When bad things happen, how do we respond?\u00a0 With a woe-is-me attitude?\u00a0 Believing, alas, that we are the victim? \u00a0Or what if we really are the victim?\u00a0 … do we get angry?\u00a0 … indignant?\u00a0 … or an emboldened \u201cit\u2019s me against the world\u201d mentality?<\/p>\n
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Truthfully, I can understand that.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s typically the wisest mentality to cling to so closely.<\/p>\n
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Note the freeing, contagious example of Michelle Knight…<\/p>\n
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Michelle Knight, 32, is one of the 3 young women who was kidnapped and trapped in Cleveland for the past 10 years.\u00a0 Her captor, Ariel Castro, reportedly starved and punched Knight until she miscarried during her decade-long ordeal.\u00a0 She suffered such severe beatings while locked up that she actually may need facial reconstruction surgery.\u00a0 Make no mistake about it:\u00a0 she is a victim.<\/p>\n
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(Alas, woe is me.)<\/i><\/p>\n
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Yet on Monday, Knight together with her kidnapped companions, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, released a video to the public on YouTube.\u00a0 Knight\u2019s words were striking.\u00a0 Even more so was the wisdom that shaped and girded her chosen mentality…<\/p>\n
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With her voice at times seemingly frail and faltering, the so-called \u201cvictim\u201d still amazingly shared the following:<\/p>\n
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\u201cThank you everyone for your love, support, and donations, which helped me build a brand new life. I just want everyone to know I\u2019m doing just fine.<\/i><\/p>\n
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I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face, and with my head held high and my feet firmly on the ground. Walking hand in hand with my best friend, I will not let the situation define who I am.\u00a0 I will define the situation.<\/i><\/p>\n
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I don\u2019t want to be consumed by hatred.\u00a0 With that being said, we need to take a leap of faith and know that God is in control.\u00a0 We have been hurt by people, but we need to rely on God as being the judge.<\/i><\/p>\n
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God has a plan for all of us.\u00a0 The plan that He gave me was to help others that have been in the same situations I have been in, to know that there\u2019s someone out there to lean on and to talk to. I\u2019m in control of my own destiny, with the guidance of God.<\/i><\/p>\n
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I have no problem expressing how I feel inside.\u00a0 Be positive, learn that it\u2019s important to give than to receive.\u00a0 Thank you for all your prayers.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to my brand new life. Thank you.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
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Michelle Knight doesn\u2019t deny nor dismiss the reality of what happened to her.\u00a0 She also does not blame nor discount the existence of God.\u00a0 In fact, she incredibly still sees God\u2019s plan \u2014 and knows it will still somehow be good.<\/p>\n
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She doesn\u2019t take the law into her own hands.\u00a0 She hasn\u2019t become indignant.\u00a0 And she refuses to justify hate.\u00a0 She won\u2019t give in to the negative. \u00a0Knight is positive and hopeful.\u00a0 And thus, her message is contagiously inspiring… so much more inspiring than any \u201calas\u201d or \u201cwoe is me.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Respectfully,<\/p>\n
AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When bad things happen, how do we respond?\u00a0 With a woe-is-me attitude?\u00a0 Believing, alas, that we are the victim? \u00a0Or what if we really are the victim?\u00a0 … do we get angry?\u00a0 … indignant?\u00a0 … or an emboldened \u201cit\u2019s me against the world\u201d mentality? Truthfully, I can understand that.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s … <\/p>\n