Overcoming Struggles by Finding Your Light

“It seems that about the time I get things done, it is time to start doing them again. I want to enjoy and stop dealing with the struggles.”

How many times have you made this statement – or at least one similar to it? This time it was my husband who had stepped into a rut, but my sons have proclaimed the same over the last few weeks.

I talked with my husband about the struggles for almost an hour this time around. The topic of being consistently consistent to get the results that you desire had just been discussed with a friend the night before. It felt like it fit his situation as well.

I continued to share the thoughts and revelations I had been having about purpose and focus. He talked about the circle of the situation and how we always seem to end up where we started. My instinct to fix him has been abated over the last several years and the moment was invested in listening and staying calm before I simple shared my own journey and let him glean what he would from the words.

It was during the last two minutes of the conversation that I realized all of the words I had been sharing were intended for me. Maybe my husband was blessed by the conversation – and I pray that he was – but God was speaking directly to my heart through my own mouth. Sometimes I hate that direction most of all.

These last four months have been a cramped chaos. Even my normal “rainbow and lollipop” attitude has not been much of a match for the situation. The craziness managed to take all of my schedules, routines and plans and spit them into the wind. Right about the time I would adjust enough to find balance, things would flip into a new direction. I was tired and frustrated and beginning to grumble.

My grumbling turned into complaining and my complaining morphed into whining. All I thought about was getting OUT of my current situation and the concept of rejoicing in the now was out the window. I was in a rut of discouragement – not a great place for the encourager of the family.

Giving my husband a pep talk helped me once again to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It always feels better when light comes into the moment.

3 Secrets for Overcoming Struggles

1. Change the words – the things that you speak will have an affect on you and those around you that will snowball out of control. I had to go back to the way I know works (and that my grandmother always taught). Stick to those things that are good, positive and uplifting because even a sunrise will seem bleak if you start the day cursing the dawn.

2. Keep moving – a body in motion stays in motion. Look at the last thing you knew you were supposed to do and then do it. I know that I need to write, I need to paint trim and I need to spend time with my family. I had to choose to go back and work on the house when I would rather be doing something for ME. I had to choose to turn off the program or computer and turn to focus on my family. I had to make a choice, and I discovered that the more I choose to do what I knew to do then the more that was getting done.

3. Make time to talk with God – the world and the enemy will not play around when it comes to knocking you into a rut or off the path completely. God is the only one that can clearly show you the difference between His directions and the world’s distractions – and sometimes they are so well cloaked that without those directions you will end up spinning in circles. I have made those long nights of painting trim all alone a gab fest between me and God. The open sharing is just one more thing that I had allowed to fall aside when those tornadoes came through.

It sounds easy enough but it can be the hardest thing I do every day. My journey comes back to my choices – each and every day I have to choose to be consistently consistent. I can choose the things that I know to do or I can choose the things I WANT. One is God and the other is Self – that one choice will make all the difference.