I have been working on this post for about a week now. I keep leaving it and coming back to it. I know the point I want to get across, but sometimes I have such a hard time actually getting my thoughts out in a way that makes sense.
Struggles. We all have them, right? If you say no, you're lying. I truly believe that at any given point, we are all struggling with something, whether it be big or small.
My current struggles may seem small to you, but there are days that they consume my life. Most have to do with pregnancy, some have to do with raising a strong willed toddler, being the wife God calls me to be, finances, trusting God with it all...you get the point.
Right now I have friends struggling with: finances, divorce, infertility, marriage, raising kids, pregnancy complications, loss of loved ones. I'm going to tell you about two of them. They have no clue that I'm writing this about them, by the way.
Actually, I'm going to let you read one of their stories for yourself, because there is no way I could possibly put into words what she's going through more eloquently than she already has. You can read about her here. Y'all, this is one of the strongest, most Christ-like women I know. She struggles and she falls and she grieves, but at the end of the day she knows that the only option is to give it up to God, because he DOES have a plan that is bigger than anything we can possibly imagine.
The second is a different kind of story. This friend has a husband who is gone for training for a new job for about six months. We aren't talking sitting in meetings all day training. We are talking the kick your butt physically and emotionally draining stuff. After a week of being there, he had to turn over his cell phone. This is a family man with a wife and two kids at home. He does get to come home on the weekends, but my guess is that it's mostly spent resting and soaking up time with his family. So back to the wife. She has a full-time job and two kids to raise. By herself for six months. Some of you may be single moms who have done this for as long as you can remember, and let me just say: you too, are an amazing woman. I couldn't do it. This friend told me over the weekend, "I'm just so tired. I don't sit down until I go to bed at night. I would never make it as a single mom." And my heart just breaks for her. Because I can't imagine life without Clayton for six months. The training her hubby is in is so exhausting and I know she spends her weekends tending to him and keeping her own struggles at bay and trying not to make him feel any worse about being gone. Let's just say, if it were me...well, pity party table for one please. But even in the midst of all of this, she is asking if she can help with a baby shower for ME and texting to tell me that she read my blog post and not to stress about baby G and that she would be praying. As tired and emotionally drained as she is, she is still putting others first.
I tell you about these two friends to tell you this. They are in the forefront of my mind because I pray for them constantly. And you know what? In doing so, I realize that even though my struggles can sometimes consume or ruin my day, I am not alone. I have friends who are struggling too. And by praying for them, I too find peace. It's a crazy thing, a relationship with Jesus. It is definitely not rainbows and unicorns all the time, but deep down in the depths of my heart, everything is always right when I am walking with Him. Please note I said RIGHT. Not easy, not wonderful, not perfect. Sometimes it's really freaking hard. But it's always right.
My point is, we all struggle. All the time. It's human nature. We are perfectly imperfect. As a child of God, I'm okay with that and I know that this life is temporary. When it's my time to go home, then things will be perfectly perfect. Until then, I have to remind myself that it's okay to struggle. It's okay to have bad days. Because I'm not alone.
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