Stop Throwing Away The Batter!

I see you. Closing your eyes and taking another deep breath. "I will keep it together," you say to yourself...again....what has become your daily mantra. "I will get through this." "I can do this."

There's no room for the shoulds in your head, but they come anyway. "I should workout to relieve stress." "I should do the dishes and clean the kitchen. That would be peaceful." "I should have a better daily schedule so the kids will do their stuff." "I should stop screaming like a banshee when they don't listen."

It's amazing how you can't remember why you walked into the room, but you can remember the things you said in your anger 5 years ago.

I'm not going to tell you to look on the bright side today. I'm not going to put a "happy spin" on the stress and struggles. I'm also not going to just say "It's ok to not be ok" and just move on. Both of those are good and true...but that's not what I'm giving you today

Instead, I give you this:

"We don't need to be brave or strong. We only need to never give up hope." - Holley Gerth

Never. Give. Up. Hope.

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - John 1:5

The darkness has not overcome it.

Your journey is all uphill.

Your understanding is nil.

Your battle buddies are wounded too.

The target is always moving and sometimes isn't even in front of you anymore.

You don't know how long the road is or what the end even looks like, let alone how far away it is.

We've all been through "hard things". Anyone who's ever had a baby knows that it's physically an unreal situation that you would never agree to in any other circumstances. I've done it 7 times and I'll tell you, each and every time, I look at my husband and say, "Nope, I change my mind. I don't want to do this anymore." Nice try...right in the middle of labor, Sarah.

The difference then was, we know the outcome and we know it ends. We know it will be over at some point. It won't go on forever.

The difference now is, we don't feel like we have any of those assurances. We don't feel like there's an end, a target, or even a measure that lets us know when we've won or lost...or shoot, even knowing what winning means!

So today, when you're taking yet another breath, hear me say to you: Never give up hope.

On your hardest day in your most terrible circumstances, you were still loved into existence ON purpose, WITH purpose, and FOR purpose. You were still loved into existence in this time. You were born for such a time as this. We are still promised that God works good in ALL things.

You are never abandoned, even when we are all weary, we can wearily hold onto each other and keep breathing, keep pressing forward, leaning not on our own understanding, but on a God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow