Character not circumstance

 Max Lucado writes, "A legend from India tells about a mouse who was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat.  That resolved his fear…until he met a dog, so the magician changed him into a dog.  The mouse-turned-cat-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger – so, once again, the magician changed him into what he feared.  But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help.  'I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse.'"

As Booker T. Washington once said, “Character, not circumstance, makes the person.” 

"Courage is an outgrowth of who we are.  Exterior supports may temporarily sustain, but only inward character creates courage.     ~Max Lucado, The Applause of Heaven
 
The good news is the power to generate this inner strength and character does not come from us; but from God.
 
God is at work within you to give you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. ~Philippians 2:13 JB Phillips
 
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  ~Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV
 
Growing Together in Character,
In His Power...