Wasn't exactly sure what to write, or how to craft this post, but I knew I wanted to write around this topic of sweet sorrow. It was something that came up in my bible study and was just really weighing on my heart.

So I am going to kind of do a mini-series on this notion of sweet sorrow, as there are a few areas that I feel are relevant. This first post will be on the topic of dealing with, overcoming, getting through hardship.

Sometimes life creates a much more 'enjoyable' story than we could ever begin to write and these last few weeks have been one for the books!! I don't know about anyone else, but I have just been feeling like I was getting hit by life, from every angle - nothing was going easy. I was getting bogged down with life and my head was just on repeat, playing over everything that was going wrong. It was hard to see the light in the midst of the darkness and the darkness is all I could seem to focus on. 

Then that's when life really decided to play a joke. What was supposed to be a lovely trip to Montana this past weekend, to get away and have a break from life, started off as a chapter out of Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events. Long story short - flight was delayed 2.5 hours, luggage didn't arrive with our flight, our car was rear-ended (by the way, it was my 3rd car accident in a week), our hotel key didn't work (had to go to the lobby twice, only to find out someone was actually in the room they assigned to us) and then had to wait to get into another room. All of this took place from about 10p - 4a; needless to say my 12 hour venture to Montana was not how I had envisioned it going, but after the few weeks I had been having, I wasn't surprised by what had occurred. In fact, at this point all I could do was laugh at everything going on. I didn't have anything left in me, but to laugh.

On my last day in Montana, I went dog-sledding and couldn't help but be fascinated by the dogs, and the irony of the last few weeks of life. Upon arrival, there were 70+ dogs chained up along the edge of the truck and/or fence. They looked sad and at first, you couldn't help but feel bad for them. Here they were, going to be hooked to a sled and hauling me (and others) around the snow for over hour. Kept thinking of the burden and hardship that they had to go through every day - and then everything changed!! THE MINUTE that the guides started to get everything ready, and the dogs knew it was almost 'go time' - the thoughts of feeling sorry for them vanished. They were SOOO excited! Barking, jumping around, rolling in the snow; so full of eagerness, passion, and enjoyment for what they were about to do (hauling hundreds of pounds, running 7+ miles in snow). If you ask me, that all sounds like what training for my 1/2 marathon feels like, LOL. 

Watching the dogs made me realize that we have two choices in life - get defeated by challenging situations, or embrace them with eagerness (and a smile, or bark :)). I decided to live this year with INTENTION and learning how to LIVE life, not SURVIVE it. These dogs helped me realize that life is always going to present challenges, but it's how we approach them that is truly how we determine whether we live  to the fullest extent, or just get by surviving. God never promised an easy life, but what he promised was to walk along side us during the hardship. A friend to keep us company along the way. 

Just as the dogs have been trained their entire life to run and endure -- I have been trained to withstand and just put one foot in front of the other to get to the next day. However, unlike the dogs, I have forgotten how to jump, roll in the snow and be eager to embrace life with passion and enthusiasm (regardless of the hardship and hurdles coming my way). I've gone through my share of hardship, but who hasn't - right? We all have our stories, our struggles, our burdens, our hurdles. What differentiates us, is what we do with them and how we decide to approach life, in-spite of them.

My challenges won't end (heck, I am a single mom of a teenage son - enough said!). I have always been grateful for my life and have learned to appreciate the lessons given to me, but I could definitely learn to skip my way through this crazy journey - rather than just putting one foot in front of the other. 

Regardless of what is going on right now in your life -- take some time to skip, smile, and appreciate the challenges you are going through. They make you, you!

Love,

Kristin