FACING SEEMINGLY INPENETRABLE OBSTACLES
Today’s Message of Encouragement from Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES
(Stories of Real People, Real Events, Real Places) Is dedicated to HELPING Men and Women Find HOPE
THROUGH SHARING GOD’S GRACE and LOVE
(Ron Bainbridge, Editor) (December 12th, 2019)
FACING SEEMINGLY INPENETRABLE OBSTACLES
Friend, some time ago I wrote about the courage of Steven Callahan, who survived for 76-days drifting in the Atlantic Ocean, after a whale had capsized the yacht he had been sailing. It's hard to imagine circumstances more terrifying than being lost at sea, but perhaps Steven Callahan was thinking of the Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl, who as a young Austrian doctor, (forty years before Steven’s ordeal at sea), had found himself in perhaps even more terrorizing circumstances, when along with his young bride, his parents and his brother, he was arrested, stripped of everything he held precious, and taken to the concentration camp at Auschwitz.
In the early days of his imprisonment Frankl kept his mind alert by trying to reconstruct the manuscript he'd been writing prior to his arrest. Firstly, recalling it word for word in his mind, and then writing it down on stolen slips of paper. And in doing this, Victor Frankl realized that his effort to complete this task gave him purpose, a reason for holding on to a vision of the future.
Later, when during a particularly gruelling pre-dawn march, another prisoner commented on the fate of their wives, Frankl, knowing that his wife might already be dead, took comfort in the knowledge that, as long as the memory of his wife remained, he could keep her present with him.
Sometime after this incident, Victor Frankl was to write, that it was in that moment, "I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss."
In fact, it would be his discovery that meaningfulness can be found in suffering, that would most impress Victor Frankl and lead to his life's work. Years later he wrote, "Everything can be taken from a man or a woman, except one thing: which is the last of human freedoms That is, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, or to choose one's own way."
Friend, This incredible man survived because he simply would not give up, even when everything in his circumstances screamed out, that giving up was the only option. He chose his own way, willingly assuming total responsibility for his life, refusing to step into victim mode by blaming God, nature or human cruelty for what had befallen him.
You know, when we really stop to think about it, there are obviously certain things in life that you and I can't control. Things such as; nature, the past and other people! Viktor Frankl understood this!
He also understood, as all successful people do, that each of us can control our thoughts and our actions. And when we do that, when we step up and take 100% control of our own lives. By taking command of what we think and what we do, we become the masters of our own fate. We also become undefeatable.
During the most difficult time of the Second World War, Winston Churchill inspired the British people to never give up, when he said, "We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself, the means of inspiration and survival."
In reality, no one succeeds in this life by taking the easiest path. We succeed only after we determine that we will, with God’s help, commit ourselves to what must be done, and then insist on keeping our minds positive while we move consistently and persistently toward our goals.
Friend, if you find yourself facing seemingly impenetrable obstacles, I hope you will spend some time thinking of Victor Frankl and remind yourself, that compared to him, your task is really not all that insurmountable after all.
If you would like to receive two Free booklets that will help you to cope with any difficulties, obstacles and troubles in your life, please write to Discovering A BETTER LIFE, P.O. Box 1540, Albany, WA 6331, and request: “WHERE TROUBLE CAN’T HURT YOU” and “When Life Lets You DOWN.”
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant;
if we did not sometimes taste adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.”
(Anne Bradstreet)
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Let Him have His way with your heart
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