Obstacles
Are y’all ever faced with something that just seems impossible to overcome? I can think of times in my life that I just had my mind made up that something in front of me was just too hard to tackle. Learning to tie my shoes, mastering my back handspring or my heal-stretch full-down, a 20 page grad school research paper, a full year teaching 6th graders. There were nights I couldn’t fall asleep because I was overwhelmed with dread because I was so sure I wouldn’t get past the coming obstacle.
However, every single time I was faced with an “impossible” task, I overcame it. The task came and went. Before I knew it, I was looking back on it with a feeling of pride that I had overcome and accomplished those things. Now, I can tie my shoes beautifully! And I still re-read that 20 page research paper with pride. I probably can’t do a back handspring anymore, but there was a time I could do it anywhere. Plus, I’ve taught 6th graders for two years now, going on three.
Parenthood
With Christian, there was a time during my pregnancy where it just all seemed impossible: becoming a mom, working full time when she was a newborn, going to all her doctors appointments, taping her face and doing her NAM every night, taking on other complications that accompany her cleft. I was so overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. I had my mind made up that it was just too much. That this was it — the one thing I wouldn’t be able to overcome. I think a lot of parents feel that way in the weeks leading up to becoming a parent and even in those minutes of leaving the hospital, newborn in hand!
But you know what? Here we are doing it, living it, and loving it. Now that we’re face to face with what we were so scared of, the impossible is so much more possible! I figured out the balancing act of working full time and being a mom. Chris and I enjoy our weekly “skip day” of going as a family to the doctor. Her taping and NAM is just part of Christian’s bedtime routine, no different than bath time! One day Chris and I looked around and realized, “Hey! We’re doing it!”
Philippians 4:13 — I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Now are Chris and I perfect parents? No way. But we feel much more capable of being great parents to our daughter because we know we can do all things through Him.
So no matter what thing in your life right now is looming over you in all of it’s “impossible-ness”, just remember that all is possible through Him. Before you know it, you’ll be looking back on it with a smile, knowing that you conquered what you once feared!
