Who you become is not determined by your circumstances. The outcome of your life is determined by your outlook on life. Often times our greatest problems are not circumstantial problems, they are perceptual problems. Our biggest problem is how we see our problem.

Last weekend, we talked about 3 ways we handle adversity in life. How you go into difficulty and how you come out of it defines your character. These three examples can be seen in the art of cooking:

Carrots
When you put carrots into a boiling water bath, they go in firm and crisp. After boiling, they come out mushy, weak. When you go into adversity, you don’t want to come out weaker than when you went into it. Apathy is an example of this- you’re reacting like a carrot would. You get defeated (mushy) and it’s no way to live like.

Eggs
They come in very fragile but it comes out hard-boiled and rubbery. It also stinks. If we go into adversity and don’t handle it right, hearts get hard and your life gets stinky. Then, at the next adversity, we reinforce this pattern and it becomes difficult to break the pattern.

Coffee
It goes into the situation ground up, but it comes out better. Not only that, but it changes the environment around it. When you handle adversity the right ways, you’ll be changed for the better. The product is a nice aroma that is pleasing to God and others around you.

Adversity is an opportunity for you to

grow in your faith and show God’s glory.

So the question for this week: Are you carrots or coffee? Are you eggs or coffee? May we handle adverse circumstances through the proper perspective and come out better than before.