Keep Living Anyway

Sometimes you are in a marriage or relationship that doesn’t last until death do you part. Sometimes you spend years or even decades trying to love someone the best you can, but your love falls short of whatever it is their heart is seeking for and they leave. It hurts, it cuts . . . deep. It makes you want to build up a fortress of walls so high that no one else can get in and make you feel that way ever again.

Let yourself genuinely feel the loss, speak soothing truths to your shattered heart in order to piece it back together again, break down those confining walls that are holding you back, and then KEEP LIVING ANYWAY. Some people exit our lives for a reason, count it as a gift. Your value is not found in someone else, you are a child of the Almighty and your identity is grounded in that promise for eternity. No one’s subjective opinion of you can take that away. And in the process of moving forward, you’ll find how strong your resolve really is, how completely your Heavenly Father can heal your heartache, and you may even find someone who comes along and loves you with a sincerity that you never thought possible.

Sometimes you lose someone that shaped your entire world. They move on from this life and you are left feeling lost and alone. They were the call you made every day to simply say hello, the hug you ran for when your spirit was crushed, the giver of helpful advice you sought out when you weren’t sure where to turn. They were a rock in all of your uncertainties, a solid ground you could consistently rely on. Now your feet are slipping out from beneath you and you feel like you are freefalling from the secure place you once cherished because their physical presence is not there to serve as a safe haven anymore. Their face is reduced to a memory and you feel like it will be impossible to understand how to do life without them.

Cry hard, scream loud, grieve heavily, miss them with every inch of your soul and then KEEP LIVING ANYWAY. Their death has as much meaning as their life did and they will always be a significant part of your past development and future growth. They were a blessing from above. Their wisdom was a tool in the hand of God to echo His voice and direction. There’s no chance that someone who held that much of your heart will ever fade into the background of your life. Your character serves as an ongoing honor to their memory and a beautiful addition to their legacy. You get to carry the best parts of them with you until you meet again and use all that they’ve given you to bring peace and hope to someone else.

Sometimes your body fails you. You beg and plead with God to restore your former state and allow you to go back to the way things were. You feel stuck, cheated, misunderstood, and low - incredibly low. You fear the future and grieve the past. What now? What’s next? How will this end? Will I get worse? So many questions met with so few answers. Moving forward seems impossible, you are frozen in a state of mental paralysis as the cacophony in your head clambers with all of the ‘what if’s’. It’s deafening, it’s unnerving and it feels heavier than anything you’ve ever carried.

Take a long, cleansing breath, feel everything you need to feel, wrap your brain around your situation as best you can, and then KEEP LIVING ANYWAY. Only The Lord knows how this story will play out. Sometimes miracles happen, sometimes they don’t. Our testimony in the midst of the journey is what will be the conduit to bringing glory to God through our personal relationship with suffering and we can cling to His promise that ‘His yoke is easy and His burden is light’. He is our beacon in the darkest night, our hand to squeeze tightly in the middle of the agony. Healing may come to us here on earth or it may not happen until we reach the gates of Heaven. Either way, there’s a plan for our pain. It will grow us in ways we never would otherwise and it will open us up to become a shoulder for others as we learn to reflect the compassion of Christ.

I’ve felt the sting of all of these scenarios and I’m sure you yourself can relate in some way or another. The challenges of life don’t discriminate and we can be certain that various versions of trials will bring us to our knees until we experience our final exhale. We can also be certain that our Creator is with us through it all. You WILL hurt during your days on earth and that hurt will try its hardest to drag you down to the lowest of lows. Don’t let it. You have a purpose, there’s a divine reason for everything you go through. You don’t have to understand it, you just have to trust with all of the faith you can muster that this plan for your life is exactly as it should be, face the hardships as they come and then KEEP LIVING ANYWAY.