Lemonade

My last post dealt with creating a Bucket List. I hope it got you thinking and dreaming. But let me guess: just surviving life's traumas may be an item on your list. The last thing you can do is dream beyond the day's/week's/month's/year's struggles.

Do these phrases mean anything to you?

• Life kicks me in the teeth
• Life throws curve balls
• Life gives me lemonade
• Life (1) stinks (2) is tough (3) is unfair (4) is harsh [Select one].

As I meet readers of my novel, Route to Survival, I'm amazed at how many say something like, "This could be my life story" or "Were you looking over my shoulder when you wrote this?"

It reinforces the idea that struggle is universal--we all are trying to survive various trials and stresses. They might look different for each of us, but the pain is the same.

I like to point out the main character of the book, Kate Mitchell, survives by:

• Being proactive
• Making courageous choices
• Leaning on God

  Recently I read something very wise by a writer far more skilled than I. In essence, he says we cannot find our true selves or our strength in success because we will lose our head. We cannot find our true selves in monotony, because we will complain. We find our selves in the fires of sorrow.

He then gives meaning to that:

When you survive tough times, God makes you nourishment for other people

If survival is on your Bucket List, take heart. You will survive by trusting God and tapping into his strength. Then look around to see who needs your support and nourishment.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4)

(I invite you to visit my website by clicking here. If you've read my novel, please feel free to leave a review at one of these booksellers. Click here:  Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I value your opinion. Thank you.)