The “5 Awakenings” To Help People Find Their Way Back To God

By Dave Ferguson

It’s now been 25 years since my wife and I along with my brother Jon and three friends from college started Community Christian Church. During that time I’ve had the privilege of journeying with thousands of people who describe their experience as “finding their way back to God.” Over the years we began to notice that certain events seemed to happen over and over again to almost everyone as they came to faith. We never took the time to label those events, but we would notice similarities in people’s spiritual journeys.
It wasn’t until Jon and I started working on our newest book, Finding Your Way Back To God did we try to identify these similar spiritual events. We chose a select and diverse group of 25 people and did in depth interviews with them. We listened closely to each of their stories and studied their individual experiences. In time, we were able to name the parallel events that everyone experienced on their journey to God. We call them the “5 Awakenings.”
At the same time, our study of scripture led us to the story of the prodigal son. I’m convinced this is the greatest short story in literature and Jesus told this story as a narrative for how to find your way back to God. So, out of twenty-five years of experience, intense interviews with a diverse focus group and the study of scripture we discovered “5 Awakenings” that we believe everyone experiences on their way back to God. Here is brief overview:
The Five Awakenings
Awakening to Longing. This is the feeling that “there’s got to be more.” We all feel the longing for love, purpose and meaning. And it is the quest to satisfy these basic longings that sends all of us on a journey. The common experience is that we don’t understand that God gave these longings to us, so we try to satisfy those longings by running away from God rather than toward Him.
Awakening to Regret. We pursue those primitive longings without God and when we do we find ourselves alone, directionless and confused. With regret we often will say, “I wish I could start over.” Many people get stuck repeating the first two awakenings over and over again. We call repeating the first two steps the “sorry cycle” – pursuing God-given longings outside of a relationship with God, which leads to decisions and actions that we regret. Many people get stuck in the “sorry cycle” for months, some for years and still others never escape it.
Awakening to Help. After repeating the “sorry cycle” of trying to fulfill these longings without God and ending up with regret over and over again we acknowledge something has to change. We come to the end of ourselves and say, “I can’t do this on my own.”   We hit bottom. We come to our senses. We need help. And that help is Jesus.
Awakening to Love. Jesus is the one who leads us back to God. As we come back to God we are ambushed by grace and we discover “God, loves me deeply after all.” However, there is a shadow of shame and guilt that follows us home and we struggle to believe we are loved just as we are.
Awakening to Life. It’s through following Jesus that we discover “life and have it to the full.” The New Testament uses two words for life: “bios” and “zoe.” Bios refers to chronological life as in days, months and years. But zoe has a deeper meaning and refers to life as it was meant to be lived. Zoe is eternal life. When Jesus offers to his followers, “life and have it to the full” he uses the word zoe. As we experience this final awakening we realize, “Now, this is living!”
How You Find God & How You Stay Close To God
One of the surprising discoveries in writing this book is how helpful the “5 Awakenings” have been for me. Like Alcoholic Anonymous says, “You work the 12-steps to get sober and to stay sober” I would say, “You work the ‘5 Awakenings’ to find God and stay close to God.” I now use them those awakenings on a weekly basis. Finding your way back to God is something you do the first time, but you also do again and again.
Inherited Faith to Investigative Faith
We live at a very important time in the spiritual trajectory of our country and world. According to Gallup 92% of people in the United States believe in God. When asked with whom do they affiliate, the majority responds, “none.” “None” is how the majority of Americans now identify their religious or spiritual affiliation. This group of “nones” is in transition, on a journey and searching. A generation ago people inherited faith from their parents. If mom and dad were Presbyterian then you were Presbyterian. But “nones” have left behind an inherited faith, while still believing in God and are now investigating faith on their own.
I wrote Finding Your Way Back To God as a guide to those who are investigating faith and searching for a God who feels distant or non-existent. But I also wrote Finding Your Way Back To God for me. I’m still a prodigal who finds myself far from home. I believe we all need to understand how to find our way back to God.

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For more information on Finding Your Way Back To God go to www.yourwayback.org. For more information on Dave Ferguson, visit his website: www.daveferguson.org