There is sun above those clouds even if you can't see it right now.
Even if you don't know it, even if you don't feel like it right now, there is. In the middle of the storm, the sun still shines in the sky—
for you.
I know there are those days when you feel lost and sometimes you feel forgotten. You try, try, try and you try and yet, you keep coming up short. Your will to keep going is fading—and fast 'cause you keep wanting, but you don't have, you keep asking and you don't get yet all the while, you refuse to give up.
You endure.
We are socialized to be polished, we are conditioned to be polite. We are trained to put our game face on in the midst of our struggle and pretend that every little thing is alright; we pretend things are just fine.
However:
If you are like me then you have had a morning or two when you wake up and you can't imagine how you will make it through—this day. But, you resolve to go on no matter what. You get up and you gear up; you muster up the strength to give it your all and to face another day. And later on when you find yourself in the middle of it and you wonder out loud “How in the world? How in the world did I get here?”, you determine that,“As sure as there is a God, I will go through this fire and I will not get burned!” If you are like me, then there have been a few nights when you have quietly looked back over the day and it is then that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have earned the title—COURAGEOUS.
You endure.
You find the strength, you always do, to be strong and to smile and push through. When you are facing something so difficult that you have forgotten HOPE'S name and you wouldn't recognize HALF-A- CHANCE if it were staring you in the face—you stay strong then you've looked back and marveled at your ability to get through.
You endure.
Those mornings when, you wake up, muster up, you sit up then you get up—you go on. Those days when you all you can do is put one foot in front of the other, breathe one breath at a time—you refuse to give up. Those nights when alone in your room you reflect and realize what you are made of.
You endure.
I know a man.
He is someone who definitely knows what it means to succeed. Only several years ago, long after he had started his own business and was doing quite, quite well, things took a turn for the worse. His industry shifted suddenly and he found himself and his company suddenly obsolete. When an industry suddenly changes course, people can get left behind, and he did. He lost client after client, and slowly lost all the money he had. He was forced to declare bankruptcy. He had to begin all over again. Through the toughest of times and when it didn't look like he would ever make it through, he held on. Now he works in an entirely new and growing industry. Business is good. He is newly married and has a young son. He endured.
I am friends with a woman.
She is someone who definitely knows what it means to be healthy and happy. Only a few years ago, her mother stubbed her toe, failed to get medical attention and contracted gangrene. She died. It was about a month or two later that my friend would discover that she had breast cancer and would have to go through a double mastectomy. She went through the surgery and chemotherapy, lost all of her hair all while grieving her mother, caring for her dad, raising a son, loving her husband and doing her job. Facing tremendous grief and dealing with unbearable pain and fear, she refused to let go. Today she is cancer free, healthy and happy again. She has a new career. She laughs when she remembers her Mom. Her dad has happily remarried and she, her husband and son are doing better than ever before. She endured.
