Do not Quit!! Do not Surrender!!

We all have our own daily battles to fight in our lives.

No one escapes this fact, no matter your lot in life, your situation, or your circumstances.

From the very Richest people to the most impoverished, we all have our crosses to bear on a daily basis.

Granted, they are often different concerns and worries, but they are challenges, fears, unrest and loneliness nonetheless.

We all possess the POWER and STRENGTH inside of us to not only face these hourly battles, but to defeat and overcome anything life throws us!

A critical step in this is to put your challenge in perspective!!

To every one of us, our own problems are Mountainous!!! 

Often there does not appear to be anything more important going on in the world!!!

And sometimes we do have challenges and trials that large and overwhelming!

However, if we truly size up the trials and problems we struggle with daily and put them into a range of true urgency and importance, we will probably find that we are more often than not making a mountain out of a mole hill!

Try and look at the big picture when faced with a trial and place a level on it if that helps!

Rely on the FAITH and reflect, pray and believe that a solution will surface - because it will and it ALWAYS does.

Excessive worry and fear brought on by ranking every issue we face as "critical" serves no purpose to anyone but to create more worry and fear, and distraction from the true solution and course of action!!

Remember that You are never alone in this world!

Even the birds and insects find a way to live and survive!!!

Ask for help!  Ask for guidance!

You will be answered!

Replace Fear with Faith and Hope and Love!!!

There is no challenge we face that cannot be dealt with and a solution found if we believe and seek to receive guidance!!

Pray for others who may be down on their knees with worry and fear, ask that they may find strength and hope and a solution to whatever ails them! 

Stay Strong and NEVER, ever give up!!!

Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths."
Pro 3: 5-6

Cast aside all fear - Choose Faith....

Beloved, lay aside your fears; the Lord will take care of you.

If we all give and care for one another, then even if you should fall into need, there will be another to lift you out.

But if we want to do the right thing, then we need to be the ones to take the first step, even if no one else is.

There is no fear in love; there is faith: faith that God loves you and rewards the faithful;

Faith that God is well pleased with a cheerful giver.

It is not what we do religiously that justifies us, but it is both Faith and Love working hand and hand that justify us.

[Stay Strong] This too shall pass and make us stronger!!

"We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival."

  - Winston Churchill

"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the ONLY strength which can overcome adversity."

- Albert Schweitzer

Life can be a crazy roller coaster.

Not many things are guaranteed in life but there are a few inevitabilities that we can count on during our stint on this earth.

One of them is disappointment and pain.

We spend so much time worrying, lamenting and fearing the storms that we will surely encounter in our daily travels that we lose sight of the fact that we will always weather the storm!!!

Some of us are in the middle of a sunny stretch of open water,  others are in small squalls, and some others are in the mother of all storms, feeling lost and hopeless with no land in sight and all of our prior bearings dashed!

Regardless of the storm you are in - or that will inevitably arrive as we set sail forward - it WILL clear, the winds WILL subside, and you WILL survive to enjoy the blue skies and beautiful ocean!

You may not see it as you hang on for dear life with each wave that crashes over the bow, but you must have FAITH that the storm will pass and you will get through it!

Another guarantee we take for granted at times is the fact that we are not alone in these storms.

We may feel like the only human to have to fight this battle or to encounter such dark skies and smothering clouds, but you would be surprised how many others have stood where you are now, feeling the same lost and despairing thoughts,  and have come out of the night into the healing light of day!!!

If you hang on and do not waver in your faith and keep the hope alive in your heart - refuse to succumb to the waves of doubt and fear - you will eventually understand why you were asked to captain that ship through the storm in the first place!

You can choose to be the one who comes out into the clear skies and helps others navigate the rocks, the waves and the frightening thunder and lightning! !

Every survivor story begins with "I thought I was going to die", but it is faith and focus on the next opening in the storm that will get you to that safe place of peace and meaning!

More people than you know are pulling for you, praying for you, there to help you steer your ship through the jagged rocks!  

Feel their energy and let it strengthen you!

Storms cannot be avoided - but with every storm conquered and overcome we cannot help but grow stronger in our faith and move closer to understanding why the heck we are out on this ocean together in the first place!

Stay Strong and do not lose that FAITH and HOPE now... the skies are clearing and the morning is much much closer than you know!

;)

[Stay Strong] Life....

"I bargained with Life for a penny, And Life would pay no more, no matter how I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store.

For Life is a just employer, He gives you what you ask,  But once you have set the wages, Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid."

~~~~~~

That's it... 14 lines, 72 words... it's just called "Life."

How many people - how many of us - go through life only to find at the end that they could have had it all... more time, more money, more health... more good things instead of so much struggle, stress and strife.*

Seize your day and take all the necessary risks to chase your dream! 

This very minute!

Do not be afraid to go after and EXPECT to receive whatever it is that you desire! 

It does not matter one iota what has transpired in the past!

I don't care what your old mistakes have been or what disappointments you may have encountered!!

I don't care what you have come to believe about yourself that is patently false and only in YOUR MIND!

I don't care what arguments you put up to convince yourself that you are not worthy of it or that you try to convince yourself that you cannot achieve ANYTHING you desire!!

Leave the past where it belongs!

All that matters is what you resolve to do TODAY!!!!

It can all be yours if you BELIEVE it and expect results from your efforts! 

Life is way too short and can be all you want it to be - if you have the FAITH and you DETERMINE to SET and go after your goals!!

Stay Strong!!

* courtesy of John Assaraf.