Many people find themselves facing severe problems ranging from financial hardships, marriage troubles, drug and alcohol abuse, or poor relationships, just to mention a few.

I, like each of you, have found myself in situations that were not very pleasant. So, I would like to share five points that have not only helped me get through these times but I continue to use today when encountering trials.

1.   Accept the reality of where you are. It can be so easy to turn to denial when you are confronted with a negative challenge-not accepting where you are at and working to dismiss it through humor or total rejection of the situation. Before you can begin fixing your future, you must deal with the present. When one of my early business ventures went south, and I started to lose everything, I had to acknowledge, “I am in major trouble, and within ninety days I will be totally broke if I don’t take action.” Accept your reality.

2.   Don’t lie around and wait for things to happen. Get up. Move forward. Do not move into mental depression. So many people go limp when faced with a crisis; they fall into despair and would rather stay in bed than get up and get going. Recovery does not happen for those who wait. Attack the challenge.

3.   Focus. You need to gain your focus back. What were your vision and dreams prior to this trial? Reset your goals and commitments to make them happen once again. Reboot that dream.

4.   Drop the fear. I have heard it said, “Fear kills more people than death!” I can easily understand this statement. There have been multiple times in my life where fear has been so great that I could actually feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I have found myself waking at 3 a.m. in a pool of sweat because of fear. Fear is a great tool to paralyze your forward momentum. If you are going to get through your challenge, you are going to have to replace fear with faith. See the future through eyes of faith and believe it will come to pass.

5.   Expect great things. When challenges arise, we often default to using words that will harm us. “There is no way I am going to get through this.” “This is impossible to overcome.” “This is far too great a task for my ability.” Yet, I have always believed and continue to teach that people must look up and expect great things to happen. Realize you are just one person away from changing the dynamic of your future. Hold on to a confident hope.

These words are easy to write, but at the same time hard to read, as I reflect on the challenges I have endured, and the significant problems my friends have suffered. I do not know what challenge you may face today, but let me assure you, you will make it! My good friend and mentor, Lou Holtz, confidently expresses it this way, “I know not what tomorrow holds, but I do know Who holds tomorrow.”