Totally Fulfilled
It Comes Back Tenfold As I shared with you earlier, my dad was taken advantage of as a child by an abusive father, so it was hard for him to trust people. Therefore, he found it hard to give of himself. I thank God that in recent years he has been the complete opposite. He can’t give enough of himself to others, and it has brought him a happi- ness and peace he has waited his entire life for. I saw at a young age the amazing transformational power of giving and how it came back to me even though I was not expect- ing it. I also saw how my dad’s beliefs affected his actions on a regular basis. He told me I was too generous, I gave too much, and I was being a fool in some cases. This was difficult to overcome, especially as my business ventures started to expand. At a very young age I was already diversifying: car sales, auto body repair, renovating run down apartments, and an Internet company. I started with very little, so every dime I earned came from hard physical work and taking some chances. And this was all going on in my early twenties. While I was working so hard to diversify and make my life dif- ferent than that of the people aroundme, my dad thought I was being foolish with some of the people I trusted. And wouldn’t you know it…one of my investments took almost my entire life savings. This was money I had saved for years. The worst part is that it wasn’t just a bad investment. Someone I considered a friend flat out connedme. This person was 35 years my senior. He was someone I felt so strongly about that I asked him to be in my wedding. And with his smiles and hugs and friendly conversations he sucked up all the money I had at the time. I found out later that he had done that to many other people. He started the relationship with me with the intent to defraud me. That experience, combined with a few other “gotchas,” could have set me on a course of “I’ll give when I get something first” and “I can’t trust anyone.” Please don’t think I am saying to be foolish with your time or money. Today, if presented with the same deal that sounded great,
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