Taken from the book “LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT – SEVEN STEPTS TO

MOVING FORWARD."ACEPTING THE SITUTION"

An Extended how to accept any situation will be available in November 2010, sign up for
your free copy by going to http://www.carlmathis.com, in contact form use the code
accept #1.

“LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT – SEVEN STEPTS TO

MOVING FORWARD. http://www.carlmathis.com
This book in available at all major book stores including online, in such places as
Amazon, Bands and Noble Boarders and all other online retail etc.

This book is also available in audio download.

Carl Mathis wasn't prepared for the devastation the loss of his wife would bring to his
life. He soon found himself grieving, struggling to make ends meet, and trying to raise his
sons, who were also dealing with personal turmoil from the loss of their mother. After
months of waiting for someone to rescue him, Carl had to face the inevitable truth--no
one was coming. He realized that if he wanted out of the mess his life was becoming, he
was going to have to do it himself. Join new author Carl Mathis in this motivational story
about one man's struggle to put his life back together. Life Is What You Make It will
teach you how to overcome any crippling situation you find yourself in and stimulate
personal and spiritual growth by accepting the situation, taking responsibility,
conditioning your mind, choosing to make right decisions, building a team, believing, and
defining the new normal.

Life is what you make it

Life is What You Make it-Seven steps to moving forward
Carl Mathis

Life Is What You Make It

Copyright © 2010 by Carl Mathis. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted
in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise
without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.
Scripture quotations marked (amp) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright ©
1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (kjv) are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version,

Cambridge, 1769. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked
(niv) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright©
1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All
rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (nlt) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Tate Publishing, LLC.

Published by Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC 127 E. Trade Center Terrace Mustang,
Oklahoma 73064 USA1.888.361.9473 | www.tatepublishing.com Tate Publishing is
committed to excellence in the publishing industry. The company reflects the philosophy
established by the founders, based on Psalm 68:11,

“The Lord gave the word and great was the company of those who published it.” Book
design copyright © 2010 by Tate Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Cover design by
Kellie Southerland Interior design by Blake Brasor Published in the United States of
America

ISBN: 978-1-61663-465-0

1. Religion, Christian Life, Personal Growth

2. Religion, Christian Life, Spiritual Growth
Dedication

To my loving wife, Dale Averill Delaney Mathis, who died before I could get an
opportunity to put pen to paper. To my three sons: Jaron Mathis, Carl Mathis Jr., and
Torrey Mathis.

Accept the Situation _

An Extended how to accept any situation will be available in November 2010, sign up for
your free copy by going to http://www.carlmathis.com, in contact form use the code
accept #1.

If life has dealt you an unexpected situation, you should accept it and use it to your
advantage. Do not let the situation be your down fall for life. First you need to realize a
few things: Your situation may be small compare to others. Everyone has some kind of
situation in their life. Everybody is busy with their own life. So you too need to come to
the conclusion that no one is coming. However, you have the ability inside of you that
can enable you to achieve anything you want or need; all you have to do is use that
ability. For years I neglected to do so. I was ignorant in my thinking. The truth is
everything begins with a thought, and the desire of wanting to do something brings that
thought into play. Through that desire, action takes over and makes that thought come
into reality. However, in the end, the only thing that counts is action because it’s what
makes everything a reality. You can’t achieve anything without any action in your life.

You need to know that achievement is the result of your own capability. If you want to
figure out and dissolve any situation, you must act accordingly. However, if you do
nothing and wait for someone to help you, chances are they will not come, as in my case.
Reality says that there are positives and negatives in all situations. Disappointments,
setbacks, losses, and even winnings are all part of life.

Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver
or gold. Proverbs 22:1 (nlt)

The line that separates eternally from carnality is called having a good name, or better
yet, a good reputation. I started to wonder what would be spoken about me if I let this
situation diminish my life. Was I worthy of having my name mentioning forever and
ever? Did I want my name to be spoken with a good and positive attitude, even after the
Lord called me home? If not, then I was not going to achieve success in my situation. But
I certainly did not want anything negative to be said about me, especially when I had
three boys to take care of. This was a vital point in taking control of my situation. A good
name would transient my ability to achieve the unattainably.

And to make matters worst, while still waiting for someone to come to my rescue, one
evening I received a letter in the mail from the bank stating that my house was in the
process of foreclosure. What could I do? I had to do something with my life. I couldn’t
just wait my life away. With no activity going on my life, I was heading in the wrong
direction waiting for someone to come to my rescue.

When you find yourself waiting and looking for help from someone, what you are
actually doing is looking to that person to help you in a specific need. There is a
conscious expectation that the person will help you out in that special need, which means
that you do not have control over the circumstances in your life and, therefore, are
looking for there provisions or protection, etc. waiting and looking for help from
someone, what you are actually doing is looking to that person to help you in a specific
need. There is a conscious expectation that the person will help you out in that special
need, which means that you do not have control over the circumstances in your life and,
therefore, are looking for there provisions or protection, etc.

You may think: If I could only control what I do and say, then everything will be okay. If
I could only control the way I feel sometimes, I would avoid the emotional difficulties
that I keep encountering. If I could only control how people think and what they say
about me, just maybe I would have a better life. However, you cannot control what
people would say and think about you. Control your own actions. And if you don’t
control your actions and stop waiting for help from the wrong place, your life will be like
driving a vehicle without brakes. You will eventually have an accident. If you let your
situation control your life, your future is uncertain. Suffering can happen in thousands of
different ways and whether it takes place in the form of abuse (physical or mental),
people cheating on you, loved ones dying, parents not loving you enough, car accidents,
or even losing your job,

The difference is how you deal with your suffering and whether you’re able to move on
to the healing process. You can deal with your pain or you can let it slowly destroy you.
An important part of gaining confidence is to “let go” of your suffering and have the
courage to move on and be the whole person you know you can be.

I was the only one who had the power to let the past go and to move on with my life. It
didn’t matter what anyone else said or did; only I had the power to take control of my
life. It was incredibly empowering when I got to the stage where the past didn’t control
my future anymore. I was relieved of my burden of waiting and dwelling on what’s past
and gone. I thought: if I could get my life back in order, I could be able to help others
who are going through the exact same thing I did.

I had to find my purpose for life and see what happens. I know there are many who might
say, “Why try? Everything always seems to go wrong in my life?” And there are some
who might say, “I see no point in attempting to achieve. It is not worth the effort.” But to
achieve success in my situation, I had to find my purpose. But I often wondered, “What is
purpose?”

1. Purpose can be described as a reason for existence. Meaning that the reason for which
something exists or for which it has been done or made. This brings me to my purpose for
life. This is where I determine the outcome of my life. It’s is a true statement and a fact
that the main purpose for human life as a whole is to advertise and promote God’s Word.
However, you have to find your individual purpose. When you come to the understanding
of your real purpose and acknowledge such, then the process of resolving your situation
will occur. But you must find my purpose. Not someone else, you cannot borrow or rent
some one’s else purpose. The power lies within your purpose for life.

2. Purpose can also be described as a desired effect, meaning the goal or intended
outcome of something. For example, the purpose of the law is to control pollution. Just as
the purpose of God’s Word is to transform, meaning change. Your desire for change has
to be real and put in motion. You have to have a sincere burning desire and a
determination to move on with your life and let go of the past.

Some say that their purpose in life is to transformed people into a better life. This is a
good thing. You may not think this is your main purpose for existence, but having a
sincere desire to fulfill what you have started exemplifies your purpose is effective. For
example, Jesus Christ had a purpose. In the book of John, the author writes in conjunction
with what Jesus said.

Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go
freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My
[God’s] purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:9–10 (nlt)

In others words, Jesus’ purpose is to provided you a rich and satisfying life. At this point
and moment, my purpose is to take care of those three boys, and that cannot happen if I
don’t move on and let go of the past. It was difficult and frustrating at times.

Let’s face it. We sometimes choose to hang onto things in our life that are not helping us
at all—the things that at some point have hurt us, angered us, made us feel sad, or
depressed us. When we choose to hang on to them, we never move forward, and we even
create physical or medical damage to our bodies. To prevent this from happening, we
need to let go.

We go through different experiences in our lives, some are positive, and some we see as
negative and unpleasant. When we hang on to a negative or unpleasant experience, we
are constantly thinking about it. And when we constantly think about that negative event
we prevent our selves from healing. How many pleasant memories do you recall
everyday? Chances are, like most people, you have a number of unpleasant experiences
that you holding on to, which are preventing you from moving forward. This is exactly
what I was doing.

The more we carry the past the worse life gets. Why? Because we filled our mind up with
negative experiences, because we continually hang onto something that doesn’t allow us
to move forward, in short, we carry useless baggage that’s really slowing us down.
I had to focus on different goals and different objectives. It’s not about saying: I let go of
the pain from my fight with my situation and move on. That will help, but if you really
want to start moving on, then you have to have focus on new things, in the process you
will automatically let go of the things that have been slowing you down. In my case, I
thought of my three boys and their future.

Researchers believe that that if you hold on to negative feelings, sad emotions, or
depressing memories, there is a possibility that you could reshape the human cell to the
point where your thoughts of the past have a negative effect on your cells and your
physical health. Physical health.

Hanging on to negative past events is a process that can destroy your life in ways you’re
not even aware of.

Ask yourself these questions:

Do the negative things you hang on to serve you any purpose?

Do they help you move forward?

Do they work in your favor in any way?

If you said no to any or all of the above, then tell yourself this: This emotion/feeling
doesn’t help me, so I’m letting it go and focusing on what is important. Then begin
focusing on what you want next, focus on what is important and what can improve your
life. This is a simple process that gets the mind moving in a new direction, and you stop
building negative energy created from the negative events/emotions, which only attracts
more negative situations. When you begin focusing on more positive things, you begin
attracting positive situations.

Where do I want to go now, and how do I plan to get there? At one point I did not have
the answers, but merely thinking about the options forced my mind to go in a new
direction, and I automatically let go of unwanted feelings and emotions.

The key to success is to train yourself to move in a new direction, so you send new
messages into your life, which then brings you the opportunities to move forward. In
other words: live in the present moment, enjoy everything that is going on at this present
moment. Take a look around you and appreciate those things that you once thought were
trivial. When you are here now, you can be nowhere else. You are not hanging on to
something; you are here now. I know some people may say: “But Carl, where I am right
now really stinks; I don’t want to think about it.” Well, it only stinks because you’re
looking at all the negative things going on. Focus on a few of the positive things—
anything from nature to the wonderful family you may have. This gets you to look at
things differently and tells your body that you’re ready for new possibilities; then you’ll
begin to let go and move forward. Life is about something exciting; it doesn’t mean that
situations and circumstances wouldn’t occur in your life. It doesn’t require being perfect
and fault free. It does not require having all the wealth and education that you want.

Life is about being burden free, worry free, stress free, and able to have the time needed
to serve God and help others. Life is about laying aside every weight and the thing that so
easily beset you so you can run the race that is set before you.

The things that occurred in your life that made you uncomfortable are there to detour you
from your destination. They are called obstacles, with the intention of getting you out of
control of your life. However, if these things occurred in your life, use them to your
advantage. Overcoming these things requires living life to the fullest. Being able to
endure the hardship and complete your task is living life to its accomplishment. From our
destination. They are called obstacles, with the intention of getting you out of control of
your life. However, if these things occurred in your life, use them to your advantage.
Overcoming these things requires living life to the fullest. Being able to endure the
hardship and complete your task is living life to its accomplishment.

Life is taking advantage of what Jesus did on the cross. The completion of the
cancellation of all things that come to do you harm. All the things that are deemed to be a
hindrance and a distraction in your life, Jesus took care of it. The blood on the cross has
terminated the things that would cause you to get out of control. Everything has been
removed from our path, prior to our existence. It is like driving on a freeway in the
middle of rush hour but no traffic in sight. It’s like speaking those things as though they
are and watching them manifest right before your very eyes. It’s like living by the
substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It’s like whatever you
ask for in prayer and believe for comes to pass. Life is keeping your mind in perfect
peace.

Many take life for granted. They abuse their body physically and mentally, not realizing
that the body is what houses the Holy Spirit. When you damage the body, you are doing
harm to the very thing that guides you through your every day life. A damaged body
could not remember the things to bring back to your remembrance. So keep in mind that
a healthy body is a great part of fulfilling life to its fullest, so leave the past behind and
let’s move on. Life expectation is unlimited. Go to the next chapter.

Go here now www.carlmathis.com and purchase your copy and get a FREE audio
download with your copy.

For booking info or to find out more about Motivational Speaker/author Carl Mathis, visit
www.carlmathis.com or email info@carlmathis.com.

An Extended how to accept any situation will be available in November 2010, sign up for
your free copy by going to http://www.carlmathis.com, in contact form use the code
accept #1.