Regardless of what we do, how much we plan and prepare for life, ready or not, whether we like it or not, bad things will happen, and there is nothing we can do to change it or stop it, nothing that is, except decide what we will do, when they happen. How will we face them?

There are at least four things we can do ; 1) We can face them head on and try to work through them, or 2) We can ignore them, pretend like they don't exist and hope they will eventually go away by themselves, which almost never works, in fact, that usually leads to greater problems. or 3) we can try to run away from them, so that we don't have to face them. But no matter where we run or how far we run, we cannot escape or hide from them, you cannot conceal yourself from your problems. Or 4 ) You can just give up, throw the towel in even before you begin to fight.

There are many sad and miserable people, there are also in between people and  happy people. Do you want to know what the difference between them is? Happy people are not people who have very few or no problems, they do not have an easy life, they are not stronger or smarter, they have just as many problems as everyone else, sometimes more.

The difference is, that they have learned how to face and work through their problems with a smile and a grin on their face. When life throws them a curve they say bring it on, you can do better than that, is that all you've got. It's, going to take a lot more then that to stop me. They are positive people, but it did not happen overnight. Why are they so hopeful and positive?

 For them, it is like mountain climbing or surfing or skiing, it is a challenge that will test them. They look forward to challenges. It is a chance to test themselves, a chance for personal growth, it is a learning experience, they get a chance to prove to them-selves what they are made of. They know that God sometimes allows bad things, because he knows that they can handle it. They have learned how to work through the pain, and with very success and stride forward, they became more positive, more determined and stronger.

They know that everyone on the planet has problems, some have it much worst, bad things happens to everyone, not to just a few, so why waste time, energy and your precious tears moping, worrying yourself sick or crying over spilled milk? When you do, you only end up even more miserable, and you double your pain and heartache.

What are your choices? you can sit back and cry and complain about life, or you can change your life and make it better. Pressure and problems cause you to think outside the box, to retrain your mind to adapt and grow to be creative, to find new ways of looking at things. To come up with new ideas, they encourage us to go beyond our normal limits and become real problem solvers.

When we become problem solvers, our mind responds to the stimulation of each new challenge with courage and new confidence, our faith grows and gets stronger and with our new found renewed faith and hope, we gain new self-respect, dignity and pride, soon we become unstoppable. We become like tempered steel.

Let's consider how steel is tempered. It is only after metal has been heated and subjected to extreme temperatures, after it reaches it's boiling point and then cooled down in the flames of a very hot furnace that it becomes it's strongest. Then it can be shaped and molded and tempered into something useful and practical, only then does it become the strongest of steels.

If metal is never heated or subjected to extreme temperatures, it will be brittle, fragile and breakable. It will never reach it's full potential. Metal expands when heated, it's surface area and volume increases. Heat changes and alters the properties and the make up of the metal. Heat changes it to better suit the job it will be used for.

To harden metal, it needs to be heated up and then cooled down, that process produces high strength and makes the metal more wear resistant. But the heat must be maintained until a portion of the carbon in the metal has been dissolved.

Untempered steel is hard, but it is too brittle for most purposes. To temper steel, you must perform a secondary treatment. After the metal has been hardened by heating it up at very high temperatures and then cooled down, you must then reheat it at a lower temperature. This increases and improves it's stability, the toughness, as well as it's strength, now it will be able to resist wear and erosion and can withstand much greater impact and shock.

Just like tempered harden steel, when we are exposed to pressure and stress, or when we face serious challenges and setbacks, we become like tempered steel, it makes us more resilient, it toughens and hardens us so that we become more stable and unbreakable. We will be able to withstand even greater pressures and stress, in fact we will be able to withstand almost anything that life throws at us.,