David Kateeba - Surviving Tough Times

2020 U.S. David Kateeba, Surviving Tough Times: 12 Keys to Pulling Through Hardship

The right of David Kateeba to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN: 978-1-951492-12-0 Paperback

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The words him, his, he, or man are invariably used in a generic sense and in such instances may have reference to people of either gender.

Take note that the name satan and related names are invariably not capitalized. This deliberate dishonor is a choice on the part of the author, despite it being a violation of grammatical rules.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified Bible. Copyright 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message: The Bible in Contemporary English. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress

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To my grandson Zaine, whose life from day one has truly epitomized surviving tough times

I am fully persuaded that the big guy upstairs has had the biggest hand in this works coming to fruition. I am eternally indebted to Him for all Ive learned about surviving tough times and now attempt to pass it on to the reader in the pages that follow. Thank You, Lord.

In truth I profess that the best in us always emerges when we identify and collaborate with others who have an eye for the positives in our negatives, the roses amid our thorns, the honey made by our stinging bees, the grapes beneath those towering giants, and the silver lining in the dark clouds within usothers who can spot the crown camouflaged by our cross and the success hidden in our sacrifice. To that end I take pleasure in acknowledging the following people, whose gracious input spurred me on until this book was out:

Pastor Moses N. Sekatawa at Christ Reigns Worship Center in Beltsville, Maryland, for the essential tips you could have very easily kept to yourself. Bless you, sir.

Pastor Joybel K. Tampa at International Gospel Church in Chelsea, Massachusetts, for constantly whooping, Yes, you can! and nagging me out of my comfort zone. Just look at the payoff its brought forth! More grace to you, maam.

My wife, Nicola, for being the greatest cheerleader I could have ever asked for. Your timing was always impeccable in providing the lift I needed to get airborne and dotting my is and crossing my ts when my mid-flight writing vertigo caught up with me, tempting me to retreat.

Linda Muwonge at Destiny Christian Ministries, London, for the critical and incredible logistical support that only you could provide.

The staff, volunteers, and members of the Destiny family, at Destiny Christian Ministries in Battersea, London, for being the calm guinea pigs by which I tested much of what I now share. Thank you for allowing me to experiment on you. You make the mind-boggling job that is pastoring such a blast!

There are situations in life that bring folks to their knees, that drive them to desperation, and from which there seems to be no escape. Even the most hardened macho hustler is stretched to the brink of his tethers in these, as these situations are no respecters of persons. They befall the innocent, the guilty, the saint, the sinner, the good, the bad, the ugly, the bold, the beautiful, the rich, the famous, and everyone in between. Living can be difficult.

As one famous singer sang: If it aint one thing its another. Renowned motivational speaker Les Brown rightly said, We are in an era that the late Peter Drucker [a former world-renowned, Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author] calls the three Cs: accelerated change, overwhelming complexity, and tremendous competition.

Those who look cool, calm, and collected have simply mastered the art of depriving their troubles of the oxygen of publicity. Make no mistake, beneath that veneer lurks the raw deal.

We share our world with mathematicians and physicists who believe Murphys Law, which says, Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Life is marbled with deadly situations that seem to defy every conceivable remedy man can humanly doctor. You dont have to go far to see this. The headlines in our tabloids and the breaking news in the media ably, avidly, and regularly treat us to an elaborate menu of trouble in high definition. These situations are not occasional; theyre an onslaught, a daily assault.

Jesus, the master miracle worker, told His disciples they would have tribulation in this world. Fortunately, He was quick to add that they were to be of good cheer because He had an excellent track record of dealing with that tribulation. So there is hope.

That hope to make surviving tough times a real-life achievement is the theme of this book. Hopefully, this work will dispel and expose the defeatist myth, which insinuates that what will be, will bethat we cant make it through the tragedies appointed to snuff us out.

If that myth were true, we would not do a lot of things: We would not wear glasses anymore when we cant see well. Why bother? What will be, will be. We would stop wearing seat belts too and no longer engage the expertise of a mechanic when something breaks down. Why should we? What will be, will be. We would stop visiting dentists and doctors too when we felt sick, and perhaps not even open an umbrella if we are caught in a downpour. Why? Because what will be, will be.

Obviously, soldiering on with life like that is not an option. When our lives are besieged by trouble, we must commit and apply ourselves to corrective measures and actions; we must constantly be focused on improvement and excellence in our lives, especially when problems arise.

If our efforts in this always paid off, that would be very encouraging. However, that hardly ever happens, so it is our duty to strive for our own deliverance.

If, for example, we abuse our bodies with irregular sleep patterns, overeating or eating too much processed food, overwork, or the lack of exercise, we cannot blame fate for our troubles. We cannot naively say, This was bound to happen. No; we had a hand in it.

To the degree that we are able, we must actively prevent bad results stemming from our own choices. We cannot afford to be docile spectators, sloppily dawdling along without engaging in mending our mistakes, and being responsible for our wrongdoing. In truth, none of us will escape the consequences of our actions. None of us gets special seating in the auditorium of our lives.

If the devil is going to bog us down in any way, shape, or form, he is going to have to earn that without our help. We do not want to hand him a landslide victory and make his diabolical agenda easy due to our own laziness. A Chinese proverb says, Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.

We must not