Monday Morning Devotion-September 9, 2018
Tough Times
The Lord bless you and keep you. Numbers 6:24
The late Dr. Robert Schuller, founding pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in California, was
one of the most inspirational preachers of our time. He passed away in 2015, but he left behind a legacy of amazing accomplishments and stories of how to overcome tough times in life through faith and possibility thinking.
Schuller tells about the time he was addressing a large group of discouraged farmers in Iowa who had been suffering through a drought that had wiped out most of their crops. Many of them were in such dire straits that they were in danger of losing their farms.
He began to tell them about the tough times his father, a hard-working farmer all his life, had endured and become successful. He worked his way through this talk until he came to a point where he needed to offer encouragement and to give them hope and he said forcefully "Let me tell you something about tough times."
Ok Schuller tell them! Uh..well, Okay. There was one problem here. "I hadn't the foggiest idea what I was going to tell them about tough times. I had painted myself into a corner," he said.
He writes that he "prayed silently. I prolonged the dramatic pause as I paced like a tiger in a cage back and forth across the empty stage, returning the stares of a very attentive audience."
Then he relates what happened; "I was stunned to hear this sentence come out of my mouth. I was shocked. I was inspired. I am convinced it came directly from God. It was a sentence that would not only inspire me and my audience, but many others. It would even give birth to a book. Like a thunderclap, this sentence filled every corner of the huge ballroom:
"Tough times never last, but tough people do"
Schuller says; "The place broke up with applause. Those thirty-five hundred farmers who had lost hope and had battled depression found that hope. They caught a new vision and began to dream again."
Robert Schuller's book, inspired by that one thought the Lord answered his prayer with that day: "Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do," has sold over 11 million copies. That shows what one thought from above can do in one person's life. One little sentence has touched millions of lives.
Knute Rockne said: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Schuller adds: "When the roads are rough, the tough rise to the occasion. They win. They survive. They come out on top.
Schuller says that we are like potatoes. Say what? After potatoes have been harvested and before the farmers take them to market they go through and divide them into three groups. The big potatoes go in one group the medium in another and the small potatoes in the final group. This was time consuming, but it worked better at the market to have them separated into bags and priced.
There was one farmer who never spent all that time separating the potatoes and when he got them to the market they were separated into the proper grouping. When asked what his secret was he said:" It's simple. I just load up the wagon with potatoes and take the roughest road into town. During the eight-mile trip the little potatoes always fall to the bottom. The medium potatoes land in the middle and the big potatoes rise to the top."
Schuller says that's a law of life as well. Big potatoes rise to the top on rough roads. In other words, tough people rise to the top in rough times. He says the way that this gets accomplished is by taking the "Possibility Thinking Path." It is a path that keeps right on going to happiness, health, and prosperity."
"When you've exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven't!"
Here are the 10 Commandments of Possibility Thinking;
1) Never reject a possibility because you see something wrong with it: There is something wrong with every good idea. When God gives you an idea, you can find some negative aspect to it. Instead isolate the negative from the possibility.
2) Never reject a possibility because you won't get the credit: God can do tremendous things through the person who doesn't care who gets the credit.
3) Never reject an idea because it's impossible: Almost every great idea seems impossible when it is first born. Possibility thinkers turn the impossibilities into possibilities.
4) Never reject a possibility because your mind is already made up: People who never change their minds are either perfect or stubborn. Nobody is perfect.
5) Never reject an idea because it's illegal: Not saying for you to break the law. Examine it and see if it can be changed or if there is a legal way to circumvent it and make it work.
6) Never reject an idea because you don't have the money, manpower muscle or months to achieve it: If you don't have these, work to get the ones you need to succeed. Think!
Be creative!
7) Never reject an idea because it will create conflict: You can never develop a possibility without creating problems. Work on it. Don't surrender leadership to friend or foe.
8) Never reject an idea because it's not your way of doing things: Listen to accommodate. Prepare to compromise. Plan to adjust.
9) Never reject an idea because it might fail: Every idea worth anything has failure potential. There is risk in everything.
10) Never reject an idea because it's sure to succeed: Some people back off because they are afraid to succeed. Don't be. Success is a great thing
Remember "You won't win if you don't begin." Get tough. The Lord will support you because: "Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do."
Prayer: Lord gives us the strength, stamina and wisdom to outlast those tough times. Amen!