THE POWER OF DETERMINATION
I love it when people come up to us and tell us how amazing our child is (Tabatha was born with Down’s Syndrome). But even though she has a disability, she has overcome so much! It’s not about what we did or how we did it, or her teachers… but through her own determination.
I was thinking about when she was five years old and was going to kindergarten. She would see kids with jump ropes, and she wanted to join them. We practiced every night and were her biggest cheerleaders. So Chris and I are on the back porch every night saying “Good job, you can do this!” Never once could she get her arms, and the rope and her feet and that jump all in that synced moment to jump over that rope. After a while we’re like, “She’s probably not going to do it.” You know, it’s like tying shoes, let’s just get velcro.
But one of Tabatha’s greatest gifts is her determination. She still stayed out there even without me saying, “Yay, good job you’re trying, you’re almost there.” She would try her best to get her feet in alignment and her jump just right to jump that rope. The day that she finally did it, it was the third school year in a row that she tried. It didn’t happen in a month. It didn’t happen in two months. It actually didn’t happen when everybody was cheering her on. She was doing it even though nobody was looking because her eyes were not really on getting her feet do that. I think she saw herself jumping in her head, her eyes were on her goal. The end result was that she was going to get to go to school and she was going to get to take her rope and she was going to jump with all the other little girls.
I think about this story often. What I’ve found in my life as a Christian, if my eyes are on my goal, then all the things in between, then they’re not as difficult. It’s actually it’s pretty neat because Tabatha gained strength in her legs and she gained an idea of what perseverance felt like. In the end, she actually enjoyed that jumping more than if she had on the first or second try.
I want my life to resemble that. It takes me putting forth some effort, but that’s not really where the transformation happens. As long as we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, God is the one that gives us strength, he gives us a determined spirit or perseverance or endurance. The end result is that we get to enjoy what happens through the transformation and on the other side of transformation.
IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING
If you’re struggling, and it’s really hard, I promise you, I’ve been there and I know it’s on the other side. There really is freedom. It’s more than just quitting the drug or alcohol or behavior. There’s more to it than that, there is hope. That’s why we say it’s, “Hope for Families Overcoming Addiction,” because it’s not just getting clean for your family, trying to overcome your addiction and be clean. It’s hope for the freedom that you’ll experience. I want you to know that the struggle is real and you just have to keep standing. Sometimes God doesn’t want us to be rockstars, He just wants us to be His, He wants us to stand. So keep pushing forward. Keep waking up each day. If you make a mistake, I love to quote my friend Liz Mitchell on this, “Fairly consistent consistency.” So I add to that, and it’s, “Fairly consistent consistency, builds momentum,” and then when you get some momentum going, then it’s not as easy to stumble and fall. When it feels good, you’ve got some momentum going and there is hope, I want you to know that!