“There was a blind girl [or so the story goes] who hated herself because of her blindness. Not only did she hate herself but she hated everyone else, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

“One day someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything—including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, ‘Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?’ The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her that simply said, ‘Just take care of my eyes dear.’

“Too often we change when our status changes. Only a few remember what life was like before and even fewer remember who to thank for always being there when times were painfully unbearable.

“Life is a gift, so today: Before you think of saying an unkind word, think of someone who can’t speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food, think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife, think of someone who’s crying out to God for a companion. Before you complain about your life, think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children, think of someone who desires children but is barren. Before you argue about your dirty house that someone didn’t clean or sweep, think of the people who are living in the streets. Before whining about the distance you drive, think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet. And when you are tired and complain about your job, think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.

“And before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another, remember that not one of us is without sin and all will answer to one Maker. And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down, try to put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around. Life is a gift, live it, enjoy it, celebrate it, and fulfill it.

“Enjoy the moment. It may not come around again.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in the midst of life’s trials help me always to count my many blessings—one by one—and learn to always give thanks to You for these, and always be grateful for what I do have and not complain about what I don’t have. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 (NIV).
2. Author unknown. Source: Marcella’s Inspiring Collection, http://tinyurl.com/w9nb9.

When things go wrong, as well as having a positive attitude, being realistic about our situation, and accepting what has happened, there are several additional helpful actions we need to take.

Fourth, express emotions. When things have gone wrong in my life, I’ve learned not to deny my feelings, so when I’m grieving, I cry. God not only gave us laughter to express our joy, but tears to express our hurt and sorrow. Crying has a healing effect. It soothes the soul. Plus, when I’m frustrated, I share my feelings with a friend. Or if I’m angry, I share my feelings with the person I’m angry at or I write them out and throw away the piece of paper.

Fifth, give thanks. I constantly make a point of giving thanks to God for the many good things in my life which far outnumber my few problems. I give thanks for these too knowing that God has a valuable lesson for me to learn. As God’s Word teaches, “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”²

Sixth, trust God. I have learned to trust God—not always without doubt or confusion. I don’t always understand why bad things happen. However, one thing I do understand, while Satan and his forces of evil want to use my difficult times to try and destroy me, God wants to use them to strengthen me. The choice is mine.

The only times in my life when I have grown have been during difficult times. Who wants to change when everything is going well? Also, if there is any quality to my writing and other work, it has all come out of life’s struggles.

While I don’t believe in quick fixes or simplistic solutions to life’s complex problems, I do know that God teaches us many lessons through difficult and challenging times—if we let him. In spite of outward appearances, I also believe that “in all things God works for the good of those who love [and trust] him”¹—even if it is eventually!

Can you accept your difficulties as opportunities to grow and ask God to show you what he wants you to learn through them? If so, your life will be greatly enriched, and you can become a happier, healthier person.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see that in all my circumstances when I commit and trust my life and way to You, all things do work together for good. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. See Romans 8:28.
2. Ephesians 5:20 (NIV)

It is true that everybody has times when things go wrong. These times can either make us or break us. The following steps will help us to benefit and grow through these times.

First, attitude. If we respond to our difficulties positively, determined with God’s help to overcome them, we will. If we react negatively with a defeated attitude, we will be defeated.

As Zig Ziglar says in his book, See You at the Top, “Attitude is much more important than aptitude…. Despite the overwhelming evidence which supports the importance of the right mental attitude, our entire educational system from kindergarten through graduate school virtually ignores this vital factor in our life. Ninety percent of our education is directed at acquiring facts with only 10 percent of our education aimed at our feelings—or attitudes.

“These figures are truly incredible when we realize that our thinking brain is only 10 percent as large as our feeling brain. A study by Harvard University revealed that 85 percent of the reasons for success, accomplishments, promotions, etc. were because of our attitudes and only 15 percent because of our technical expertise.”

Ziglar also pointed out that William James, the father of American psychology, stated that the most important discovery of our time is that we can alter our lives by altering our attitudes.

Second, being realistic. To grow through our problems it is also critical that we face them realistically.

A doctor friend of mine tells about a family where the mother broke her arm. The husband and son had to force her to the doctor and hold her while the doctor put her badly broken arm in plaster.

“There’s nothing wrong with my arm, Doctor. It’s perfectly all right,” she insisted.

“I see,” said the doctor setting the badly broken arm. Several weeks later the woman returned to have the cast removed and the arm was healed.

“There,” said the woman, “look at that. I told you there was nothing wrong with my arm!”

This woman was of a certain religious conviction which led her to believe that there was never anything wrong with her. Fortunately, her family was a little more realistic. We also need to be realistic about our problems if we are going to resolve them.

Third, acceptance. Furthermore, whatever happens to us needs to be accepted. It’s no use saying, “If only….”

Several years ago a close relative suffered a massive stroke and was left partially paralyzed. Doctors felt that the stroke could have been avoided so it was extremely tempting to say, “If only we would have known.”

However, it’s useless to say, “If only.” The family couldn’t go back and do things differently. We all had to accept the reality of what had happened, pick up the pieces, and go on.

And as I like to say to my son who is Bi-Polar, “In your thinking remind yourself that you are living with a challenge—not a problem.” That’s something we all need to do when things go wrong and we are facing difficult times. We may not be what we think we are, but what we think, we are—or will become. Our thinking makes it so. To be continued….

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, when things go wrong in my life please help me to have a constructive attitude, be realistic, and accept what has happened as an opportunity for both personal and spiritual growth and therein become a stronger, healthier person as a result. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Philippians 4:8 (NIV).

You’ve no doubt heard about the bricklayer who applied for time off work for the following reason: “When I got to the building, I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks around the top so I climbed onto the roof and rigged up a beam with a pulley and hoisted a couple of barrels full of bricks to the top of the building.

“Then I went to the bottom, and holding onto the line, I began releasing it. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was much heavier than I was and before I knew what was happening, the barrel started coming down, jerking me up. I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground by then to jump. About halfway up I met the barrel of bricks coming down fast. I received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers pinched and jammed in the pulley.

“When the barrel hit the ground hard, it burst its bottom allowing the bricks to spill out. I was now heavier than the barrel, so I started down again at high speed. Halfway down I met the barrel coming up–fast–and received severe injuries to my chin. When I hit the ground, I landed on the pile of spilled bricks, getting several painful cuts and bruises.

“At this point I must have lost my presence of mind because I let go of my grip on the line. The barrel came down fast, giving me another blow on my head, putting me in the hospital. I respectfully request sick leave.”

Everybody has times when things go wrong. But when troubles come, it’s not so much what happens to us, but how we react to it that counts the most. Troubles destroy some people. Others become stronger. The difference lies in our attitude, being realistic about and accepting what has happened, and what we do about resolving our situation.

To be continued….

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, when things go wrong in my life, please help me to ‘hear’ what You might be saying to me and to see what I need to do in order to turn my situation into a blessing so that I will become more mature and complete. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. James 1:2-4 (NIV).

I don’t know if the following story is true or not. Either way, it has in it a very valuable lesson. “One day, there was a blind man sitting on the step of a building with a hat by his feet and sign that read ‘I am blind, please help.’

“A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in a few more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.

“That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins. He paused awhile and the blind man asked him if he was the person who had rewritten his sign and, if so, what did he write?

“The publicist responded: ‘Nothing that wasn’t true. I just wrote the message a little differently.’ He smiled and went his way.

“The new sign read: ‘Today is spring and I can’t see it.’

“Sometimes we need to change our strategy. If we always do what we’ve always done, we will always get what we’ve always got.”²

Did you ever stop to think that the New Testament part of the Bible is almost silent on methodology? I think the reason is obvious. If it weren’t, some of us would stick to the same methods used in Paul and Peter’s day religiously and rigidly. While God never changes and while his Word never changes, oftentimes our means of communicating it need to change with the changing times.

For example, for the first 25 years or so of ACTS outreach ministry, we used printed literature to reach the masses. However, as the Internet grew, the sales and distribution of our printed literature here in the U.S. collapsed. Had we not changed our method of communication from the print media to the electronic media, our organization (at least in North America) would now be non-existent. While we have not changed God’s message of salvation one iota, we needed to change our method of communicating it with the changing times.

Remember, “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” In other words, if what we are doing in our relationships, our family life, and in our churches isn’t working, we may very well need to change ourselves and/or our strategies and methods.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to see when what I am doing isn’t working or bringing about needed change, if I’m the one who needs to change, or if I need to change my methods—or both. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV).
2. Author Unknown.

One of my favorite quotes is from a former American president, Theodore Roosevelt, who said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Does this mean that we all have to be highly gifted? Not at all. The important thing is that we use the gifts that God has given to each of us and use these to the best of our ability.

Or as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “If a man is called to be a street-sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or as Beethoven composed music, or as Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street-sweeper who did his job well.’”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know what my God-given gifts are, and develop and use them to the best of my ability for serving You and mankind—always for Your glory. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Solomon (Ecclesiastes 9:10, NIV).

I read about one lady who, when she turned fifty, wore a button at her work place that said, “Fifty is nifty.” All day she got lots of compliments with people saying things like, “Anita, you don’t look 50,” “Why, Anita, you can’t be 50,” and “We all know you’re not 50.”

She knew they were kidding but she loved it. However, the more she heard the lies, the more she believed them. On her way home she got to thinking, I think I need a new husband. At 51 he’s much too old for a young looking gal like me.

As she arrived home from work, a young girl from the florist shop was delivering a beautiful floral arrangement with a note that said, “Birthday flowers from a friend.”

Seeing the “Fifty is Nifty” button on Anita’s dress, the girl said, “Oh, 50, eh?”

“Yes,” Anita said as she waited for one more compliment about looking so young when the delivery girl said, “Fifty. That’s great! Birthday or anniversary?”

I heard about another lady who, when she was 50, liked to tell people she was 60. “Why do you do this? Someone who knew her real age asked. “Well for 50 I look terrible, but for 60 I look fantastic,” she replied.

Kidding and joking in the right spirit when you make yourself the target of the laughter (and not others) is fun and healthy. We probably all remember the axiom that says, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” This would probably be better said: “A laugh a day keeps the doctor and the blues away.”

Laughter is indeed one of the best medicines. As the Bible taught 3,000 years ago, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”¹

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you for the gift of laughter, humor and fun. Help me to take life seriously, serving you seriously, but not myself too seriously. Help me to learn to laugh at myself even when I make mistakes, and to laugh a little with my friends—every day. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Solomon (Proverbs 17:22, NIV).

Sadly, there seems to be a sad lack of truth in high places these days (in many low places, too). However, truth is eternal. It will always win out in the long run. Once an individual or a business company becomes known for not always telling the truth, he or it will never be trusted.

Personal honesty always pays off. And, in the long run, so does corporate honesty.

Some time ago Donald Douglas was competing with Boeing to sell Eastern Air Lines its first big jets. Eddie Rickenbacker, who headed Eastern at the time, is said to have told Douglas that his specifications and claims for the DC-8 were close to his competition on everything but noise suppression. He then gave Douglas one last chance to out-promise Boeing on this feature.

After consulting his engineers. Douglas reported back that he did not feel he could make that promise.

Rickenbacker replied, “I know you can’t. I wanted to see if you were still honest. You just got yourself an order for $135,000,000.”²

As Christians we are instructed to always speak the truth in love. Always in all ways!

“Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be totally honest with myself, with my loved ones, friends, and business contacts—and especially with You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. St. Paul (Ephesians 4:15, TLB).
2. The Pastor’s Story File.

“When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

“Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

“On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea, she struggled on—hour after hour—while millions watched on national television.

“Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had … until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

“Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” It was not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

“Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me when I am in a fog and cannot see my way, and am afraid, to trust in You no matter what—for I know that You will never leave me or forsake me. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. King David (Psalm 56:3-4,11).
2. By Author Unknown. Taken from A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. © 1995 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.

Back in 1929 Georgia Tech played the University of California in the annual Rose Bowl football game. In that game a man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for California. Unfortunately he became confused and began running the wrong way. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, overtook and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team.

This was during the first half. Everyone was wondering what Coach Nibbs Price would do with Roy Riegels in the second half. During the half-time break Riegels sat alone in a corner, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, put his hands in his face and cried like a baby.

Three minutes before the start of the second half Coach Price looked at the team and said, “Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second.”

Riegels never moved. The coach called him and again he never moved. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.”

Reigels said, “Coach, I can’t do it to save my life. I’ve ruined you. I’ve ruined the University of California. I’ve ruined myself. I couldn’t face that crowd in the stadium to save my life.”

Then Coach Price reached out and put his hand on Riegels’ shoulder and said, “Roy, get up and go on back, the game is only half over.”

Roy Reigels went back. Those Tech men will tell you they have never seen a man play football as Roy Riegels played that second half.

And isn’t that what God does for you and me? Time and again we blow it. We fail. We mess things up. We feel like such a failure. But Jesus is always there. He places a hand on our shoulder and says, “Get up. Don’t quit. I am with you. You are forgiven. I love you and I will never leave you or forsake you no matter what!”

Actually, if we were to translate Jesus’ words literally, they would read, Jesus said, “I will never, never, never, never, never (five times over) leave you or forsake you,” or “I will never, not ever, no never leave you or forsake you.”

As the saying goes, the only real failure is not to get up one more time than we fall or get knocked down.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank You that You love me and accept me just as I am—warts and, failures and all—and have forgiven me for all my sins and failures. I thank You that You will never leave me or forsake me. Please help me to learn and grow through all my mistakes and failures, and little by little become the man/woman You planned for me to be. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’s name, amen.”

1. Jesus (Hebrews 13:5).