We can do hard things

"I’m never wearing this shirt again." At least that was one of my first thoughts after blowing my tire in the hospital garage today. I was just going to run to the store to get vitamins and a few other things and didn’t quite clear the curb after scanning my parking ticket to get out. Probably something to do with the amount of sleep I am NOT getting. I got out to assess and could actually see the torn rubber and I could hear the air quickly seeping out.

After frantically Googling a tire place nearby in I prayed I could make it there without having to be towed. When I pulled in their lot was full and people everywhere. I anticipated them to turn me away as they were clearly crazy busy. I went inside and told them my situation and one of the employees came out to assess the damage. Agreeing that I just needed a new tire because it could not be repaired, he assured me they could get it taken care of. In my sleep deprived, overly emotional state I started to cry as I explained briefly about our situation at the hospital and not being near home. In just a couple of sentences he gently assured me that they would get it taken care of, and everything would be okay. The entire process everyone there was incredibly kind and polite. As I sat to wait and realized the shirt I was wearing today I thought - I have got to quit wearing this, because every time I do I feel like someone is challenging me. As if to say, “Can you really do hard things??” I looked up the verse reference on the shirt to remind myself of why I wear it and it was like reading them again for the first time.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10

[8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

And further down,

[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. [17] For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, [18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

WHY do these things happen to us?? As I have sat here for over a week in the hospital with Rylie, my heart has been torn in two as Hudson became ill a few days ago and has had a difficult time recovering. Paul has had to take him to the doctor twice. And as a mother I just want to run home and take care of him and yet I cannot leave the child I am with for now. WHY?????

WHY on top of everything do I have to blow a stupid tire leaving the HOSPITAL????? Aren’t things difficult enough?

“Perplexed…..but not driven to despair.” Perplexed. We can be perplexed, confused, unable to make any sense of a situation. But we don’t have to choose despair. Hope is there for the choosing as well. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.”

This morning a complete stranger delivered Starbucks coffee and breakfast to me here at the hospital. She heard from a post in a group online by my cousin who lives in a different state, about our situation in an open inquiry if anyone lived nearby and wanted to help. She jumped at the chance. This woman brought me coffee and breakfast, and then both in a text and in person told me if I needed anythbig to not hesitate to ask. She said she knows its weird because she is a stranger but she genuinely wanted to help. I could feel her empathy as we spoke briefly outside the hospital.

Two complete strangers comforted, encouraged, and were the hands and feet of Jesus to me today. This last week I have had several people reach out in different ways, many of whom I hardly know. People have seen specific needs we have and moved towards us in love, offering to go out of their way to help us in various ways even from afar.

A couple of hours after getting my tire replaced, a friend who had no knowledge of the situation randomly sent me money in the exact amount that it cost to replace the tire.

Tiny miracles. Humanity. Empathy. Unconditional love. Connections with people in my darkest of places that I may not have had the opportunity to experience without the hardship. These are the beautiful pieces of the brokenness. The sparks of light in the darkness. And they shine so much brighter in the dark places. For we would not notice them as much if we were existing only in the light. We need the darkness to appreciate the light more. And as we appreciate the light more, we are quicker to notice others struggling to see the light, and that is where we can become the light bearers. Leading others to hope in the places unseen.

We can do hard things. We don’t always want to do the hard things. But we can do the hard things. If we are willing to not lose heart. If we are willing to shift our perspective. As we look to things that are unseen. As we hope. And as we do so, find beauty in the most unexpected of places.

I’m not getting rid of my shirt. Today it helped me think of how maybe sometimes the blessings we need can only come from the hard things.