Resilience: Seeing Your Strength

By Nancy Ball-Blake

Author Nancy Ball Blake earned her self- proclaimed PhD in Life Change and has redefined the word, “Resilience”. As a business professional and single mom, Nancy has faced many of life’s most challenging moments. In “Resilience” she shares a few of those unexpected changes and how she designed her own unique way to learn what it takes to thrive. Offering perspectives on the lessons she learned throughout her journey, Nancy pays tribute to her family and shares solutions to overcoming the pain of loss. What began as a journal detailing those moments, became a guide to help others redefine the roadmap for their future. Heartfelt and passionate, Resilience offers ideas, principles, and inspirational affirmations presented by her chosen mentors, Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Napoleon Hill, and others. Nancy tells how she embraced change, found her strength, and rediscovered her life’s blueprint with the help of God’s grace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781483474298

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Ball-Blake

Copyright © 2017 Nancy Ball.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture quotes marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7430-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-7429-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017913601

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 08/29/2017

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As I finally come to the publishing of my first book, I have never felt more encouraged to pursue my passions and live my life to its fullest potential. I had the opportunity to grow and learn from my experiences, and as a result of writing the book, I discovered a new personal and professional future for myself. I am proud to say that I hold true to who I am and what my purpose is on this earth.

To Mom and Dad, who taught me to never give up and to challenge myself to pursue my personal best in all I do; to run my own race in life at my own personal pace; to be kind in words and strong in spirit; to be the master of my fate and captain of my soul.

To my sister, Sue, who gave her love, support, and insight into life’s difficult moments and who continues to resonant the family spirit that will never die.

To my brother, Bob, who provided the common-sense approach to understanding change and has remained an ever-important part of my family.

To my three beautiful children, Allison, Christopher, and Dave, who are the focus of my love and whom I can’t thank enough for being strong and loving me through my life’s most difficult times; they continue to remind me that family is my foundation and what gives life purpose.

To my dearest friends and colleagues who have been voices of reason for a lifetime and compelled me to find my strength; they showed me I can believe in myself again because they never gave up believing in me.

To God, for seeing the strength within me and providing direction to focus that strength toward the pursuit of my passion and to help me exceed all expectations in life.

It is a blessing, honor, and privilege to love you all.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John: 3:16).

PROLOGUE

We all have been given a purpose through God’s greatest gift of life. With that gift, we have the ability to make choices of how our journeys will evolve. I felt my purpose included encouraging others to achieve their personal goals and aspirations.

My blueprint in life has been to pursue my professional career with accountability and responsibility, create loving relationships with family and friends, and provide my children with a strong foundation.

God found ways to show me how to create a new blueprint and seek new opportunities to learn and grow in every aspect of my life.

Through some very difficult times, I learned to look up, shape up, and grow up. I had to evaluate my authentic self and how best to approach life to make it more fulfilling.

I wrote this book in hopes that I can bring nothing less than outstanding ideas and perspective on the lessons I have learned throughout my journey.

It is with great focus on God’s work in my life that I have found faith love, hope, humor, and happiness again.

I am honored and privileged to share this book in hopes you may find insight and comfort in your own life when unwanted change occurs.

I began my journey four years ago, developing and writing what I felt was a collection of personal experiences that tested every fiber of my being.

What began as a journal toward recovery grew into something greater than I ever anticipated. It became the beginning of a new way to approach life.

Resilience. Life has a strange way of helping us define the meaning of the word. I discovered it is more than a word. Resilience is a core belief that comes about by learning who you truly are. It is the courage to face difficult situations and make conscious choices to learn from them. Resilience is about exploring personal growth. It is a word that helps us rediscover our focus. It is an action taken, time and time again, when faced with insurmountable odds, and as a result it helps us make a difference in life. So, begins my story …

CHAPTER 1

A BROKEN VOW

I never thought I would find myself writing about such a challenge as divorce, let alone outlining my personal experience.

I wasn’t prepared for finding a way to make sense of one of the most life-changing events I have ever experienced. Yet I found my resolve through what began as a daily journal.

Much growth and personal development went into every chapter, but the greatest lesson I learned was working through a broken vow.

On April 25,