Being Tested

At some time in our lives, we each must face despair : Loss of a job, death of a loved one, getting cancer, break up of a marriage and even unbearable financial burden. There is also a time in our lives, when we wake up , we suddenly realized that we were not the success that we have always wanted to be.

Problems just keep on piling one after another, worries added upon worries. Fear slowly began to dominate our lives. Tears flow more frequently. Sleep came less easily. We may began to wonder why God doesn't seem to care, if God is really listening. There may even be a time that you just wanted to run away or that you have thought of suicide.

This is a time which can make a person bitter or better. How do you get up when you are knocked down? How not to admit defeat when all hope seems lost? Some people, when they reach this point, they just give up. Others refused to admit defeat and keep on going trying to overcome all difficulties.

Lewis Timberlake's answer was: It's always too soon to quit. No matter how many times you stumble, no matter how many difficulties you met on your journey, remember that the only time you fail is when you fail to try again.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,

When the road you are trudging, seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

You want to smile but you have to sigh..

When care is pressing you down a bit..

Rest! if you must but never quit!

Rocky

There are times when a scene in a movie moves and leave you with an everlasting impression. One of the movies is the scene where Rocky Balbao was confronted by his son , Robert, who was against him fighting for the last time with heavyweight champion Mason Dixon.

Walking out of an Italian restaurant, Robert blamed Rocky for all his failures in life.
Much calmer than he was when he first started out as a club fighter and debt collecter in Rocky I, Rocky tried his best to understand his son. Disappointed with Robert's perception of him, Rocky taught Robert a lesson about life :

You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you that you are no good.
When things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow.
You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit.
It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
It's about how much you can take and still keep moving forward!
That is how winning is done!

Listening Well

Like most young people, I felt unsure of myself and I was afraid that people would judge me each time we met. Actually, others were also worrying about how I would judge them.

From that day on, instead of thinking that others were judging me, I now recognized the need people have to make a connection and to share something about themselves. Thus, I discovered a world of people I never would have known otherwise.

On a train going home, I began talking to a man everyone was avoiding because he was weaving and slurring his speech as if drunk. It turned out that he was recovering from a stroke.

He had been the train's engineer and long into the night he revealed to me the history beneath every mile of the railway track. As the morning sun began to show itself, he grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. 'Thank you for listening. Most people would not bother.' Actually, he did not have to thank me. The pleasure was all mine.

Each encounter became an adventure. Each person, a new lesson in life. The wealthy, the poor, the powerful and the lonely, all were as full of dreams and doubts as I. And each had a unique story to tell, if only I had the ears to hear.

How often to allow such opportunities to pass us by. The girl who everyone thinks is stuck up, the boy with the odd clothes: those people have stories to tell, as surely as you do. And like you, they dream that someone is willing to hear.

Like people first, asks questions later. See if the light you shine on others is not reflected back on you a hundred fold.

Feeling Sorry

Fanny Crosby was born totally blind. She lived up to 95years old and all that time she has never seen the light of the day. One thing that people admire about her was her determination to be independent. At the age of 8, Fanny wrote the below poem :

Oh What a happy child am I..

Although I cannot see..

Even the face of my sweet dear mother..

Nor make out the difference between light and night,

I am determined that in this world..

Happy shall I be..

For all the blessings I enjoyed..

That other people don't.

To weep inside my heart just because I am blind..

No, That I cannot and .. that I will not!

Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
Most people do not care about your troubles and the rest are just glad that you have them. When you come to that point in your life where you want to weep inside because something bad happened, say loudly to yourself: 'I cannot cry... and I will not cry!'

It is certainly easier to just give up and feel sorry for yourself. But that's it: Life is sometimes just flat tough. Stick to your dreams and go for it!

Gonna Get Better

We do what we do
To try and get us through
Our darkest days ..
A time in life that's not so bright
And there will be days when we cry
And we don't know why
You've gotta fight it
Coz..those days will pass you by

It's gonna get better
Everybody knows there's brighter days
It's gonna get better
Live your life, and take it day by day

Be positive in mind or you'll
Fall before you even try
Sometimes it takes a helping hand
To show you that life goes on
There's a brand new dawn
When you're feeling down
There's always a reason
To hold on

You gotta live your life
Cause life is for the living
And you don't know
If you'll get the chance again
You gotta find a way to hold on maybe
Faith will help you carry on
Just fight it
Take it in your stride
It's gonna be alright

It's gonna get better, pick yourself up and start again
And maybe when you find yourself alone
You'll have the time
To gather all your thoughts
And when you find
You're not so strong
You'll have the strength
To carry on
And even when you find yourself in doubt
You'll never lose sight
Of what your life's about
And when you find you're losing faith
You'll get the strength to help you
Tell yourself it's gonna get better
Just tell yourself that
It is gonna get better
It is gonna get better..