LIVING IN THE CRUCIBLE

Yesterday while sitting at my desk I felt compelled to plug in my earphones and listen to something motivational while I worked. I tuned in to Bishop TD Jakes on Oprah's Life Class. What I learned was so profound, I immediately felt the urge to share it with some of my closest friends. In this clip Jakes spoke about understanding adversities in our lives. He compared those moments to shooting a bow and arrow. The further back you pull the bow, the greater it's resistance, but when released it propels further. In his own words " use your disaster for direction, it is through adversity, that our strength is developed. It is through those moments that you realize, you're more resilient than you thought you were".

WHEN I GOT HOME LATER THAT EVENING:

I'm living in it. I've lived in it before, and I'm sure my future holds many more to come. What am I making reference to? I'm referring to my current crucible experience. Im experiencing excruciating moments of pain and sadness. I feel as though I'm in a stew of pregnancy, parenting, maternity leave issues and business decisions that are not guaranteeing positive returns in a timely fashion. It's those moments of sadness , pressure and problems that my thinking is thwarted towards negativity.

THE NEXT DAY

The next morning, as I sat wallowing in my own self pity, taking multiple bathroom breaks and having personal breakdowns, I began to see the miracle of the preparatory period. The point before my crucible experience began where I was given an opportunity to become strengthened (my TD Jakes experience) for the storm that I'm currently experiencing. I begun to take note of the miracle that was afforded me to power through this adverse combination of issues. I have now begun the process of determining the best approach to each unique challenge. I understand that a higher power orchestrates and helps to channel us (if we are willing) towards the place we ought to be. But first we are giving a preparatory period which is geared towards strengthening us for the tough times ahead. We must learn to recognize our crucible experiences and recognize (most times in hindsight) our preparatory period and pull strength from it, so we can experience the exponential growth our crucible experience was meant to inspire.

THE LESSON

Find your source of strength while going through your crucible and push forward. You can only get stronger.

One Love
Danni