JK Rowling

 "At age 17, she was rejected from college.

At age 25, her mother died from the disease.

At age 26, she moved to Portugal to teach English.

At age 27, she got married.

Her husband abused her. Her daughter was born.

At age 28, she got divorced and was diagnosed with severe depression.

At age 29, she was a single mother living on welfare.

At age 30, she didn't want to be on this earth.

But, she directed all her passion into doing the one thing she could do better than anyone else.

And that was writing.

At age 31, she finally published her first book.

At age 35, she released 4 books and was named Author of the Year.

At age 42, she sold 11 million copies of her new book, on the first day of release.

This woman is J.K. Rowling. Remember how she considered suicide at age 30?

Today, Harry Potter is a global brand worth more than 15 billion dollars.

Never give up. Believe in yourself. Be passionate. Work hard. It’s never too late.

She is J.K. Rowling."

Imtiaz Mahmod

LeBron James

 LeBron James with no father, no college education, no training, and very few role models except his single mother Gloria, they handed this young, dirt poor black kid $420,000 per week, at the age of 18 to play basketball  and become the face of the $75 billion NBA!

He married his high school sweetheart Savannah, was never arrested, never used drugs, and never humiliated his wife publicly with side chick stories. No outside babies. Never divorced..

Never in the news with so much as a parking ticket. Excellent father. Heavily involved with his 3 kid's activities. Greatest player of all time!

20 years later. Same dude. Same maturity. Same chick. Same family. Reputation intact. A billionaire earning over $2 million per week. He has sent 2300+ at risk kids from his hometown to college fully paid for.

#inspiring #lesson #worldchampion #Amazing #lebronjames #KingJames #legend

Ctto:

Confession to the priest in the Old Testament

 " 5 When a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed, 6 and he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin."

-Leviticus 5:5-6 (cf John Bergsma, Jesus and the Old Testament Roots of the Priesthood, p 57

Our sins, God's mercy and glory

 "I personally hold that there are saints in heaven who would not be in heaven if they had not sinned mortally. Sin is sometimes a necessary purification for our pride." (p 163)

As long as there is a hint of self-satisfaction in us, we will not be able to feel the full impact of grace (that flows from divine mercy). Jesus came to call sinners, not the good guys. We can tell him, 'I'm that sort of guy that you've became man to save. The sort of man you're looking for.' ... I am an obvious case for the Lord. The tougher the case I am, the more interest he has in the job. The more difficult it is to make me a saint, the more glory he gets from the power of his grace.

"God planned this world to be glorified by his mercy and grace. His grace is almost synonymous with His mercy. Merit and justice belong to the next life. This life is a time for mercy. I would go as far as to say, and I would not like to be quoted theologically on this because it needs proper expression, that God never punishes individuals in this life. Rather, he only corrects them. He will come down on you like a ton of bricks sometimes, but it is not just to take it out on you. It is to correct you and to give you a chance for making up for what you lost.

"His punishments in this life, if we can call them that, are always corrective and medicinal. They are planned to repair what you have lost by your infidelity or your sins. He never judges us in this life; he saves us. Our whole union with God in this life is based on the fact that we are sinners and he is saving us from our sins. I dare to say that your sins are the most effective means you have of affecting divine union. They draw down the mercy of God.

"Our Lord insisted that he came to look for sinners, not for saints (Mk 2:17). For lost sheep (Lk 15:3-7). For prodigal sons (Lk 15:11-32). I think you can find some of these headings in which you could put yourself."

-Eugene Boylan, Partnership with Christ, p xx

Mental prayer like a holocaust

 "There is one thing you cannot do. You cannot kneel before the Lord and not catch our Lord's eye." (p 155)

"The fact that you consecrate 30 minutes for doing nothing else except kneeling there is an act of divine worship." (p 158)

"Think of mental prayer as a holocaust to God. You get nothing in return. But without that holocaust, we will never be able to hear the word of God at any other time of the day." (p 161)

-Eugene Boylan, Partnership with Christ, p 155, 158, 161

Glorified now by His mercy, glorified then by his justice

 "God glorifies himself by His justice in the next life. But in this life, God glorifies himself by His mercy. ... 

God's plan was that where sin abounded, grace might more abound (Rom 5:20)... The more mercy He shows, the more glory He gets. Therefore, logically, the less claim you have on God's goodness, the more glory He gets from giving you mercy.

...

The worse we are, the more reason for having confidence in God our Savior."

-Eugene Boylan, Partnership with Christ, p 35

Being humble qualifies us

"We have to be humble and admit the truth about ourselves. By refusing to admit this truth, we put ourselves outside the special enclosue where God is looking for us. It is only when we have labeled ourselves as sinners and people to be saved, that he can get at us."

-Eugene Boylan, Partnership with Christ, p 46-47