Thinking Through Adversity

"This day I call heaven and earth as eyewitnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live"  (Deut. 30:19).

Oh, boy, here I am. Many of you may be intimately aware of the truth that when you speak on or teach about something, that the message is for you too. That is something I’m walking through right now. This column is about choosing life daily, in our thoughts, words, actions, attitudes, habits, relationships, etc, because I seriously believe this. That doesn’t mean however, that I don’t go through things myself and have to make a conscious effort to practice what I preach, because I do, and I am.

Facing adversity is just one of those things we all have to experience in this life. And the reality is most of us don’t like adversity. Why would we? It hinders us from getting or having what we want. It can be frustrating, confusing, and painful. Sometimes it can be downright awful; something we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy. But, facing adversity will make us stronger and better people if we let it. We can learn much through our adversity, if we choose to; things like compassion, mercy, perseverance, patience, and faith just to name a few.

Like it or not, we all experience adversity. We can overcome it or it can overcome us. Either way, it’s up to us. If we have a victim mentality, defeatist attitude, and hateful thoughts (toward ourselves or others), it is a pretty safe bet that the adversity will overcome us. However, if we have a victor mentality, positive attitude, and life-affirming thoughts, we will overcome it. This is thinking through adversity. It’s choosing life through adversity.

Often times, we look at adversity as something to stop us, kill our dreams, or keep us down, but that’s not it at all. Just because something isn’t easy or doesn’t happen the way we want it to, doesn’t mean that it’s not meant to be. On the contrary, it’s a rare thing when something meaningful, important, or amazing comes easily. I think of the movie A League of Their Own, when Dottie (Geena Davis) decides to quit the team because it got too hard, and the coach (Tom Hanks) responds with “that’s bull, it’s the hard that makes it great!”

In order to have victory over the adversity we face, we must be deliberate about it. We must choose our thoughts, our words, and our attitudes wisely. Speak life into a difficult situation! Do it out loud! Tell God how big your problem is, but don’t stop there; turn right around and tell your problem how big your God is! Be intentional in the thoughts you think – we are told in Phil 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

There is one thing in particular that is very hard to do when we are experiencing adversity and that is to persevere. It is hard to move forward when our wants and needs are hindered by circumstances, especially if it goes on for a long period of time. However, we must never allow discouragement to take control and make us give up. There may be a time to stop pursuing a certain goal, but we should know when that is. We just need to make sure we don't give up because something seems to hard.

We also need to take a chance and trust. We have to trust that God is for us, not against us, and that He loves us and knows what is best for us. We also have to trust Jesus, when he tells us in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Yes, adversity/trouble happens, but Jesus has overcome it and we can too!  Overcoming adversity doesn’t just happen, we have to be proactive about it every step of the way.

Earlier, I mentioned that I was walking through this right now. We have been trying to grow our family for five years now. We are forty years old, so time is not on our side. We do have a beautiful daughter, who is a treasured gift and we are so thankful for her. But we’ve had problems too, with two miscarriages and a long time between pregnancies. It has been really tough at times, but I know my God and He is always faithful. We are rapidly nearing the time that we gave ourselves as a deadline. Should that time come without another baby, I will still trust, follow, and serve God. I know He has a plan, and whatever that plan may be, I trust that it is even better than what I could plan for myself.

In the meantime, I find myself having to speak life to my womb, think life-affirming thoughts, and draw comfort from God’s Word, because it doesn’t just happen naturally. This is how I am being proactive about overcoming my adversity. I am deliberately and purposefully thinking positively through this adversity. Yes, the negative thoughts come, but I know that if I take them captive, they will not take me captive. This is how I am choosing life through adversity. How about you?