Trials and Tribulations

I heard a saying a long time ago that said "Whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger."
I have learned that the reality of that sucks, but it is true. I have become a stronger man because of the trials I have gone through. I don't know what recent events in my life have been trying to teach me, but I do know that I will come out of it stronger and wiser. I have already learned what not to do, I just hope I get another chance to do it right...

There are many things in my life that I can use as a crutch and excuse any bad behavior. But I have looked at everything that has happened in my life and I am trying to use it to elevate myself and others around me. For instance, My father was a hard man who didn't know how to express love to me except in his own cryptic ways and he died while I was at a relatively early age (21 years old) and I was still too young to really appreciate all the things that he taught me. Now I can take that and say that because I didn't feel loved by my father, that's the reason I hate everyone around me. But instead, I choose to realize that my father did love me and he showed it in his own little ways, so I need to look at the little things in life and expose the good things in people, no matter how slight. I have then taken a possibly bad situation and turned it into a positive thing. I have become stronger from it.
There is a young lady out there who has a birth defect that has been the cause of a lot of struggle for all of her 26 years on earth, but she has chosen to let the light of Christ shine through her and she has touched so many people, I don't think she even realizes how many people she has helped, just by being an example of love. Whenever I start to get down and feeling low, I look at what she has been going through all of her life and I realize that if she can still have a cheerful attitude, then so can I!!
She has been made stronger through her weakness, because she has glorified Christ in her life.

If you are going through a particularly hard time, I invite you to take courage in these few words of wisdom I heard so long ago: "When you are going through Hell, Don't stop! Just keep going till you get to the other side!"