What do you do when all seems to be going wrong around you?

Has everything you worked for and or planned for (family, work, career, education, relationship etc.) suddenly failed, or is falling apart?

Jon Gordon wrote, “If you're worried about your future... I know how you feel. I lost my job in 2001... the company sank faster than the Titanic and I thought that was the worst event of my life when it happened. I was two months away from financial ruin.  I had a wife, two children, a mortgage, no health insurance, and very little savings.  I was a pay slip away from losing it all and I had to make some important decisions. Eventually the decisions I made led to the work I now do as a writer, consultant and speaker.  I went from being fired to being Fired-up!  My loosing my job led to my life's mission... what I thought was the worst... led to the best...When the wave hits us, we have a choice... allow it to crush us, or learn from it and ride it to a positive future.  We can move forward with determination and faith that our best days are ahead.”

Please do not get me wrong, as I am not being insensitive to the severity of the issue or issues you may be going through, nor of the harsh impact on life for simply living if in Nigeria like me.

What I am trying to teach you is part of what I learnt from one of my mentors in the John Maxwell Team, the President, Paul Martinelli who helped me to recognise the difference between a problem and a fact of life. Let me illustrate with an example. An athlete who is accomplished, having had a series of gold medals in his career, and has qualified for the Olympics, suddenly has an accident that leads to his legs being amputated would typically be said to have a problem, which is true. He certainly can’t participate in that olympics or indeed as an athlete in that category, and that is a fact of life.

The truth though is, while you can’t do anything about a fact of life, you can do a lot about problems, by changing your thinking. Every problem presents an opportunity. What this athlete needs to do is not to dwell too much on the fact of life, and to explore opportunities like becoming a resource person to other athletes, by sharing his experience and skills. Another popular example is Nick Vujicic, born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of arms and legs (a fact of life) who refused to be constrained by that problem. Today, he is a global motivational speaker and well sort out evangelist. Nick is so successful that some have wished they had his problem. Can you beat that?

Like Jon and I, what you need to do when all seems to be going wrong around you is to stop and take stock of your life and your options. Thereafter, REFOCUS, reboot, look out for the opportunities in that problem even if it means starting all over again to get your family, work, career, education, relationship and so on back.

I can testify that God is still in the business of turning the worst things into blessings if we let Him, and we are ready to do the work that is required.