Tag Archives: #strength

Spirituality

Strength Through Pain

Are you experiencing a difficult time in your life? If not now, the odds are that you will sometime in the future. I want to encourage you to flip the script on it when it happens.

Life can be very hard sometimes. God didn’t promise us an easy path. But He did give us a way through. Translation: rely more on God and less on ourselves during the dark times.

Resilience is built in the darkness. We learn that we can bounce back from the troughs of life. Our pain turns into strength. We might not like it at the time, but it can be used for good.

No matter how much social media wants us to believe that everyone has a perfect life, we know the truth. See pain as opportunity. Don’t dread it. Welcome it because better days are ahead…

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Spirituality

Peace Through Strength

Ronald Reagan popularized the phrase “peace through strength” during the Cold War. He was responsible for revitalizing our military with the belief that the best deterrent was to be the strongest nation militarily. It worked.

Critics believe that this approach provokes our enemies. They believe everyone plays nice in the sandbox. If we leave them alone they will leave us alone. It’s a nice thought but it’s a naive belief. Bad actors want power and domination. It’s up to us good guys to stop them. We can and they know we can.

Jesus showed peace through strength, too. When the opportunistic merchants took over the Temple, selling doves, cattle and sheep for Passover, Jesus made a whip from three cords and drove the animals from the Temple, his Father’s House.

Jesus was a badass who was filled with righteous anger that day. It must have been an impressive experience because the story is told in all four of the Gospels.

We need to show strength when we witness people being taken advantage of. There are a handful of bullies out there who pick on others. Remember that the bully is the most scared person around. They are scared so they want you to be scared, too.

Peace through strength is effective in deterring evil. It works in geopolitics just like it worked in the Temple. Be strong…

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#inspiration

Feel The Heat

To purify gold you must heat it to a temperature of over 1000 degrees Celsius. The final result is absolutely beautiful. Gold becomes so shiny you can see yourself.

Feeling the heat means you are under pressure. You have a deadline, or you are facing an extremely stressful situation. When we are dealing with difficult circumstances, we have a choice: melt or rise to the occasion. It’s yours and yours alone to decide.

In the heat of the battle we find out just how strong we are. And oftentimes we surprise ourselves.

Strength is tempered when things are hard, not when life is easy. Once you have risen to the challenge and conquered whatever you are facing, there’s no going back.

You are forever changed…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Sad Stories

Everyone has a story. Not all of them are pretty. For eight years now I have been a volunteer speaker in detention centers, and for the last twelve months I’ve been doing the same in Texas prisons.

There’s the 13 year old girl I met who ran away from her abusive home. She ended up in Houston, dancing as a stripper and turning tricks in the shitty motel across the street from the club. She was addicted to heroin. The Texas DPS raided the club which is how she landed in detention. What hope did she have?

There’s the woman in prison who told me she didn’t think she could ever forgive her stepfather for raping her. She suffered the abuse from the time she was six until she was 13.

I will never forget these young women who openly and willingly volunteered their stories with me and the rest of the inmates. It took courage.

The point of today’s blog is this: be kind to everyone. We don’t know what they might be living with. You have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives by your kindness…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Sensitivities

Life is tough. Some of the challenges people face can feel overwhelming at times. I know people who have been affected by cancer, the murder of a child, rape, incest, suicide and more. The reason they are still standing is because they developed resilience earlier in their lives. Weak people crumble like an origami.

Resilience can be built, even in adulthood. You face your challenges head on, refusing to back down until you have come out on the other side. When you are going through hell, you keep going.

Tough times don’t last, but tough people do…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Personal Responsibility

I love extracurricular activities in schools. Whether it’s theater, band or sports, they are great teaching tools for our young people. And kids are in school to learn more than how to conjugate verbs or solve quadratic equations.

Being part of something bigger than yourself requires responsibility, accountability and dedication. How well you compete is dependent upon how well you prepare. Every experience we have in life prepares us for something else. Even our bad experiences are useful.

Taking ownership when you do or say something wrong is vital for a functioning society. Getting out of something might cause someone to avoid some short-term pain, but it damages the offender in ways we can’t see, not to mention the carnage they leave in their wake. Face it and go through it. Adversity builds resilience and strength.

Be the one who leads well. Be the one…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Left Behind

We go through different periods in our lives. From childhood through the teenage years, and finally to adulthood. Our experiences shape us. Even our bad days can be used for good. Maybe they were just learning experiences. And hopefully we learned!

Over the course of our lives we have developed habits, both good and poor. We learn how to make friends and develop relationships. We make a habit of exercising and eating well. Yet I meet so many people who focus their attention on their faults. They have low self esteem and rather than focusing their energy on what they do well, they beat themselves up emotionally.

If this is something you struggle with, please be aware that you aren’t alone in your struggle. Everyone has to learn to leave the self-defeating behaviors behind and mold themselves into who God intended them to be. The Spirit is strong and will help you. Just believe in Him and believe in yourself.

It’s time to leave anything destructive behind. Sometimes this includes people…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

Finding Strength When You Have None

I started my podcast, The Determined People Podcast, in the middle of the pandemic. I quickly realized how badly people’s mental health was affected because of isolation and fear, and I wanted to provide encouragement, strength and hope to a world in desperate need of it. Since then, I have had an opportunity to interview people who found strength when they had little or none.

Our world is still compromised, living in fear and doubt. Stories connect us. You find yourself in the stories. Connection strengthens us. My hope is that you watch an episode and say, “if that person made it, maybe I can, too.”

If you have a moment, please go to YouTube and search The Determined People Podcast. Subscribe and get notified when new content posts. Find encouragement when you need it.

Sometimes hope is all we have. Hold on tightly to it…

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#inspiration, #spirituality

If I Had A Superpower

When I was a child, I loved Superman comic books. I thought, how cool it would be to fly, have x-ray vision, and to be faster than a speeding bullet. Let’s not forget that Superman was built like a bodybuilder and he got all the girls!

Humans don’t get to have superpowers, but if we did, I would want mine to be the ability to take away people’s pain. It troubles me when I see people struggle or in deep pain and despair.

Fortunately, I don’t have that superpower. Pain is a tool which can bring growth and resilience. If I could take away pain, I would be denying others the ability to grow through the pain and become who they are.

Pain is part of everyone’s life. Don’t waste it by wishing it away. By getting through it, fighting through it, you are being prepared for something greater.

Keep going…

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#inspiration

Weak Men

It seems there are a lot of weak men nowadays. This is not good for our society, and is a great concern for our future. In today’s blog, I’m going to share with you some of my thoughts on how we got here.

Men, real men, are selfless. They make sure everyone else is taken care of. Men are hardwired in their DNA to be protectors.

I have two sons. When they were growing up, I saw parents who stepped in and got their kids out of trouble rather than allowing them to accept responsibility for their actions. My attitude was, “you got yourself into this, figure out how you will get through it.” When kids aren’t held accountable, they learn that they can be manipulative. Manipulating your way through life isn’t a sustainable plan.

Resilience is built by finding your inner strength. Men get battle hardened and realize that they can make it through anything. Weak men give up at the first sign of trouble.

We need men and women of strong character. This is the only way we will preserve a civil society. Be strong…

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