“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” – John Maxwell

Reading that quote it helped me realize the cause and effects of every decision I made. I found myself blaming the circumstances that were coming up for my world being shaken and didn’t realize that the way I reacted to these circumstances was causing it! Also, as a great child of God, I wasn’t allowing myself to see what He expected me to do in these situations. Instead, I threw myself a pity party until He spoke to me in His gentle way.

Life isn’t exactly what we dream it to be. But it’s not because God is out to get us. It’s because He allows things to come into our lives to mold our attitudes and reactions to something more like His. It doesn’t matter what happens in our lives; it’s all a matter of how we handle the things that come our way. Grasping onto the fact that God still loves us even though life is happening is a great outlook. The Bible does say that He will never bring more to us than we can bear. God does and will make a way for you and I to get through anything we’re facing. We just have to remember to keep a great attitude through it all. Our reaction will bring about the effect later on. We may not see it right away, but it sets the precedent for more decisions down our road.

I find myself wishing for the big picture of it all, just so I could know what decision I should make for the now. But in doing so, I may be squandering the precious life lessons of now. I go for the easy, instead of the challenge of being tried. So, I’m learning now, and I hope you do too, to keep an open attitude no matter what you’re facing. Your reactions will make the difference about how it operates. You just have to remember to let God once again hold your world in His hand.

William Wilberforce, the son of a rich merchant, was born in Hull in 1759. His father died when he was very young, after which he was raised by his aunt—a very heavy supporter of the Methodist movement. His mother did not support the movement nor accept what it stood for, so she brought him back to the family home.

At seventeen he enrolled at Saint John’s college, where he befriended William Pitt. After attending college for a while, Wilberforce decided to to enter the realm of politics in order to “achieve political success,” which he later found was not the right motive. Wilberforce and Pitt ended up becoming political celebrities because of their wit and charm.

It is amazing how God chooses us at such young ages and uses us in greater ways than we could imagine. I’m sure that at this point in his life, Wilberforce had no idea that God would use him in such a radical way.

In 1784 he decided to convert to Evangelical Christianity. After studying the practice for some time, he decided to write a book encouraging others to change their morality and regain true Christian values in their lives. William began to look at his political views with a Christian perspective—and change them. God was using this young man to accomplish His work.

Three years later, Wilberforce decided involve himself in one of the greatest political efforts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: the abolition of slavery. In 1787 Wilberforce became the parliamentary leader of the abolitionist movement. It was a large task, considering that most of England’s wealth depended on the slave trade. People involved with it would not look fondly on his work. Despite what others thought and the vastness of this task, he continued the work God had set before him.

In 1788 William presented his Abolitionist Bill before the house for the first time; it would not be the last. In a moving three-hour-long speech, he spoke on the horrible facts of slavery. He ended with the words “having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know.” Newspaper writers praised this oration, saying it was “one of the most eloquent speeches ever read in the house.”

Wilberforce tried with all his might to get the bill passed, but it failed year after year. Finally, in 1807, the Abolition Bill was passed concerning all slave ships. This was a very emotional day for Wilberforce; after the bill passed he cried, because his dream had finally been met.

But that dream only stopped the ships: slavery was still together. After the victory of 1807, William turned all his resources to the emancipation of slaves. In 1823 he published the paper “Appeal on Behalf of the Negro Slaves”. This led to the Anti-Slavery Society, which eventually led to the emancipation campaign.

The emancipation bill slowly gained support and was approved July 26th 1833, about a year after he retired from Parliament. At the news, Wilberforce said “Thank God that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give twenty million sterling for the abolition of slavery.”