I would like to share a thought with you today that comes from more than twenty years of working with people in my community.

Did you know that it is often our mentality that is most profound? Do you want to know the difference between the mentality of a victor and the mentality of a loser? It is having the ability to move forward during and after a hardship.

We all had times when individuals or situations influenced our lives in a horrible way, and times when we felt cheated, neglected, deeply offended, or abandoned. Perhaps you were facing a difficulty yesterday and you just did not know how to handle it. Whatever the circumstance, your ability to move forward after the situation will help decide whether you thrive or miss the mark. Let us look at the life of Christ for a powerful example for us to follow.

Our Savior, our Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords came to earth with all power and authority. Yet, people taunted Him, mocked Him, mistreated Him, and lied on Him. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ never tried to defend Himself. He did not get into an argument explaining His position.

Jesus rested in who He was. He rested in His purpose. He rested upon the calling on His life. Jesus was able to move forward because He knew He would have victory in the end.

The way to keep from feeling like a failure and feeling like you cannot win in life is to allow God to develop your character. If you want God to build your character, you have to learn how to deal with the difficulties and disappointments of life by trusting and having faith in God. And know, just like Jesus, that you will have victory in the end.

Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

With that being said, here are two tiny, but valuable words that you must learn to embrace:

MOVE…FORWARD!

I want to challenge you to write those words on a Post-it note and stick it on the mirror in your bathroom, on the dashboard of your car, and on the computer monitor at your job. Rather than thinking about the lack of fairness in your mind, turn those thoughts loose and move forward.

When you wake up everyday, choose to set your life on a pathway to victory by keeping your eyes straight ahead and ignoring the distractions. Look for opportunities to be humble, and let God advance you to a higher place in His time. Know that your God plans to take care of you, not to abandon you, and plans to give you hope and a fruitful future.

Follow Jesus’ example to not seek revenge. Find confidence in knowing who you are in Jesus Christ and let God take care of those individuals who have mistreated you. He will do a much better job than you can anyway! Write this down and meditate on this today: