After losing her dad, her business, her livelihood she was exhausted. I sat across from my teary-eyed friend and listened knowingly to her anguished cries.
For the last two years she had poured everything into moving forward, being strong, starting over, doing the next thing. Yet, the needle seemed stuck, determined to stay in the starting blocks.
She looked me square in the eyes and pleaded,” Is it always going to be this hard?”
Her questions rung inside my mind and still circle around in there on the daily.
Is it ALWAYS going to be this HARD?
It’s particularly bothersome, because I know the answer and I don’t like it.
Yes, my friend, life will remain hard. Jim Rohn once quipped, “ Life doesn’t get easier, we must become better.” The beautiful news is that if we are willing, we can make choices to rise above the hard. We can become better, stronger and more adept at handling the challenges as they arise.
Case in point. In the past few months our family has been experiencing a challenge of epic proportions. Life has seemed so hard and the weight of this difficulty has had the potential to crush us like bugs on a sidewalk. Thankfully, my husband and I have been doing the daily work of becoming better for the last few years. We have risen early to strengthen our faith and prayer muscles, have worked diligently on building meaningful friendships, have gathered resources around us and met with people who can give us wise counsel. We purposed in our hearts to not be isolated, but to live openly outside the four walls of our home.
Going through this challenge has been unbelievably hard. However, by God’s incredible mercy on us we will make it through. We will be better because of it and able to reach behind us and help others who may find themselves in the same situation. We are much better equipped to handle this challenge today, than we were a few years ago. For this I am eternally thankful!
As we become intentional about our growth as a person and our ability to tackle the hard things in life, the question we ask begins to change. Instead of looking around you and asking,”Why is life so hard?” We must boldly ask the bigger question, “ Am I willing?”.
This shifts the responsibility from being a victim of the hard things in life which serves to keep us small, to being victorious and willing to tackle the difficult to achieve a higher purpose.
I challenge you to do this today. Open a fresh page in your journal and title it, Am I Willing? Start making a list of the challenging situations you are facing and asking, “Am I willing to (fill in the blank)?
Am I willing …
to release my adult child completely into the hands of God and allow them to experience the consequences of their actions?
to walk forward in freedom and stop focusing on the past?
to take 100% responsibility for my life? My failures? My shortcomings?
to be the woman that God has called me to be?
to speak out publicly even when I’m afraid?
Ask God to meet you right where you stand and supply you with everything you need to meet the challenges ahead. Find the JOY in the middle of YOUR HARD!
Life will remain hard, that is guaranteed. By purposefully becoming stronger, you will be putting the tools in your tool belt to handle with grace all the challenges that lie ahead.
