Let’s Get GRITTY

Have you ever had that, “whoa God,” moment when you are reading Scripture and it just comes to life for you? I was reading about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in the gospel of Mark, and it was like the Word of God was hitting me right where I was at. In this passage, Jesus took some of His disciples, asked them to stay and pray, and then He went off and cried out to God. Jesus was fully aware of the death that He would have to endure in order to buy our freedom, and He felt the huge weight of what lay ahead of Him. After He prayed, Jesus came back to see that His disciples were sleeping…not once or twice but three times this happened. (Mark 13:32-42, CSB) I think about Jesus in the garden and how lonely He must have felt. He is no stranger to grief or loneliness. He cried out to God to take the cup from Him if at all possible, and then He surrendered to the Father’s will. (Mark 14:36, CSB) Jesus did hard. Ever since I was a little girl, my motto has been, “I can do hard.” Now I am changing my motto to, “Jesus did hard so I can do hard.”

What does it take to do the hard? How do we stop allowing our circumstances or what others say about us to define us, and instead walk in the liberty and calling that God has specifically placed on each of us? I am finding that to stay strong in the face of trials takes mighty courage. With courage comes grit. Ok, so what exactly do these two words mean? Here are my definitions of what these words have meant to me during this time:

So here is where I am at… I have been burned. Burned by friends, by others in ministry, by even family sometimes. I have gone through some really dark seasons with trials that I wish on no one. I have been allowing myself to wallow in my pain and in how crappy things have been for the past couple of years. I have been stuck in this “poor me” mindset that only causes me to stay in this ugly, painful cycle. As I continually look back and hang on to what has happened, I then anticipate that the worst will continue to happen. If we anticipate horrible things to come, they will be sure to come to pass. Man the mind is mighty powerful.

But then to add on to the crappy things that have been happening for a while, I have been stuck in the United States away from my husband waiting on a visa for close to three months now. I am stuck in a hard place as I continue to wait. I am desperate for some hope and angry at all that my husband and I have endured. (I hope someday I can write a blog about how God worked everything out for us, but until then I will keep waiting on the Lord). Alan and I have gone through a lot of hard, but now not being able to physically walk through it together ingresases the hard. I have wrestled with God wondering if we are going to see any fruit produced from what has been happening. I have sat in a lot of anger, tears, and questions.

One thing (out of like 1,000) that I admire so much about my husband is that he is not afraid to say the hard things. When I am being a Whitney baby, he does not sit and wallow with me, telling me what I want to hear. He addresses the ugly with such grace and love, and he always encourages me to be better. A couple of nights ago, I told Alan some negative thoughts I was allowing to brew in my mind. He did not respond with some fluffy sugar-coated answer. Instead, he spoke straight to the lies that I was believing, and he called me to rise up and recognize the truth. My husband empowered me that I am the only one that can change how I feel. With his blunt and yet loving words, something clicked on me. I can choose to respond with tears and a poor me attitude, or I can embrace the hard and rise up stronger. I can be fierce and have a sound mind even when nothing around me seems to make sense.

I can be like Jesus and do the hard. And what better example to follow than Jesus’ example?

Instead of allowing myself to stay where I am, buried in bitterness and built-up frustration, what if I take all of these experiences and allow them to transform me into a strong warrior for the Kingdom? Suppose I stop allowing what others do or say consume my thoughts but instead let it all roll off my shoulders? To take the crappy and face it with courage and grit instead of throwing a pity party?

Here is the thing I have come to realize…life is hard. It consists of crazy trying moments that test our patience and character, sometimes even faith. So what are we going to do about it? What are we going to do in these dry seasons? Are we going to sit around and wait for the next happy season that could potentially come? Or are we going to rise up with dignity and bravery as overcomes in the midst of our dark times?

There comes a time when we have to choose whether we want to stay stuck where we are or if we want to stand up with grit and push forward. I wrote this not just to encourage you , but to encourage myself as well. Jesus did hard. The hardest thing anyone could ever do. Jesus did hard, so we can do hard. Let’s get gritty together.

One more thing! God’s Word is ALIVE and ACTIVE. It is God-breathed. The Bible has been my source of hope, wisdom, and encouragement during this dark time. Here are some passages that I have been reading, re-reading, and pulling from. I encourage you to not just read them and move on with the day, but let them soak in and transform you. Write them down in a journal and see what stands out, or sit and just listen to what God wants to show you through His Word. I hope that they encourage your spirit as they have mine!

•Joshua 1:4-9

•Mark 14:32-42

•Exodus 3:7-8

•Psalm 27:13-14

•Isaiah 40:27-31

•Matthew 28:11

•Hebrews 11:1

•Hebrews 12:1-2