How does she do it? I could never live through what you have. How can he smile after what he’s been through? How do you move on?
I have asked these questions and I’ve been asked these questions. What I’ve come to know is you will never realize your resilience until you are stretched. And you will not know your strength until you’ve been pushed.
The one key ingredient to handling a trial that will surely come your way is making the decision to fight back.
Over this past week I’ve had the privilege of meeting with several men and women who have literally lived through hell (in my opinion). They have been abused as young children, raped, coerced to make detrimental decisions that have affected their spirit, they are diagnosed with life-threatening disease, going through divorce and some have been and continue to be neglected by their parents. The list of the offenses that have stretched and pushed the men and women I’ve been in contact with are unfair, unbelievable, unimaginable, and devastating.
But these men and women found the key to survival. They chose not to live in a circumstantial pit of despair and found the spirit God had breathed into them and chose to fight back.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
I have been known to repeat this over and over until I felt the power of His word soar through my veins and fill me with the will to move forward. There is no circumstance that Christ can’t help you rise above. And if He allowed you to be brought to it He will surely equip you to walk through it (for he equipped you before you were even born).
Walking with these men and women through their suffering, or hearing about the suffering they’ve endured, I realize how much I see God in the fight, especially the victory. “I won’t leave you to fight on your own. You and I together – we are invincible. I want to show you, and those watching, what I can do with a willing heart.” (Message from God in Heaven Calling)
Today is your day. What is your decision?
Blessings
Shannon