12.Faith that you can put your difficulties to work
Great battles are won, not only despite handicaps, but often because of them
Everyone has had difficulties in life. These obstacles have been chosen to overcome, in order to understand what you do and don't want in your life. Even your childhood was always being chosen by you. Children are really old souls and choose their parents and the setting for their life in advance. There has never been a day from the start of your life, when you have not been deciding what your life would be like.
Your childhood might have been very difficult, with poverty and the consequent violence, featuring large. You obviously felt this was necessary, at that time, for your soul's growth. Rather than using this as the blueprint for a victim's life, with faith you can put even this difficulty to work and choose another pattern for your life. From this black and sad beginning, a new you can emerge that has found the secret to a better life.
This is Lola's story.
“My life started badly. Spending my childhood in institutions firstly and then going from one foster home to another, meant I never felt secure or loved. I was sexually abused, which only added to the bleak picture. I was finally adopted at 14 but by then, the damage was done and I was already at work in a supermarket. I knew I'd have no help in life. I had to build my own life from the ground up. I saw other kids throughout my childhood with their mothers and family and always wondered why I never had that. “Had I been that bad at some stage in my life, to warrant such treatment?”, I always asked myself.
One day I came home from the supermarket and asked myself, “How's my life going to go? I can be bitter and twisted and resent the world for my past hurts or I can build a different life based on respect and love. I'll never have a family but I can feel love through my dealings with other people. Being open and honest about who I am, means that people will always respect me and with that comes a genuine link to another. I'll then feel love.” That was my choice and I was true to my word.
My world had to based on love. I wanted people to say of me, “He never had a bad word to say about anyone”. If that became my life, I could truly know that the bitterness of my past had faded away, to be replaced by what I'd chosen.
I moved to another town and started again. I used my new energy to make as many friends as possible. As my social life expanded, so did my work opportunities. I've ended up becoming a well-known personality around town who owns restaurants and writes a social column.
I've also used my past experiences to help others. What better way than to help other kids who have ended up in the same childhood I was in. I raise money for sexually abused kids and foster kids, to give them the opportunities I had to make for myself. Money to go back to school, to go on a holiday and make new friends, a home base that they've never had before. I just hope they can use these chances and make a fulfilling life the same as mine has been”.
The person who overcomes the huge struggle against a handicap where both their conscious and unconscious mind needs to be fully engaged, has lived life to the hilt.
By seeing a handicap as an opportunity, they realize that I never punish. Why should punishments be metered out by a ruthless God, when all humans have free will anyway? If you don't like what's happening in your world, be prepared to work on this and choose another path.
Stuart tells his story:
“I became blind at eighteen months of age. So I had seen the sun in my life. My parents were worried I'd never cope in life and always need someone to depend on. But they did try to make me as independent as possible. My school told us there was joy in adventure and so I've always believed that I could lead a life of purpose.
I had been given great inward resources. I knew that happiness wasn't dependent on whether you could see or not. How many people do you hear complaining about their lives who have everything going for them? I had been given a great opportunity to realize that true happiness was nurtured from within. Just having seen the sun in my life, has made me always very grateful.
I can sense a happy soul even though I can't see their face. Those happy souls give out feelings of love and have made me understand, that is what I wanted to strive for in life. I didn't care about the large house, the flat screen tv or the car. I had no use for these anyway. I have been given a much greater insight into life because of this.
I am studying at present and will use my instincts and knowledge to the full. I have the faith to know that I am truly blessed and can help others to a greater understand of life”.
So positive outcomes can flow from any situation. No matter what handicap you suffer from, this can be used as an enlightening experience for yourself and others.
It isn't the handicap or obstacle that is the real enemy in your life. It's your mind. Look at your life from another perspective and see that because of the handicap, you have a lot to offer. Use this as a positive force for change in your own life and lead by example.