What To Do When Your Rope Breaks

My little girl is finally safe in a hospital – a mental hospital – and I’m losing my mind about it. I know some of you have kids with special needs of the neuropsychological kind, too. This post is for you.

You know those moments when you wonder where God went? Because if He was here, your life would look decidedly different than it does right now?

Last weekend, my husband and I made a decision regarding one of my daughters we’ve dreaded for over a year. As we followed through on it this weekend, it took everything we had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I’m seeing the world through tears. I can’t focus on what’s in front of me. My body aches from the heartbreak.

What, exactly is this, God?

I know I’m where I’m supposed to be. I know I’m doing what I’m meant to do. And, as a good friend admitted to me today, “This sucks.”

Nobody ever said life would be easy. Nothing we value comes without a lot more work than we bargained for. So how do we stay the course in the seasons when we’d rather run back the other direction than continue down the path we know we must travel?

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt ~ This summer on vacation with my family, I got stuck in the middle of a zipline at night. I was, literally, hanging from a rope until someone crawled out to get me and pull me in. There, above me, were more stars than I’ve ever seen in the sky at once. So while you’re hanging on to the end of your rope, use it as a chance to look up and discover something you may not see otherwise.

When you get to your wits end, you will find, God lives there. ~Author Unknown ~ Any parent is quite familiar with this locale – Wits-End-Ville. Fortunately, “where we are weak, He is strong.” We have to stoke enough of a flame of hope to keep looking for Him. Even if you’re struggling with the most intense grief and doubt you’ve ever faced, don’t let the feelings keep you from letting hope in.

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. ~Author Unknown ~ There’s a satisfying competitive tone to this in times of brokenness and doubt, isn’t there? We can’t DO anything about the struggles we sometimes face, but we can spit in the face of the despair by choosing gratitude. Even for the most inane things in your life – for the fact that you have clean forks in the drawer, that you have shoes that fit, that you are sitting here reading something that lets you know you’re not alone.

Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. ~ Oscar Wilde ~ I overuse this quote, and I don’t care. Because it’s probably one of the most important any of us will ever read. You are unique. You matter. Your experience is priceless. Your view of life is valuable. Whatever you are facing, whatever causes you to doubt or stokes a life-long fear… you WILL make it. God took great care to design you specifically for your life. Today – right now – is possible not because of what’s going on around you but because of who He made you to be in the midst of it.

What’s shaking your confidence today? Which of these quotes resonates in your situation?

Let’s do this together, friend.

-Laurie

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