HANDLING ADVERSITY

The adversary of life has tried to take me out many times. It has been tried physically, mentally, and emotionally. Only by the grace of God am I still standing and hope to do so for quite some time. What am I talking about? Well, all of us, some more direct than others, have had close calls with physical, mental, and emotional crisis. Whatever the cause, it seems that almost all crisis situations become a crisis of the mind. Every major challenge becomes a battle within. I think it is important to understand it as a mental battle because how we react to a crisis, whether the crisis is big or small, sets the stage for our general demeanor. Life is full of small crisis situations or predicaments, and it is our reaction to these situations which mostly define our reaction to the larger ones. Perhaps it can be said that our personality and general demeanor is set by how we react to daily situations. Are we the type who doesn’t react well to the norm being upset? Do we run and hide, throw a fit of sorts, or do we deal with the situation? Our answer defines not only our reaction to situations but it also defines how we interact with people and life in general, for every interaction is a potential predicament…or a crisis of who we are. The adversary of life doesn’t need to take us out with some egregious physical disease; he only needs us to poorly handle adversity. Being vulnerable in the mind and soul takes us out of life more than all the cancers and heart disease. It’s important to win the battle within; it’s important to have victorious living. Faith is our greatest “advocate” in all situations. We need to train ourselves in faith’s use in the small challenges rather than try to manufacture or resurrect it only during the major ones. The adversary and adversity are immeasurably linked.