Church of God Macon, GA

Publishers's Preface:

      Out of the personal experience of a sufferer, a man who because of accidental injuries has been bedfast for 35  years, this book has come.  Here is a man who speaks the language of those who have suffered adversity - loss of health, bereavement, unexpected reverses, disappointed hopes, and many other calamities that happed to people. The thoughts printed in this book are not theoretical.  They were not born in the mind of one who was merely trying to be helpful to those less fortunate than he.                                                 Rather, they flow forth from the inmost soul of one who himself has had to wrestle with adversity.  The point is that by the help of God he has mastered the calamity tht came upon him in life.  For that reason he is competent to give help to others. Perhaps the quality of the author's triumph amidst adversity is best portrayed in these lines of poetry which he has written:

I walk today in the Christian way, Tho'  dangers Imay  see                                                             I will not fear,  for the Lord  is near, And he will care for me

No test I face, but sufficient grace, Is ready for my need;                                                             When sorrows rise to obscure my skies, He proves a friend indeed.  

He will not fail in the strongest gale That stormy winds can blow;                                  

And in His grace is a hiding place,  Unknown to any foe.

I trust in Him, tho' disaster grim, Before me seem to be;                                                          

He calms my fears and He dries my tears, And faithful is to me.

Chapter 1

WHEN THE GOING BECOMES HARD:

      When youth's bright imagination looks forward, it gazes down the vista of life and a roseate ( rosy) future.  People expect their lives to be replete with happiness.  They think of themselves as being happy, they expect to be happy, they think that this life was made for happiness.

      One of the components fo happiness for which people look is ease.  Ease and comfort are two of the most desirable things in the estimate of most persons.  Few people look forward and plan their lives to be lives of toil.  They expect to be so successful they may sometime possess enough of the goods of this world to say, like one of old, "Soul, take thine ease."  This is the goal of millions, and desire of multitudes.  

Another thing that looms large on the skyline of life is pleasure.  Gratification of desire stands out as a thing to be attained at all costs, for it is supposed to bring pleasure; therfore, gratificaiton  is thought of as life's gratest good.  The goddess of pleasure is thought to be the giver of all that is most desirable.  On these things people set their hopes and for them they make their plans.  To attain them seems life's most desiable ambition.

                       THE CERTAINTY OF TROUBLE

      No one plans to have adversity in his life.  Did you ever see anyone who deliberately make provision  in his life's plan for adversities?  They are not wanted; they are shunned.  Most people are like those of whom the writer of the tenth Psalm speaks: "He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved:  for I shall never be in adversity" (Ps. 10:6)  There are few who escape adversity.  If we look at the people around us and study their lives one by one, we shall see that life is rarely ever smooth sailing all the way.  Life has it's difficulties, it's hard things - things that test the fiber of our souls.  To believe we shall not have our part in the things that beset others is wishful thinking.

Since good and evil are so blended in the world, adversity is quite certain to come to us in one form or another.  We may expect our share andshould not leave it out of account in life's plans.  According to the law of averages and the law of probabilities, we know that we shall not escape.  This should not alarm us, neither should it make us believe we shall  be unhappy.  We should not shrink from the future because of it; we should prepare for it.  This does not mean that we should fear it and let it's possible coming throw a deep shadow over life; neither should we live under a strain, expecting trouble to overtake us at any time.  We ought to be ready to meet it bravely, confidently, and rsourcefully, so that we shall bot be overwhelmed.

                         USE YOUR RESERVE POWER

       At the same time that we are aware of life's possibilities, we should be conscious of our own possiblities.  Our bodies are built with much grater capacity than we use day by day.  In time of need or danger or sickness we draw upon these extra resources.  This is true in every part of our being.  In other words, we are given capacities to meet things far beyond what come upon us in our daily, normal life.  Therefore, if the going becomes rough, if the way becomes difficult, we have at hand capabilities that enable us to rise to meet the need, and the first thing to do is to draw upon these reserves.

No wise general expects unfailing victory.  He plans for victory, works for victory, does everything possible for victory; but at the same time he always has other plans to fall back on if he meets defeat.  If his army is defeated he will have everything ready to fall back to a previously chosen strong position in the rear and there he will again marshal his forces, make his dispositions, and be ready for a new encounter with the foe. The good general will anticipate any suprise moves of the enemy and have counter measures prepared.  We have in our history examples of generals who failed to take such precautions and whose plans were not adequate to meet the conditions that arose.   In the Indian wars in the Ohio country General St. Clair marched out with his army cinfident that he would be able to defeat the Indians.  They surprised him by attacking him and his army before he expected it.  He had not taken proper precautions.  In a little while his army was defeated with great slaughter.  Later, General Wayne led his army against these same Indian trible.  He was a general who took every precaution.  The Indians could not suprise him.  To them he was a man who never slept but was always on the alert.  He defeated the Indians and compelled them to sue for peace.   At the battle of Chancellorsville, General Hooker is said to have had more than twice as many troops as Lee and Jackson.  He was confident of success; he was certain the enemy must retreat; but General Jackson passed around Hooker's flank and in the early dawn struck him a might and unexpected blow.  My grandfather was with his regiment in the Eleventh Corps. that stood in Jackson's path.  They were taken by suprise, outflanked, and driven from the field.  This severe defeat resulted from overconfidence, lack of care, and lack of preparation.                                                                          Many people are taken by surprise by adversity; they are thrown into a panic and cannot summon thier resources immediately.  The result often is that they are overwhelmed by the adversity thus unexpectedly met.  Some give way to discouragement, or even to despair.  They had planned happiness, they were looking for pleausre and gratificaion, for ease.  They expected to do as they  liked and have a good time.  Adversity was the last thing they had expected and they had no plans to meet it.  Their thougt now is, "What shall I do?"  Generally, they look for some easy way out.  There are a great many things that we have to go through the hard way.  There is always a way through adversity, and many things that way is simper than it seems at first.  In any event, it will require courage and determination.  It will demand that we summon all our resources and meet it manfully.  It will not do to whimper and pity ourselves, lamentandweep. Some who read this do not look forward to possible adversity - their adversities have already arrived.  They are now facing them or they are now in the midst of them.  The question with them is,  "What shall we do now?"  The stress and strain is not a future thing with them, but a present reality.  In this volume we shall try to suggest some ways of meeting the stress of adversities.

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