Life Is Bigger Than Your Struggles

I have a lot of health issues. I always have, throughout the entirety of my life. In fact, I've often said and will continue to say I don't really know what healthy is, because by most standards, that's a condition I've never really experienced.

Even when it looks like I'm in the best shape I've ever been, there's always something going on beneath the surface. One of my physical struggles is always obvious, since I can't get around in any sort of meaningful way without the assistance of crutches or a wheelchair, but some other issues I deal with are less obviously visible.

Just recently, I was having a text conversation with a good friend of mine about my latest bout with neurological issues relating to a malfunctioning VP shunt. He was checking up on me to see how I was doing and if my condition had improved, and I did what I always do. At the time, I wasn't doing any better, but I placed more emphasis on the fact that I wasn't worse, highlighting that in an effort to downplay the severity of the situation.

Throughout the whole ordeal, I had kept that up. I did everything I could to make my condition seem as minimally bad as I could and went about living my life as normally as those symptoms allowed. My friend was very apologetic for his level of anxiety at the situation as a result of my attitude, but little did he know, there's a lot I feel that I simply don't show.

Not just in this particular instance, but at many other times over the course of the war I call life, I’ve thought about how easy it would be to just give up. I can remember many times over the years that I just didn’t feel like what I was dealing with was worth it. It just didn’t feel like things would get any better and I knew I had a far better future ahead of me in the afterlife, so I genuinely thought there was no point in keeping up the fight.

While I stand by the assertion I’ve often made that for the practicing Christian like me, death is a win, I’ve come to realize just how selfish that mindset really is. Not only is it not up to me when I get to experience the fruits of that victory, but the battle just isn’t always about me. Life is bigger than just one individual.

I’m surrounded every day by people who not only value my presence, but outright rely on me, in a lot of ways. Even when I am the one chiefly affected, I’m not the only person who feels the impact of the issues in my life. And I’m certainly not the only one who’s be affected by it if I ever had acted on my feeling that giving up would be easier than pushing forward.

On top of that, I know for a fact that seeing my struggles and the way I handle them is exactly what others around me need, from time to time, to get through their own trials.

And before anyone writes me off and just assumes I’m talking about things that are exclusive to my own life and my own struggles/attitudes, I’m not. Exactly the same is true for everyone else in the world, in one way or another. You may not be dealing with the same issues I do or even any medical issues, at all, but there’s always something in just about everyone’s life that makes us wonder if giving up might be the best option.

When those feelings do arise, the same few options are always on the table and if I’m really being honest, I’d pretty strongly recommend exploring them all. First of all, if you’re not at the point yet where you’re ready to look outside your own situation at the rest of the world, there’s always comfort in the Word of God. If you find yourself discouraged, lonely and wondering how you’ll get through, the book of Psalms is always a good place to start, specifically, Psalms 23 and 34.

If you’re looking for another option, look around. Who around you might be fighting their own internal battles and looking to how you deal with yours for the strength they need? Or better yet, who in your life isn’t ready to let you go?

You may be thinking to yourself at this point, “There’s no way anyone is looking at me in that way,” but I’ve got news for you. Whether you realize it or not, I can almost guarantee someone is. You may not even know it, but odds are good that there’s someone in your life who’s in a far better position in their own life, at the very least, because of your contribution.

And even if I’m wrong and you don’t have someone like that in your own life, you do have God. And unless He’s the one who’s decided it’s time, don’t you think He’s rather you let His plan for your life play out instead of making a rash decision you probably didn’t really think through in the first place?

After all, no honest Christian will ever dispute the assertion that regardless of how we might feel, at times, God doesn’t make mistakes.