Finding Your Brave When You Feel Fragile

"What doesn't kill you will make you stronger."

"Do hard things; they are good for you."

"Hurts have a way of refining you; embrace it."

"Life was never made to be easy. Learn and grow."

>>Insert 100 cliche quotes here.<<

The truth is, growing stronger doesn't always feel good.

Hard things are...hard.

Hurts really, really hurt sometimes.

And sometimes life is so far from easy that hiking a mountain while balancing a teacup on your head sounds like a walk in the park.

And no cliche words of wisdom are going to make it feel much better.

Sometimes we simply feel raw.

Broken.

Lonely.

Overwhelmed.

Sometimes we feel oh so fragile.

And the hard is too much to cope with. 

Sometimes we feel like we can hardly keep breathing.

I could say all kinds of things like:

"You're feeling exhausted because you're not drawing your strength from God."

or

"You just need to trust it to God. He has a reason for this particular trial you're going through. It's for your good and you just need to trust that."

But when you're over your head in raising your kids, in the middle of hard relationships, stretching yourself to reach all around, and being pulled in so many different directions you know you're going to break, guess what?

Those words will do nothing but burn like fire and sting like salt being rubbed into an open sore. Those are not the words anyone needs to hear while feeling burned out, exhausted and stretched to the breaking point.

So what words do you need to be hearing? Well, I can't say for sure,  but I think maybe they would sound like this:

"Yes, you are hurting. Those hurts in your heart? I know they are real. And they probably hurt more than I know.  

I can see you struggling to do the hard things, the right things. And I'm so proud of you. 

And I know you're working to see God in the middle of your exhaustion and I notice you sharing encouragement with others even when you hardly believe it yourself.

Because you know that God is good. You know He's got this. You know His reasons are far, far beyond yours.

But do you know this?

It is ok for you to rest. It is ok to step away. 

It's ok for you to heal.

There are times to dive into battle even though you're wounded, but there is also a time to retreat to a safe place and Rest. Regroup. Heal.

There is a time to be restored.

​Sometimes doing hard things means stepping away from who you think you're supposed to be and allowing God to restore you into the person He created you to be.

Friends, we get so busy trying to be somebody, trying to be everything, that we wear ourselves thin, internalize hurts and create hard places that aren't even supposed to exist!

Step away. Ask God to show you who you really are.

Then you can step into the hard and see reason.

Then the hurts can shape you into something beautiful.

Then you can be made stronger through tough times.

Then things will be as they should and the wisdom behind those cliche` words will ring true, in the way they were originally intended to.

Gather up those broken, hurting pieces of your heart, those exhausted fragments of your soul. Give them to Jesus. Ask Him to renew a right Spirit in you, to restore your soul and to show you who He created you to be.

Slow down long enough for Jesus to bring restoration and plant His truth in your heart. 

Rest in Him. Be restored. <3

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