Take a few moments of honest thought and review the top three biggest problems, challenges, or catastrophes (real or imagined) that have occurred or that you thought were going to occur during the course of living your own life. Were those events huge or did they just look big, complicated, daunting, or even life-threatening? Were they really huge or were they honestly not-so-huge? Were they really devastating or did you just think they were going to take everything you owned or lived for,… away from you? In the end, after all was said and done, i.e. the problems were actually resolved,…were they or their impact on your personal life really as detrimental and devastating as you originally thought they were going to be?
You see, friends, life when viewed in the short-term will always be much worse as when the same conditions and circumstances are reviewed over the long term. What is damaging and destructive today, may well turn out to be a blessing in disguise…it may be a great benefit and reward at some point in time in the future, as long as you don’t give up in your efforts to complete your mission of achieving what you originally set out to accomplish.
Here is a Truth of Life: Each and every adversity that occurs in your life carries with it and its occurrence the seed of an equal or greater benefit for you…IF…you look for that benefit enthusiastically with a positive mental attitude. In other words, look for and pursue the good in everything that happens to you. Learn from the failure you may be experiencing. Grow from the new knowledge of what not to do. Failures are never final if you learn from them and continue moving onward and upward toward your dreams and goals.
Bumps in the road, stumbling points, changed personal relationships, setbacks, or complete failures and total losses are God’s way of changing your personal direction…of getting you to do something new or different than what got you into the mess in which you find yourself. God truly does want you to become totally successful, and He has given you all of the talents and abilities and all of the guidance and directions you are going to need in order to accomplish His desires for you. However, He has done the same for all of the other of His Creations as well. They too have their own free will of choice and God Almighty will never interfere with man’s right to choose his own destiny.
All ideas and actions carry with them consequences. These “fruits” of your own ideas or the actions you have taken are always of the same type and kind as were the initial idea or action emulating from your own mind. Positive begets positive. Negative brings with it more negative. Your obedience and submission to God’s Will for your life is what, in the end, makes all of the difference as to what you personally receive from the decisions and activities you make or perform.
My hindsight can be your foresight if you allow it to be, and you remain obedient to God’s instructions. Here is a good piece of advice that can and will save you a whole lot of heartburn, headache, and personal pain if you are willing to implement it in the living of your own life. Whenever people, things, or events come into your life or happen to you that are or seem to be harmful to you or even catastrophic,…always follow this advice: Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this really matter?” The real answer is almost always “no.”
Highly successful people never allow themselves to anguish over the small and unimportant short term stuff that happens to them. No matter what happens to you, you can handle it…you can persevere,…you can live to fight another day…IF…you choose to do so!
Remember the sun will rise in the morning in the east. A new and different day will dawn. North will still be north as will all of the other three general directions as every new day comes into existence. With the arrival of a new day, you too will rise to fight and live, love and serve, and resolve the problems and challenges that you are facing with renewed energy and intelligence. This is the manner and way that The Creator of the Universe designed and ordered things and life to work.
God’s Holy Word tells us the Truth of life. In the Book of Romans, Chapter 8 verse 28, NKJV we are told:
“And we know that for those who love God ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
Permit me to tell you that ALL means ALL (EVERYTHING) that happens to you, be it either good or bad, positive or negative, spiritual or nonspiritual, religious or secular, and Holy or unholy. All means all, that is all that all means! Regardless of whether you (1) like it or not, (2) agree with it or disagree with it, or (3) think it is fair or unfair. You must understand that whatever it is that is going on in your life or what ever it is that you are experiencing is being “allowed” to happen to you as an integral part of an overarching Grand Plan for you life. This Grand Plan is God’s Will for your life. Everyone who has accepted Christ into their own life has such a Plan because we are all created by the same God who created and ordered the Universe and all that is in or on it!
Big things, big accomplishments, and grand achievements all take lots of time and effort to accomplish or complete. That is precisely why all true lasting success is slow in coming. Everything and everybody included within the final result needs to grow, mature, and develop to the point to where they can handle and properly use the preplanned blessings that will accrue to them once their success is accomplished
To do all that I am telling you to do, absolutely requires and demands that YOU have and exercise great personal FAITH.
If you will simply begin your journey towards success, and do the right and righteous things as you travel your own road, and then handle all the things and events and people who come into your life as you go, I will assure you that there is nothing that I or anyone else can do to you to keep you from succeeding…as long as you do not give up…as long as you do not quit working!
You see the fact is that God’s Laws are always in place and operating for your benefit in the course of living your own life. God knows everything that is happening to you,…or that is going to happen to you. He knows in advance why it is happening, what the happening is for and is all about, and what the reward is going to be for you once the happening occurs and is completed. His Word tells us explicitly that no matter the event, it is happening to you for a greater and more beneficial reason or purpose than you could ever ask for or imagine (See Ephesians 3 : 20-21). It will require great faith on your part to believe and accept His Promises, but if you will do just that, and persevere through the completion of the necessary work,…the rewards you will surely receive will be great and wonderful, all of which will be working toward your long term success.
Honesty and Integrity must always prevail in all of your dealings. No Matter What! These two character traits are absolute requirements if one is to expect God’s Blessings. So whenever anything happens to you,…particularly if what happens is hard, hurtful, damaging, or just plain not good,…the five-year-question is still applicable. In five years…will this personal experience really matter?
God loves you. He fearfully and wonderfully knitted you together within your own mother’s womb, beginning at the instant of your personal conception. He has a plan for your life so as to allow you to become totally successful and prosperous. The only catch is,… that you must discover what that plan is and what you must do in order to accomplish it. God will always give you the nut to eat and enjoy, but you always must be the one who cracks the nut before you may eat it.
Peace and Love to All of You………………Poppa Bear