How to Keep Your Hope Alive in Difficult Times

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We are always told that a positive mental attitude is the key to living well, healthy, and becoming successful. While this is true, many people don’t believe that one can be positive in the face of adversity. I know from my own experiences, and from the experiences of others, that sometimes it seem almost impossible to be positive when we face difficulties like for instance, you lose a loved one, you are facing a divorce or a breakup in your relationship, you are having serious financial crisis and so on. And there are some of us who face these situations in our daily lives, and to these people developing a positive attitude becomes easier said than done. But the truth is being negative in these situations will never get us out of the pit we are in.

You see, it’s so easy to become overwhelmed and defeated by adversity, before you allow yourself to think of a way out. When we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by any negative situation, we become vulnerable, as we have allowed our “fences”, “fire walls” to be broken, and given room to the Devil to feed our minds with all manner of negative thoughts, and before we know it, we are expressing those thoughts with our words, placing more curses on our lives. Some of us as a result, become depressed, hopeless.

Hopelessness is dangerous, because when you give up all hope, you actually seal your fate and finalize your destiny. Without hope, there is no room to even consider other options, let alone a miracle. Folks there are so many reasons why we should feel bad when we face difficulties in life, but we should always learn to find the courage to give thanks to God in spite of everything we’ve lost. We also need to understand that no matter how terrible a situation is, it is our perception of it that will either give us the hope of recovery, or make us want to give up to a lost cause.

Are You Successful?

Are you successful? What does success mean to you? To many of us, being successful means a great job or business (financial freedom), a nice car or cars, a house in a great neighbourhood, being able to travel to exotic locations, etc.

All these are good, but what about your family? How strong is your family relationship? You may not have all the money in the world, but if you have a great family relationship, I consider you successful. In this life, only a few people have managed to be truly successful without a positive, supportive family. You see, no matter what you have accomplished in life; how many jets, yachts, cars, houses, companies you own, or how much is in your bank account, you still lack something if none of these things benefit your family.

Like a wise man once noted, “a good family helps you know your purpose and develop your potential, and it helps you enjoy the journey along the way with an intensity that isn’t possible otherwise.” Some of us maybe our family don’t support us. And that could be because we do not carry them along. While others outside benefit from our generosity and gestures, our families don’t. We forget that charity begins at home. So folks if you have been blessed to have been successful but you’ve neglected to carry your family along, it’s time you have a rethink. Get your family to benefit too!

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How Do You Handle Your Setbacks?

If you travel around in my country, like in most countries in Africa, you will be used to seeing speed bumps, detours, and potholes on the roads. Often times, travel time is extended due to the delays caused by the poor state of some of the roads. In spite of all these obstacles on the way, I have yet to see anyone who refuses to travel because the roads are bad, or the occasional detours we encounter. Instead every road user finds a way to handle them, since we cannot totally avoid them.

In our own lives, we also face obstacles, detours, bumps, and potholes in our life journeys. While some people have found a way to handle them, others have let these obstacles stop them from going forward. All successful people know and practice these words of Isabel Moore; “Life is a one-way street. No matter how many detours you take, none leads back. And once you know and accept that, life becomes much simpler.”

Every Great Life Carried a Cross

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If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

Everything worthwhile in life has a price, a sacrifice we must perform to achieve it. Just as we have seen in this scripture, you must be ready to carry your cross if you must experience the blessings of God.

“The cross that the Lord calls us to carry may assume many different shapes. I may have to be content with mundane tasks in a limited area of service, when I may believe my abilities are suited for much greater work. I may be required to continually cultivate the same field year after year, even though it yields no harvest whatsoever.

I may be asked of God to nurture kind and loving thoughts about the very person who has wronged me and to speak gently to him, take his side when others oppose him, and bestow sympathy and comfort to him. I may have to openly testify of my Master before those who do not want to be reminded of Him or His claims.

And I may be called to walk through this world with a bright, smiling face while my heart is breaking. Yes, there are many crosses, and every one of them is heavy and painful. And it is unlikely that I would seek out even one of them on my own.

What are You Focusing On?

The difference between those who overcome and those who fail in event of setbacks, difficulties, and other life challenges is the mindset. You see every one of us faces tough times. There isn’t any life on earth that isn’t tried in some way or the other. But in those trials, is also a way of escape. When times are tough, when the odds are stacked against us, we are also presented with opportunities to overcome. It’s just a matter of how we perceive and meet the challenge. Sometimes many of us fail, because we allow the negative situations to consume the positivity in us.

Like I said earlier, we all face difficulties, but many of us don’t survive or overcome the tough times because we are focused on them. We don’t see any hope. We don’t see how our lives will get back on track again after the negative event. Maybe you have been hit by a disease, debt, your house is being foreclosed, or your loved one is dying of a terminal illness. All these situations are terrible and cause great grief, but you can learn to find life in all these and not put your happiness on hold. Agreed you will have bad days, days where the situation will seem so hopeless. But you cannot allow your life to be taken over by the negative forces. Whenever you feel your life is going down, build yourself up with words of encouragement from, books, blogs such as these, and other positive materials, as well as surrounding yourself with positive people with a great sense of humour.

Too many of us relinquish control of our lives and accept the obvious in our lives for what they might seem to be. We don’t know we have a choice, the tools, or the power to face our fears and challenges head-on. Even if you’ve had enough troubles in life, even if your life is lacking something meaningful, I believe there is a way out for you. I believe you can alter the course of your life for good. Nobody was born a success, neither was anyone of us born a failure, but we’ve either achieved success or failure due to our own inner dialogue.

Today’s Quote

No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich.  He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has. — Henry Ward Beecher

Today’s Quote

“You are a very complicated machine and you are the only person who can drive it or in any way improve it. Your friends may know a great deal about your powers mentally and physically but they cannot make you over. If you want your machine to be in the best possible running order and to do the work for which it is best fitted, you must know it more thoroughly than you do your dog.” – Unknown

If You Choose, YOU CAN!

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Seeking hope? Looking for inspiration? Stop, be still, for just a moment. If you can get outside, do so. Take a few deep breaths. pause for a few moments and listen, attentively in silence. Take in with your eyes the colors of the sky and the grass and the trees. Remember we only have today, yesterday is gone – hold on to the good memories, let go of the bad, tomorrow is not here nor is it promised. So that leaves us with just today. In our humanness we are truly limited and finite, but the Power, Light and Goodness of The Life Giving Spirit that flows through each of us is unlimited and infinite. There is only one you and our human race needs you. Today, just for today, go forth and be the best you, you can be. Embrace life! Love life and truly live the life…

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