[Spirit100]

By Richard Exley...

1. "No one goes through life unscathed..." Sooner or later someone you trust will betray you, a business deal will go south leaving you in a financial crisis, illness strikes or someone you love dies.

2. Refuse to define your life by a single event...Whatever it may be, it is a real part of your life but that is all...just a part.

3. Make peace with your pain....When you have been wounded it is critical to make peace with your pain, to turn into an ally, embrace it and learn from it. Remember God has a long history of turning life's tragedies into opportunities for personal growth and development.

4. Storms produce strength and character.... I hate hard times but in looking back over my life I can see that the hard times have been used by God to make me who I am today. Without them I wouldn't be the man God has called me to be.

5. God always uses imperfect people....Because it is the only kind of people there are. He has a history of using the insignificant to accomplish the impossible!

6. I am a flawed man...If I deny this painful truth I condemn myself to a life of secrecy and deception. If I acknowledge it I am free from the need to pretend to be something I am not and freed from pretending I can honestly embrace the grace of God that makes me a new man.

7. Life is too short to hold a grudge...You can't embrace life if your fists are clenched, ready to take revenge.

8. Life is often a mystery...When tragedies strike we are often tempted to ask why. While this is natural it is an exercise in futility. Even if we could figure out "why" something happened it wouldn't change a thing. I'm finally learning to replace the why ?s with how ?s. Instead of asking wy did this happen, I am learning to ask how is God going to use this for my good and his Glory.

Just passing the torch to bgr. Enjoy this blessing....it's the result of decades of experience!