Years ago I had freshly entered a relationship with someone I had strong feelings for and felt strongly about. I had known him for a couple of years and my family knew him too before we got together. And at that time, I remember having a conversation with a very good friend of mine and telling her I hope that relationship works because I didn’t think I would recover if things didn’t work. And her immediate response was “don’t say that. You can always recover and bounce back from anything. You think you cannot but when you are confronted with life and your only choice is to keep moving you will find the strength. Don’t let your life or story end because someone decides to go.” And as life would have it, things didn’t work. And I was devastated. But what I realized later, through the tears, was that my friend was right. I bounced back. From that heartbreak and from the ones that ensued. One after the other.
My inspirations usually come from videos. And the one for this article is no different. I watched a man speak about losing his wife 41 days after their marriage. I watched him speak about how he had to pull the plug on his wife and watch her take her last breath. I also watched him talk about the Brady effect: about how as long as you still have time on your clock you can make a comeback at ANY time. The journey of resiliency is tiring. And over the years, I became increasingly scared of sitting with my feelings or confronting situations head on because I thought if I got under, I don’t know that I will be able to come out the other side. But time and time again, life and God proved me that there was no other possibility than to come out the other side. Sure some days and times, it took more from me to come out the other side. Some days I had to fight harder and kick harder but in the end I always made it. I always made a comeback.
It reminded me that I am wired for it. It reminded me that everytime I think I do not have it in me anymore to fight or to move, I still have a little bit left to give the final big push that will get my head out of the water so that I can take another big, deep breath to keep swimming until I can safely get to the shore. The Brady effect… Such a powerful imagery of how anything is possible even until the very last minute. Such a powerful analogy of how at any given moment you can tilt the scale to the other side and come back on top of things again. Such a powerful analogy to say the simple thing: while the clock is running keep running for “this too shall pass”. The pain will pass. The tears will pass. The feeling of hopelessness and helplessness will pass. The night will pass…
Joseph went from being in a prison to being elevated to one of the highest ranks in egypt. Psalms 30:5 says “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning”. He understood that. Now the Bible doesn’t say much about Joseph mental or emotional state while waiting for the tides to turn for him; but I can only imagine that there might have been days where he wanted to give up and I wouldn’t blame him. But he sat tight, and kept going knowing that in the end, what God had revealed, somehow would come to pass. It took years before the tide finally turned but it did. And it did because he didn’t give up.
My hope for you as I write this article is that you don’t give up. I do not know why my theme lately revolves around encouraging you to hold on. Perhaps it is an encouragement to my own soul, I do not know… My prayer however is that it also encourages someone. It is not late. You are not late. It is not over for you. You still have time on your clock and you can still make a comeback if you would just hold on and keep going. I am rooting for you. You got this.
