Why We All Need Heroes and Great Examples.
My mom was the first person to teach me that we all need heroes and great examples.
My mom consistently sought out good examples for us kids.
She took us to meet people she respected, and she had us constantly listening or reading about people who were successful and did the right thing, even when it was difficult.
Maybe that’s why I’ve always been mesmerized by people’s stories.
At various times in your life, you will need a good example—someone to look up to for bolstering your own courage and determination.
Especially for children, they need to hear these stories.
They need to know it’s possible to go against the grain in society and do what’s right.
They also need examples of how others have gone through similar experiences and been successful.
Even as an adult, after having gone through the breast cancer journey, one of the things I find most comforting is women who have gone through the same things.
I often watch and learn from them.
Biographies, testimonies, and stories of real people are important in our everyday lives!
These stories help us go through difficult circumstances with purpose and courage.
Let’s review why this is important.
They validate our own experiences.
Let’s face it. Sometimes, life throws you some curveballs that you were not expecting!
Hard things. Things that take your breath away or your innocence. Things that no one should ever have to go through.
We should always turn to our faith first, but sometimes that’s difficult. Here’s a post that may help with that. https://www.singlemomoutwest.com/find-your-faith-after-trauma/
The second thing that most people reach for is someone who has been through something similar.
As soon as I was diagnosed, I immediately thought of a friend who had gone through this 17 years ago.
Then other stories came. Sometimes in miraculous ways.
Once, I got stopped in a beauty salon. The lady told me that 28 years ago, she went through cancer.
The doctors had told her that she only had a five percent chance of making it. And at the same time she had it, her mother-in-law had breast cancer.
She made a point to tell me that they are both alive and doing well.
These kinds of stories validate the very real pain and situation that you are in, while at the same time, give you hope.
Validating your fears, feelings, and experiences gives you a way to start processing what has happened and what is going on.
Heroes and great examples show us what is possible.
When I first became a single mom, I was completely broken.
Life had not turned out as expected.
I was practically homeless and dependent on everyone else. I had four little kids, and no possible way to earn a decent income.
My folks did their best, but I was in a very desperate place.
But over time, through prayer, I developed a business plan that I believed God gave me. I began to take baby steps to implement my small business idea.
I had a lot of doubters. Many wanted me to get a “regular” job, but they failed to see my dilemma. There was no way I was going to send my tiny little kids to daycare for 40-plus hours a week.
I was completely alone in this, and I knew it.
But this vision of a way to earn money without abandoning my children gave me hope.
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Proverbs 29:18 KJV
I took baby steps consistently, and over time, the little business grew. It provided just enough money to keep me where I knew I needed to be.
Disclaimer: This was what I knew I needed to do. But it’s not for everyone. Many single moms have better options and support than I did. We all need to follow the wisdom and plan God has for each of us. We do what we have to do to survive and take care of our families.
Months later, after I started this journey, I saw a broadcast about Madame CJ Walker, or her real name, Sarah Breedlove.
Madame CJ Walker
She was an African American woman whose husband had died and left her a single mom with a baby girl, aged two.
Sarah worked as a washwoman but was barely making ends meet. She made this a matter of prayer, and God sent her a dream that provided a miracle.
African American women in those days had no decent hair products, and baldness was a common issue.
That dream provided Sarah with the ingredients, and with the help of her brothers, who were barbers, she began her own haircare line.
You can read about it here:
https://www.biography.com/inventors/madam-cj-walker-invent-hair-care-products
Her story and example gave me the courage to keep going, even when things were hard and less than promising.
These stories give us specifics. They show us how to do it.
These heroes and great examples give us specific ideas and show us how they did it.
They endured insurmountable experiences and emerged successfully on the other side.
I think we all want to know how to make it. How do we leave our own legacies and become great examples for our sons and daughters?
I never wanted to be a single mom or to go through cancer. I wanted the white picket fence and the smiling face. In short, I wanted a life of ease.
But that’s not real life. In real life, pain and struggles happen.
Satan is a deceiver, and he will try to destroy everything in your life, but God has a better plan.
What Satan plans for evil, God can turn into good.
There are many great examples and heroes to research and study.
Here is a list from thriftbooks.com. Please note that I am not affiliated with thriftbooks.com, but I found their list of books interesting.
Here is also a YouTube video with Darlene Rose’s testimony. She was a missionary and a prisoner of war during World War II. An excellent place to start!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLeZJZGu-KY
Testimonies and biographies of heroes and great examples will enrich your life and encourage you!
Prayers for your journey,
Lacey
