The Strength to Go On
By Cammie Easley, LPC-MHSP, Director of Child & Adolescent Services
Recently, I have been traveling through a season of illness. It has been tiring, grueling, emotionally exhausting, physically difficult, and harder spiritually to push through. I was given a timeline by my doctor in early 2023 that I would be on a 4-month protocol. I will be honest in that one of my main thoughts and prayers throughout those months was, “Lord, just get me to the fourth month.” The days were long; the weeks were tiring; and progress was minimal… but, I made it through to that four-month doctor’s visit.
At my four-month check-in, the doctor casually shared that I was still in an ill condition, and I would have to be on the protocol for 4-6 more months and then we would evaluate again. When I heard those words, hot tears started to pour out of my eyes. The only thought in my head was, “I don’t know if I CAN do that again.”
I’m not proud of that thought. I know it was fueled by the lies of the enemy. And yet, it was where my mind went when I heard the news.
If we’re honest, I think a lot of us have had that thought – maybe not about a medical crisis, but for a variety of different reasons. “I can’t handle the loss of one more loved one.” “I won’t make it through another financial disaster.” “I won’t be able to cope with another disappointment in life.” “I can’t handle another betrayal-or miscarriage – or job loss – or move.” Whatever the circumstances, this scheme of the enemy is not new. He has always tried to “rob, kill and destroy.” His lies have always been: “God is not good to you.” “God’s holding out on you.” “He’s not strong enough to save you.” “He’s not good enough to uphold you.” “He’s not near enough to hear you.” “He’s not kind enough to help you.”
It is in this place that I think we all need a gentle reminder. When Paul wrote Philippians, he was at the end of his life. He’d been shipwrecked, beaten, stoned to near death, and was currently in prison. And yet, he writes this in Philippians 3:
“Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”
It was sobering for me to think of all that Paul endured, and yet even from a prison cell he was striving FORWARD. He was looking ahead with hope. He was forgetting what was behind him – both the highs and lows of this life. And, his perspective was eternally minded. All in all, it was his FORWARD gaze that was so inspiring to me.
That four-month protocol later turned into an eight-month protocol that later turned into a 12-month protocol. And now, I’ve been on this journey for almost two years. In these two years, one thing has surprisingly become more clear than it was when I first began this journey – and that is the KINDNESS of Jesus. It sounds counterintuitive to say. But, my experiences with God in this valley have taught me this truth. In Isaiah 42:3, the prophet writes, speaking of Jesus, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.” This reminds me of what Paul communicates in 2 Corinthians 4: 8-10: we may be pressed, but we will not be crushed, we may be persecuted, but we will not be abandoned, we may be struck down, but we will not be destroyed (paraphrased). When we have nothing left to offer, HE is our strength to go on. HE empowers us to walk through seasons that we never imagined we would be able to walk through. HE is our source of RESILIENCE.
It is because of the Lord, that Habakkuk can write, “Though the fig tree does not bud, and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! The Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights.” (Habakkuk 3: 17-19).
God alone gives us the ability to walk through circumstances that we never thought we could. “He enables us to walk on the heights.” (Even heights we don’t particularly want to walk). He gives us the strength to go on. And, more than just the ability to go on, He promises to speak to us there. In Hosea, God writes that He actually speaks tenderly to us in the wildness seasons of life. And, He states that He turns “the valley of trouble into a gateway of hope.” He is not just after our survival, but He is also restoring to us hope.
So, if you find yourself today in a circumstance that overwhelms you. Or, if you question your own ability to “keep going.” Do not lose hope. God’s promises never fail and He promises to “uphold you with His righteous right hand.” And, do not be afraid to reach out for help as well. We have counselors available striving to be the tangible expression of His nearness, kindness, and help in difficult seasons. And we would love to help you find in Him the strength to go on.
Meet Cammie Easley, LPC-MHSP, Director of Child & Adolescent Services!
Cammie graduated with her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in May of 2014 from Denver Seminary in Denver, CO.
Throughout her career as a counselor, Cammie has been passionate about helping individuals of all ages overcome anxiety and depression, heal from past traumas, process their own grief, and develop into the healthy and whole people that God designed them to be.
She believes firmly that seasons of hardship are God’s tool which He uses to make us more like Himself and to reveal Himself to us in ways that we would not otherwise come to intimately know. One of her greatest joys in counseling is helping individuals figure out how they can heal in a holistic way that incorporates their body, mind, and spirit.