I’m coming to find that so many people are being beaten down by life’s trials. I know. Life is hard. I have lived it. In the south, we have a saying. It goes like this: “It’s always something”. This phrase, I’ve heard my entire life. But, I have come to see that if I will just get back up, if I will just keep going, life will get better. It will not ever be perfect. But, it will get better.
On this past Friday, I had an opportunity to speak to a group of young single parents. These young ladies had their newborns and toddlers in tow and were coming to a church to listen to some speaker. Well, I knew going in that my audience would be young teen moms, and so I had prepared a topic for their age group. As soon as they entered, I knew my short talk needed to be about resilience and the art of Doing It Anyway. So, I winged it. I spoke from the heart. (God really will give you what you need.)
“Life is not easy” is a phrase heard constantly no matter where we live. At some stage of life, we’re going to speak this phrase. But, what is not taught is that we can make it and that there is always another way. So, with these young women, I chose to be candid, raw, and real. I gave them my background in being a single mom. Who cares about my accomplishments and what I do now if I cannot relate my experiences to how this talk connects to and will help them.
I explained resilience as being the art of bouncing back. I encouraged them to write down where they are now, where they want to be, what their goals are for themselves and for their babies, and lastly to keep that paper and consult it when life gets hard. We had a discussion where they were included and not merely spoken to. I wanted to tie in the fact that my struggles as a single mom were many, but that God brought me out of them. He moved me from a place of unhappiness and blessed me. And I wanted them to know He was waiting to do that for them. In the end, they all clapped and said thank you. I closed the meeting in prayer because I felt led to do so. I asked God to bless them and their babies and change their lives for the better. But what struck me the most was one girl said she was encouraged that she could still recover, bounce back, get on her feet, be what she wants to be. They left smiling and inspired. I left excited. I left knowing that my pain, struggle, good, and bad was just used to help someone else.
I am resilient. I want to encourage every woman, man, boy, and girl to get up again. There’s more to my story, but the point is I’m no longer there. I’m past the pain and you can be, too. Putting one foot in front of the other, working on your goals until they are achieved, and trying your hardest to move past the obstacle is the only way you, me, those young ladies will be able to say “Life is hard, but I am resilient.” Life is hard, but we all can make it.
Every obstacle is not meant to hurt you. Some come to improve you.
Do It Anyway!
