I was born into a family that was rich and powerful. I had everything I could ever want. I grew up being very popular; I have a high IQ which helped me to learn fast, make friends easily, and be very good at sports and business. My dad gave me special treatment and assured me that I would be the head of our estate and businesses.

By the time I had reached adulthood, my life was pretty good. I had all the time I needed to do those things I wanted to do. I seemed to be able to excel at anything I put my mind to. With all my family’s resources at my disposal, there was very little that I couldn’t try, if I wanted to.

Finally the day came for me to take my father’s place. He turned everything over to me. This opened up vast doors of opportunity to me. I experimented with finance, science, social issues, government and politics, marriage, sex, and pleasure. I pretty much tried it all.

At first, I had more fun than I ever imagined possible. It wasn’t until about middle age that I felt like I had run out of things to try. Life grew very boring to me. I couldn’t find anything that could hold my attention for very long. I had everything, tried everything, seen everything, and none of it made my happy any more.

There would be moments here and there where some special event would give me hope that things would get more interesting and fun. But, it wouldn’t last for long before I was bored and depressed again.

I decided to start writing some books about my life and spent time putting down all the things I had discovered. This kept me busy and made me feel like I was accomplishing something important.

For a while I enjoyed doing something that I could pass on to others. It gave me a new purpose and reason for living. But, even that didn’t last very long. I finished several books and got them published. A lot of people are still reading those things I wrote. But, none of it all continued to make me happy.

I had to find something that would help me on a higher level than I was able to provide for myself. I never really needed anything outside of what I was able to provide for me. It had never really occurred to me that I needed someone bigger, better, and superior to who I was.

I knew God at one time. I actually had a fairly good relationship with Him when I first took over my dad’s empire. But, it didn’t take long for the excitement and newness of all the opportunities to move my mind far away from anything that had to do with God.

FINALLY, after I had aged quite a bit, tried everything else, and ran out of options, I turned back to a relationship with God. One book I wrote was filled with a lot of negativism and woe. I don’t know why people still read it and even quote from it. The truth is, the only really valuable part of it was at the end.

I was just starting to realize that I needed help outside myself. Some memories of how things were back when I first started began to come back. After I had written things that were so dark and depressing, I started to end the book with the philosophy that life wasn’t worth living.

All of a sudden it hit me; my life hadn’t always been that way. There had been a time when my goals, dreams, plans, and visions had included God in them. I started realizing that I had given all the credit for my happiness to my opportunities. I failed to realize that everything I had and everything I had experienced had been coming to me from God.

I had allowed the opportunities God had given me to crowd Him out. He had blessed me with incredible provisions and abilities and I had spent all my time with those provisions and blessings. From the moment of all this realization on, I began to go back to the God Who had given purpose to my life.

It is too bad I spend my whole life searching for happiness in all the things this world had to offer. My greatest regret is the fact that my life has been wasted searching for the very thing I had all along. Now I am old and I just now have what I could have had all my life.

I hope you will let me keep you from making the same mistake I made. I tried every religion, every goal, more money than most people will ever have, I had power, resources and abilities that are far greater than most will ever have at their disposal.

I found that nothing in all this world can take the place of the one true God. Jesus is every human’s answer to everything they will ever need. Don’t do like I did and make Him the last place you look.

If you want to end your search for happiness, joy, love, respect, and peace, give God a chance to show you the real meaning to life. Let Him give you all the things you seek but are looking for in all the wrong places. HELP eMagazine has the answers that will give you the life you want.

Your reaction to failing to find happiness and meaning to your life will probably be to either go into depression or into hopelessness. If you are not sure which one fits your situation, then read the introduction to both of them and they will help you choose the right one.