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equally important part of the mix that will help you become all that you can be. Every insecurity, every fear, every tragedy, every obsession, broken relationship, and shameful incident holds clues that are leading you toward your most magnificent self.
    Blend them together and they will propel you into the unique contribution that you are. If you embrace all the ingredients in your recipe and allow them to be part of your batter, what will come out of the oven is the person your soul longs to be.
    U s i n g Y o u r I n g r e d i e n t s Most of us suffer endlessly from the painful and unwanted parts of our recipe, but there are some extraordinary people who choose to use their pain to contribute to the world. The death of a child is one of the worst ingredients anyone could imagine having in their 31
    T h e S e c r e t o f t h e S h a d o w recipe, but what if it was in the Divine plan for you to use that experience to save the lives of thousands of other children? John Walsh, the host of America’s Most Wanted, did just that. After his six-year-old son, Adam, was murdered, John became an advocate for victims’ rights and brought awareness to a subject that had for years been buried in the dark. Unwilling to allow his child to die in vain, John turned his anger into action and established a national program to incarcerate tens of thousands of criminals and sex offenders. John Walsh could just as easily have chosen to wallow in his grief for years, but instead he chose to use it to make a contribution to the world.
    Identified as one of the most severely abused children in the state of California, Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable and alcoholic mother. Through his courage, strength, and forgiveness, Dave turned his wounds into wisdom and wrote a gripping account of his life’s story, which touched the lives of millions. His book, A Child Called “It,” was a New York Times best-seller for three years and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. While few would consciously choose severe physical and emotional abuse as part of their life’s recipe, we have to thank God that Dave chose to use his experience to make a profound difference in the lives of others.
    When she was just nineteen months old, Helen Keller was rendered blind and deaf after suffering a nearly fatal fever. Rising above the ignorance of her time and her own frustration, Helen became determined to interact with the world using her remain-ing three senses. She became a skilled and passionate communica-tor and the author of thirteen books. Lecturing around the world 32
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    in support of the handicapped and the underprivileged, she almost single-handedly destroyed age-old myths about blindness.
    Imagine what the world would have missed if Helen Keller had made the choice to immerse herself in self-pity, rejecting the ingredients in her unique recipe.
    Viktor Frankl was imprisoned in Auschwitz for five years.
    After his mother, father, and pregnant wife were all killed by the Nazis, Frankl clung to what he called “the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
    Embracing the devastating ingredient of these deaths inspired Frankl to write Man’s Search for Meaning, a book that has been recognized as among the most influential works of humanistic litera-ture.
    We need to be able to look at our entire history—including our traumas, handicaps, failures, and life circumstances—and say,
    “Thank you, God, for giving me that.” Because these experiences were tailor-made to support us in delivering our unique contribution.
    Just think about it. Why did some events wound you so deeply when they didn’t matter at all to the rest of your family? Consider that you needed the wisdom that that incident had to offer. Maybe that pain held a huge lesson that you would have missed if it hadn’t been so severe. Maybe you needed to be born with a