1 . Rejection doesn’t always hurt. Sometimes rejection may _________ a more certain path to our final goals.

This year football fans have been watching to see how Joe would _________ in the playoffs(季后赛) this season. Joe dreamed to play in the National Football League (NFL), but his journey wasn’t a(n) _________ one. He applied to several colleges, but none _________ him. Later, he got into Ohio State, but he sat on the _________ for three years. Ohio State had a great football program and coaches, who didn’t think Joe had _________. But Joe thought differently. He _________ Nebraska and got rejected once again, but he didn’t quit. Then he applied to Louisiana State University, which accepted him. The rest is history.

Joe became the Heisman Trophy _________ during his senior year, then he was admitted to the NFL, and later, his team participated in the World Championship.

Joe’s story reminds us that there are _________ paths to our final goals and that it __________ strong endurance and determination to reach them. No single __________ is going to prevent you from __________ your long-term goals. Be sure to__________ the pain that comes from disappointment and face it bravely. Try to focus on goals rather than the __________ outcome of being rejected and remember that the hurt of rejection comes from how we __________ it.

2 . Our church has a way of assisting those who have financial difficulties without making the receiver feel shame or guilt by dropping money into an offering box with only the name of the receiver on the envelope. The envelopes are then distributed to those members without them knowing the _________ of the giver.

There came a time when my husband and I were among those _________. We did not talk about our financial difficulty with anyone. The only reason our _________ knew was because we had to cut back on many things._________, we hoped they were not aware of the extent of our need. We did not want to _________ them with a problem they were too young to do anything to solve.

Our situation wasn’t improving, and just as we reached the point of _________, our church gave us a gift envelope left in the offering box. We were ___________ to receive a big sum of money, enough to help us _________ that desperate time. We couldn’t help but wonder who had given such a generous gift.

A year later, our seventeen-year-old son was applying for a student loan so he could _________ university. It was then that we discovered that his savings account was almost __________.

His father and I were very disturbed by this. From the time he was nine years old, he had worked very hard for his small __________. I asked him repeatedly to tell me where the money had gone. At first he would not tell me, but I would not let the matter __________.

Finally, in tears, and with much __________, my son admitted that the year before he had put his savings in the offering box for his father and me. I stood there __________, tears filling my eyes. It had taken my son years to save that money. He had given it to us __________—without telling us what he had done.