Weight Lifting

Did you know I was a weight lifter?
I am.

Seriously.

You can stop snickering now…

Yea, yea. I know you’re thinking, “She sure doesn’t look like a weight lifter…”

Well.
I don’t lift traditional weights.

Since August 4, 2001, I have been lifting the marriage weight. And man, is that ever tough work!
I juggled the weights of new home ownership and fresh-from-college-now-I-have-a-real-job weights that same year.

Since Carys was born in 2003, and then Cailyn in 2006, I have lifted the weight of motherhood.
Sometimes those little blue-eyed, blond-haired weights are heavier than I could have ever imagined.

As if those weights weren’t enough, I added the diabetic weight in 2006. Phooey!

Then, with Chad’s surprising diagnosis of brain cancer and the discovery of IT in 2007, I have added way more weights that I would like.

The emotional, physical and financial weights of living a life with two young daughters, a husband with a devastating disease, diabetes and all the other stuff….well, it’s almost too much for me to handle at times.

I would look at other people in my life and wonder how they seem to lift similar weights so effortlessly.
I just couldn’t understand how they were able to build a positive emotional workout while I was struggling to lift the daily weights of life and was often out of breath from sheer frustration and exhaustion.

People often ask me how I juggle it all.
And the answer is simple. And it’s no secret.
I do my best. And God handles the rest.

When I sense that I cannot handle one more possible thing in my life, God shows me that I can.
Sometimes, He adds more for me to juggle. And He teaches me that I can handle anything.
I can do it. I can do anything.
And you can, too.

The weights I lift on a daily basis can be tricky; true.
And sometimes I do wonder how easy life would be without such struggles and hardships.
But then I always come to the same conclusion; everyone has weights in their life.
Every single person has something that they struggle to contain or let go of; it’s just the way life is.
And if you think my weights are heavier than anyone else’s…well, that’s not true.
If you have a weight in your life, whether it be illness, unemployment, depression – whatever, you don’t have to lift it alone.

At Chad’s fundraiser, we had the privilege of witnessing a great weight being plucked from our lives.
I’m not sure if I was reaching a breaking point, or if we were just “due” some good news, but a huge weight has been lifted from our family. I can not tell you the immediate calmness and security I have felt since that day. To see all the loving and comforting faces, smiles and tears…it’s taken me some time to process it all.

People are so good to us; and we are so thankful.
We give back whenever we can and we appreciate all of you who did the same.

In the past eleven nights, I have slept more soundly and peacefully than I have in a long, long time.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

We have been given an immediate release of stress.
We can breathe again, a little easier at least.
The weight has been lifted, and I thank God that He has allowed us to be a part of such an overwhelming  testimony of what can be provided when you trust Him.

He is the Ultimate Weight Lifter.
And I am so grateful that He carries our load.