Cheryl Salem

Making excuses and finding fault will frustrate your goals. Here's how you can expose the lies that hinder you.

Life is full of difficult situations that are beyond our control. Many times we are faced with things we cannot fix, and at those times we often look for excuses, for reasons why, for someone other than ourselves to point a finger toward, to ease the pain of what we are having to go through.

But I have learned through experience that blaming someone else is not the answer. It doesn't make the situation better; instead, it complicates it by creating a relational rift that dishonors God.

LORD, CHANGE ME I married my husband, Harry Salem, nearly 19 years ago. Before we met, neither of us had any intention of getting married. We both had resolved that we would "just stay single" to better serve God with our lives. Then we met each other, and everything changed.

Like most newlyweds, we entered into our relationship loving nearly everything about each other. But after the "new" had worn off, many issues began to surface.