“I’m good.” That’s what I hear a lot of. “My dad is dying, but I’m good.” “My sister has cancer, but I’m good.” We’re afraid that stepping in it will be a lot like stepping in a pile of dodo, and it will be a horrible mess. We’re so afraid of feeling the full force of our circumstances that we step over it altogether.
Stepping Over
We’re told that showing emotion is weakness. That somehow if we’re allowing ourselves to get emotional about something, then we’re not in control and we’re not accepting reality. They say we’re not supposed to be ruled by emotions.
So we step over it. We push through. We grin and bear it. We keep a stiff upper lip. We buck up. And in so doing, we skip by the event. We ignore it altogether, and just don’t deal with it.
You know that phrase, “time heals all wounds?” Well, it’s a lie. By stepping over key events in our life, we don’t heal our wounds. Instead, they fester. And they ooze or explode out, when we least expect them to.
Stepping In
Stepping over a critical event seems like the mature thing to to. It’s what we see everyone else doing. But I propose it would be far better to just go ahead and step in it. Even if it looks like a big pile of dodo, just step in it.
Face it full on. If you’re angry at God, He knows it, and you may as well talk to Him about it. It’s certainly better than pretending that it’s not bothering you. Go ahead, wrestle with God. Wrestle with your circumstances. Ask the big questions, “Why?” and “Why me?” With all the anger, hurt, and fear that is in you, wrestle with it.
Redeeming
And when you’ve wrestled with it, make good come out of it. Don’t bury the experience. This cruddy experience is a gold mine, full of resources to make an incredible impact in the world.
Who is the perfect person to guide people through and emotionally support those with cancer? You guessed it, someone who’s had cancer and been through it. Who is the perfect person to inspire us to greatness, the one who had it easy all his life, or the one who had to work through lots of struggles? You guessed it, the one who struggled.
The problems in our life that we overcome are the source of our greatest strength, and the gold from which we can make the biggest impacts in the world.
What are the events in your life that have most shaped you? What if you could redeem these experiences and use them make all the world of difference to others?
