What do you do when you feel like the whole world Is crashing down on you? What do You do when it feels like nothing can go right? It seems like over the last four years my family has been faced with that question a lot.
It started with my wife’s brain lesion, then my dad gets cancer, then brain surgery, and then my dad passes at the tender age or 49, and then… The list could go on and on.
But, at the end of the day, that is life. It reminds me of one of my favorite Passages, “James 1: 2-3 Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” You see, ever since the Garden of Eden man has been destined for death. So that leads us into what we know as life.
But as my favorite motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, (this is not an exact quote. I am paraphrasing.) It’s not about what happens to you in life; it’s how you respond to what happens to you in life that matters. You see, we all have the choice to respond positively to a situation, or we can react negatively to a situation. Now I am not saying to suck it up and sing songs of joy when something bad happens… I am saying to not react in a negative manner.
Here is what I mean. A couple days ago my mom told my family the doctors thought she may have cancer. Now, seeing how my dad just recently died of cancer this was very scary news. I could have very easily reacted in a negative way. I could have gotten mad
at God or could have gone out on a drinking binge. But I wanted to respond in a positive way.
Was I upset? Yes! Was I scared? Yes! Did I want to go out and do something stupid? Yes! But, I was blessed enough to realize that I had a choice. And I choose to be positive.
I was still worried, scared, confused, and to be honest MAD! But I Was able to be there for my mom because I Kept my head on my shoulders.
Now here’s the cool thing.. It was a false alarm. My mother is healthier than ever and we are just blessed that we have a good enough doctor that he leaves no stone unturned when he thinks something is not right.
So here is the point… Next time “Life” happens, take a second to think about how you are going respond or react. Thanks Zig for bringing this to my attention, and truly changing my life!
Talk soon,
Shannon
