Cousins challenges us to take God at his word and live from the inside out. When God speaks to us, He often contradicts common sense and worldly wisdom and is not understandable outside the context of relationship with Him. A life lived that will be unexplainable to the rest of the world and will point to Him and give glory to Him.

A Life Beyond
If you want to live a life that's beyond what you can do on your own, this book is for you. It will provoke you, stimulate your thinking and even help you think through practical applications of Cousins' ideas. The organization of the book leads you step by step through the process of first defining an unexplainable life, then experiencing contentment, measuring success, finding significance, and how to get there.

Discussion questions for each chapter will help you process what you've read and can lead the way for stimulating group discussion.

As Cousins states in the first chapter, "If who you are, and the unfolding of your life, are seen as something understandable, expected, common and explainable in human terms, then your life merely points to you. But if the best and perhaps only explanation for your life is God, then you point to Him. This is the purpose for which you were created…This is the way life ought to be. You, and the unfolding of your life, should be unexplainable apart from God."

If you're longing to live a life beyond its boundaries, to be significant and to point to God, try the guidebook provided by Cousins.

Courtesy of a national publicist, Angela read a review copy of Unexplainable.

About the Author
Don Cousins leads a ministry designed to build and strengthen Christian leaders and organizations. A former associate pastor of Willow Creek Church and the best-selling author of Network, Don spends much of his time consulting churches and parachurch organizations, coaching Christian leaders and speaking. He lives in Holland, Michigan with his wife and three children.