I’m bringing back a story for you about a challenge I met in my life a few years ago.  Often the challenges we face are highly unwelcome – they just make life harder! But what if the hard things we face are actually for us? Let’s get into how that can be true and how you can use your challenges to help you get to your goal…

 

This weekend was our 17th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years! But when I look at these big kids walking around in my house and I know they weren’t here when we started our life together, it’s obvious that time is passing!

We usually go away for a weekend getaway to spend time away from the kids. But this year with COVID, we didn’t have an option to leave the kids. There just wasn’t anyone that we felt that we would ask to take the risk of staying with the kids or that wouldn’t add risk to our house by keeping the kids. When Perry found an available little house in a nearby retreat community, we decided to go anyway. With the kids.

Now, I had my misgivings about the plan. Taking the kids would require more planning, more food preparation, more noise, with less rest, uninterrupted time alone, and general peace and quiet. But he said he would make a plan with the kids to keep them occupied and besides, the alternative was staying home with no romantic getaway. So that’s how our four kids went on our anniversary weekend.

 

 

Stowaways…

 

It was different. I don’t know what I expected exactly, but I think that I thought it wouldn’t feel like a retreat because they were along for the ride. There were definitely some noisy arguments and messy kitchen issues. But actually, they did a decent job of trying to make themselves scarce so we could be alone. It helped that the retreat community was very safe and quiet and they could go off into the walking trails and explore on their own. He and I went out on walks alone, ate our lunch alone on the patio, and wandered the wood trails together. There were many lovely peaceful moments and I didn’t want to come home.

One of my favorite times we spent was at the labyrinth in the community. This double labyrinth is one of the largest and most beautiful I’ve seen, surrounded by trees and built of stone. I’ve had deep communion with God each time I’ve gone here, even though I always question if I will learn anything new every time I enter it. If you haven’t walked a labyrinth, I wrote a whole post about them here. Before I entered the labyrinth, I prayed for God to come and be with me and show me what I needed to know. As I meandered the path of the labyrinth, insight after lesson after blessing came to me. I’ll have to write a part two about some of it! But as I turned back and forth through the curves, I could see my husband standing off at a close distance, praying, and having his own time of retreat and communion.  This is the scripture that God spoke to me:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matt 7:11

 

 

Sometimes we forget the gifts that we’ve been given. It’s so easy to forget in the midst of all the things we worry about every day. I remember the days when I was begging in prayer in my closet for my husband. Watching him around the labyrinth reminded me all over again of the gift that he is to me. When I remember him as my gift, it’s as though I receive the gift all over again! Other gifts we get don’t seem like gifts at the time. Sometimes the gift looks like a struggle or challenge. Until it works and grows in us, we don’t see it as a gift. Right now, building my business and starting a new unfamiliar venture doesn’t always seem exciting and fun – sometimes it doesn’t feel like a gift. But I can see glimpses of how the struggle is designed to grow in me the character that I need, and for that I’m grateful. The work and struggle means I’m not forgotten. It means there’s more in me to become. It means I’m being called to more.

Can you see your struggles that way?

Are you able to see how your battle with weight may be the thing that grows and changes you forever?

What if raising your children and staying close to your spouse develops you into a more loving and patient person, the one you really want to be?

 

 

We think that if we work hard enough, keep trying, and change things over and over until we get them just right, eventually, we will arrive.  There is no arriving – we are always on the journey. If we wait to arrive, we don’t enjoy the in-between times, which is most of our lives. We should enjoy our accomplishments and achievements! Learning to enjoy the pathway takes more work, but the reward is loving the life you have right now.

It can be easier said than done to learn to think this way. I can help with that! If you’ve been curious about how a life coach can help you love your life and move forward much faster than you’ve been able to do on your own, schedule a call with me on my calendar or email me at drandreachristiaparks@gmail.com. I can help you lose weight for good!

 

Here’s this week’s installment of my Weight Loss Mindset series – join me!