Saturday, March 31, 2007

Quote of the Day - 3/31

Many people give up far too easily when things don't go their way or they face some kind of adversity. Before long they are down and discouraged. That's understandable. Especially when we have struggled with a problem or a weakness for a long time, it's not unusual to come to a place where we accept it. We simply accept it and say, "Well, I have always had this sickness. I guess I'll never get well." "My marriage has been dry and dull for years; why should I expect anything to change now?" "I have banged my head on my company's glass ceiling one too many times. Apparently, this is as high as I can go."

But if you want to live your best life now, you have to be more determined than that. The fifth step to living at your full potential is finding strength through adversity. Our attitude should be: I may have been knocked down a few time in life, but I am not going to stay down; I am determined I am going to live in victory. I am determined I am going to have a good marriage. I am determined I am going to work my way out of these problems.

We all face challenges in life. WE all have things that come against us. We may get knocked down on the outside, but the key to living in victory is to learn how to get up on the inside.

I heard a story of a little boy who was in church with his mother, and he had so much energy, he just could not sit still. In fact, he kept standing up on the seat. His mother said, "Son, sit down." He would sit down for a few seconds, then he would get right back up. She would gently reprimand him again, "Son, I said to sit down!" This happened several times, and then the little boy stood up and simply would not sit down. Hi mother took her hand, put it on his head and pushed him down onto the seat. The boy sat there smiling. Finally, he looked at his mother and said, "Mom, I may be sitting down on the outside, but I am standing up on the inside!"

Sometimes that's what we have to do in life. Our circumstances may force us to sit down for a while, but we must not stay down. Even when we are sitting down on the outside, we must see ourselves as standing on the inside!

Excerpts from Your Best Life Now

3 comments:

Kristine said...

I've been reading the Gospel of Mark to my kids this week. I came to 4:40, "He said to his disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'" and I was just really struck by this. God has been SO faithful but it's sometimes easy to forget, even for a few minutes.

We have some stuff going on (major medical issues) that I've not really shared yet. But the one thing that so stands out for us is that we have Jesus on our side. We can't lose. It's not a test, it's not a punishment, it's just His plan for us, and He makes it good. We can trust Him. I'm kind of rambling here, but your post brought up some of these thoughts . . .

Emily said...

Kristine . . .I hope and pray you all are ok. I will lift your family up in prayer! Please keep us updatd as you feel led.
Speaking of going through the Gospels . .. I recently went through Mark too. Isn't amazing how some verses just jump out at you . . .even though you have probably read them many times.

It's hard when we go through things . .it's so easy to lose faith . . .but thank God that we have him and can have faith in Him. Psalm 56:3 is one of my favorite verses . . . When I am afraid I will trust in You.
That is one of the first verses I taught the kids.

You are so right. We can't lose. . it always ends up a win win situation somehow.

I was just talking to some friends at a BBQ today. We were talking about why some things happen to good people. It's one of the things that is hard to understand. I love Dr. Dobson's book called "When God Doesn't Make Sense." I always refer people to that book when something happens in their lives that does shake their faith.

I will be praying Kristine!

Kristine said...

Thanks, dear, I appreciate it!

:)