A Hero in Every Heart

Winners are like biscuits-when things heat up, they arise to the occasion!

• The view from the top is great, but don't miss the many scenic overlooks along the way.
• Success in life is 10% what happens to us and 90% what we do about it.
• Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.
• Victory belongs to the most persevering.
• Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1
  Aim high. That's where glory dwells.
• Courage is grace under pressure.
• Let perseverance be your engine and hope your fuel.
• If there are not great values behind great victories, the victories are pointless.
• Every day, try to help someone who can't reciprocate your kindness. Philsophy of Coach John Wooden.
• Last, but by no means least, courage-moral courage, the courage of one's convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age old struggle-the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other. Douglas MacArthur

Finding the Hero in each of us has been on my mind lately. As Harriet Beecher Stowe states, "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn".

We all are capable of so much more than we realize or exercise through our actions. If you would have asked me a couple of years ago about cancer.....I would have immediately thought, "no way, I can't or wouldn't want anything to do with it" and it would have been spoken out of fear. Today after having been given this disease, I do not fear because in my mental spirit, I have broken the barrier of fear of living with a possible terminal disease. I have found strength, determination and perseverence about life and living and not about death and dying.

I hear so many say, "how do you do it, I don't think I could go through that?" I say, we each have been given so many God given talents of becoming a Hero over our circumstances that until we are put to the test don't realize that the ability exists. I've not done anything special through this journey except put into place what I've learned my whole life from home and church. Honestly, many times the scriptures I would read did not have the same affect on me as they do today. Why, because I've lived them and know them to be true. I always believed them before but now I've been put through the test of living them and I know without a doubt, they are real, true and relevant!!

Don't let others opinions wear you down and make you feel as you can't because you CAN. If you remove "dis" from disability, you have ability. We must not allow ourselves to become disabled in reaching our potential because of our environment, fears or other pointless opinions. Mother Goose says it this way, "Good, Better, Best. Never rest until good be better and better best". Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant says, "What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.

Your mind can only hold one thought at a time-make it a positive and constructive one. We are what we think we are. Courage is not defined by those who fought and did not fall, but by those who fought, fell and rose again. One of my favorite sayings comes from a soda bottle, NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN. To me that means you'll get out of life what you put into it.

Mark Twain says, "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great". Don't let anyone hold you back from doing the things that fulfill your purpose in life and give you the greatest satisfaction. Our abilities are God's gift to us. What a waste when we don't use them.

Eleanor Roosevelt says, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face....you must do the thing you think you cannot do. In Ecclesiastes 9:10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

Lucinda Williams Adams, an Olympic Gold Medalist in Track and Field has this to say about acts of generosity and kindness that we extend to others eventually make a circle and come back to us. The Bible reminds us, "As we sow, so shall we reap". "Sports taught me about service. We are all servants. We're put on this earth to do the best we can and to help each other as we go along. And in turn we receive our rewards. The service I give to my family, to friends, to church, and to humankind is how I repay in some small way the many opportunities I was given when growing up. I was known as the praying athlete. My mom always said, "If you take one step, God will take two." I used that, and I'd say, "Lord.....here I go again."

I always want to be sensitive to what God wants me to do. If He lays it upon my heart to speak with someone, give someone a shoulder to lean on, to speak encouragement I want to be willing and ready. We all have circumstances and valleys in our lives. No one is greater than another. I may have advanced cancer but it is not greater than someone who may be going through a divorce, another type of illness, family problems, etc. They are real to that person. We must use the ability within us to reach out to others. I know I become so pre-occupied with my own family and work that many times I know that I should have reached out to someone.

We all have to look within ourselves and say, "what is our purpose in life" and use the HERO abilities that God has given you to face the fear that comes when trying something new. It is overcoming that obstacle that gives us confidence, determination and the satisfaction that we did what we were put on earth to do.

Someone sent me these 3 words today, "Aspire, Inspire before you Expire." What a simple way to put it. We only have one life to life, why not do it with purpose and leave a lasting legacy that others want to imitate?

When you think you can not do it, refer to the following:
The Two Rules of Perseverance
Rule #1: Take one more step.
Rule #2: When you don't think you can take one more step, refer to rule #1.

Don't forget you can overcome any obstacle or valley in your life, just use the HERO abilities that God has given you and leave the rest to him. As Lt. Col. Donald Valentine says, "Life teaches us about the law of averages. You can't get a hit in life if you don't keep on swinging. A quitter never wins and a winner never quits. There are people who whistle while they work and are magnificent at life, but then there are moaners and whiners. I tell kids, Don't blame, complain or explain."

So the simple take aways today would be, "Aspire, Inspire before you Expire" and "Don't blame, complain or explain" as you go about your purpose in life.

As always, God Bless and Love to all,

Leah