Rather different to our usual educational posts; this is part of our series of quotes that may help when you’re facing adversity or finding your new normal.
You may have discovered your DVT is linked to a diagnosis of cancer, you may have suffered a life-threatening PE or heart attack. Whatever the reason, many of our readers go through difficult times.
We post these on the weekends, so if you’re not interested you can just ignore these posts, but if you find them helpful you’ll have a little more time for reflection.
“You either get bitter or you get better. It’s as simple as that. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you”
Josh Shipp
Josh Shipp is a young motivational speaker and mentor for troubled teenagers. He uses the slogan ‘Helping Adults Understand Teens & Teens Understand Themselves’.
What is very special for Paul and me, as foster parents, is that Josh has been through the foster care system himself.
Children in foster care have often encountered more in their short lives then many adults do in a life-time: We fostered a one year-old who trembled each time a man came close to her. We fostered two pre-schoolers who were so pleased when we gave them toothbrushes that they took them to bed with them to cuddle. We gave a two year old a biscuit as she came to us, only to find it still clenched in her fist at bath-time.
As foster parents, you often wonder if you are dong any good, so it is wonderful to hear Josh’s message that one person can make all the difference and that he has been able to move forward without bitterness. He has come through so much. So today’s reflection really has two themes, how to deal with adversity and how we can all make a difference in the life of a troubled child.
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