I posted this on my personal blog this week and thought I would share here as well. Have a great weekend!
Did you know I was a weight lifter?
I am.
Seriously.
You can stop snickering now…
Yea, yea. I know you’re thinking, “She sure doesn’t look like a weight lifter…”
Well.
I don’t lift traditional weights.
Since August 4, 2001, I have been lifting the marriage weight. And man, is that ever tough work!
I juggled the weights of new home ownership and fresh-from-college-now-I-have-a-real-job weights that same year.
Since Carys was born in 2003, and then Cailyn in 2006, I have lifted the weight of motherhood.
Sometimes those little blue-eyed, blond-haired weights are heavier than I could have ever imagined.
As if those weights weren’t enough, I added the diabetic weight in 2006. Phooey!
Then, with Chad’s surprising diagnosis of brain cancer and the discovery of IT in 2007, I have added way more weights that I would like.
The emotional, physical and financial weights of living a life with two young daughters, a husband with a devastating disease, diabetes and all the other stuff….well, it’s almost too much for me to handle at times.
I would look at other people in my life and wonder how they seem to lift similar weights so effortlessly.
I just couldn’t understand how they were able to build a positive emotional workout while I was struggling to lift the daily weights of life and was often out of breath from sheer frustration and exhaustion.
People often ask me how I juggle it all.
And the answer is simple. And it’s no secret.
I do my best. And God handles the rest.
When I sense that I cannot handle one more possible thing in my life, God shows me that I can.
Sometimes, He adds more for me to juggle. And He teaches me that I can handle anything.
I can do it. I can do anything.
And you can, too.
The weights I lift on a daily basis can be tricky; true.
And sometimes I do wonder how easy life would be without such struggles and hardships.
But then I always come to the same conclusion; everyone has weights in their life.
Every single person has something that they struggle to contain or let go of; it’s just the way life is.
And if you think my weights are heavier than anyone else’s…well, that’s not true.
If you have a weight in your life, whether it be illness, unemployment, depression – whatever, you don’t have to lift it alone.
At Chad’s fundraiser, we had the privilege of witnessing a great weight being plucked from our lives.
I’m not sure if I was reaching a breaking point, or if we were just “due” some good news, but a huge weight has been lifted from our family. I can not tell you the immediate calmness and security I have felt since that day. To see all the loving and comforting faces, smiles and tears…it’s taken me some time to process it all.
People are so good to us; and we are so thankful.
We give back whenever we can and we appreciate all of you who did the same.
In the past eleven nights, I have slept more soundly and peacefully than I have in a long, long time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We have been given an immediate release of stress.
We can breathe again, a little easier at least.
The weight has been lifted, and I thank God that He has allowed us to be a part of such an overwhelming testimony of what can be provided when you trust Him.
He is the Ultimate Weight Lifter.
And I am so grateful that He carries our load.
Skye–I’m so glad the fundraiser was successful! And, its success can be partly measured on how you can keep it in your heart–when the weights weigh too much, you can remember all those people coming together in support of you. And, you can sleep!! Hurray!
Thanks for sharing the photo–your family is so beautiful.
Wow! What a beautiful post! God indeed is your help. With the extra weights you are carrying around He will give you His strength! I am so happy for you that you have been relieved of some of the stress because of the fundraiser. You have a beautiful family. Keep looking up for your strength!