Is there something in your life that seems impossible? Something so big, so hard, so ominous that you’re not sure how to even begin? You’ve looked at it from every angle, but it still seems insurmountable.
That’s where I’ve been for the past several months. You might have noticed that my blog posts, that used to appear pretty regularly 3 or 4 times a week, have dwindled down to almost nothing. What happened?
Well, to be honest, I’ve been consumed with facing my own giants! It’s been tough. I’ve cried more than a few tears. I’ve thought about giving up at least five times a day. I have definitely NOT been the poster child for victory. I’ve felt defeated, a LOT . . . but I’ve also been learning what it takes to do the impossible. (I’d like to say “learned”, but I suspect this is likely to be an ongoing process). I’m hoping maybe these five simple things that I have discovered will help you overcome your challenge.
1. EVERYTHING is solvable. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be quick or easy. It means that somewhere, somehow it can be done. Maybe you’ll need help. Maybe it’ll take research. Maybe it’ll be a process that requires changing long held beliefs or learning new skills, but the truth remains—everything is solvable.
2. It’s probably going to be HARD. We humans, as a rule, don’t like discomfort. Making changes, learning new things or digging for solutions all take us out of our comfort zone. Everything in us will feel like giving up just to get things back to “normal.” Accepting and expecting that the journey is likely to be hard at times, helps us from building resentments and victim thinking that will sabotage our ability to succeed.
3. Tiny steps add up! – Most of us have no trouble taking a single step. If we do it 2,000 times we will have walked a mile. Just 10,000 regular steps will have taken us 5 miles down the road. So it is with anything, if you string enough small efforts together you will accomplish something noteworthy.
4. If you don’t give up, you will get there. – There is a Chinese Proverb that says “Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up.” If we’re trying to achieve something that seems impossible, we need to be prepared to stumble or even fall from time to time. But falling is not the same thing as failing as long as we get up, brush ourselves off, and try again until we reach our goal.
5. Nothing is impossible with God. – It’s sometimes hard to remember that we are not alone in our challenges. When we are tired, overwhelmed or just plain stuck, God is more than willing and able to show us the next step; calm our anxiety or even carry us, if necessary. It is when we come face to face with our weaknesses and inabilities, that we are finally able to surrender to him and let his grace and power work in and through us.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Leave A Response