Life Can Make Or Break Us

Have you ever had a struggle in life and you just cant understand why you have to go through it.  You may even ask God why. We all have. These times in our lives are so hard but as you look back you can see that they are also defining moments in your life that altered your life in one way or another. We can see that they rather built us up or tore us down. I look back in my life and I can see several experiences like this.

One that tore me down was when I was in seventh grade, I got pushed into a brick wall in PE and my hip got popped out of place. After going to the doctors and getting the medical attention needed when I returned to soccer, I found it very painful and frustrating. I soon found myself quitting the sport I had played since I was four. As I got older, I tried new sports like water polo and others but when it got hard, I gave up. I found that my reaction to that challenge set a pattern for sports for a long time and it took a lot of work to get over that mentality and I still only play sports for fun and not on teams because of this situation.

But a time that changed me for the better and made me who I am now was my jr year in high school I was in a major car accident. I was in the car with my mom who was driving at 5 in the morning on my way to an early morning religion class. When my mom screamed, I turned to see a man go fifty miles per hour and not stopping. He T-bond our car and my life would never be the same. From this man’s choices I retained a list full of injuries including a major concussion, a torn rotator cuff and I tore the main muscle in the shoulder off the bone. As I went through recovery and a surgery, I learned so much about myself. I learned that I can do hard thing, that its ok to let others help you and it brought me and my mother closer.

As I look back on this experience, I see how it prepared me for other points in my life like when I was in Massachusetts serving a mission for my church and I and had some major health problems. I was across the country from my family, friends and did not have my usual support system. But since I had learned how to push through and how to rely on God, I was not only able to push through these challenges, but I was able to stay and continue to help and serve others and enjoy every second of it.

As we go threw hard things and build up resilience it can help us down the road and make us better people. And when it comes to our families these trials and crises can tear us apart or bring us together. There are so many examples all around us of failed marriages and broken families. And we know how much heart ache comes with that, so we want to make sure we pull together during these times. We can do this by choosing how we react to our circumstances.

A time when my family went through this was when my dad lost his job. We all had to make adjustments my mom got a job my dad stayed home and us kids had to step up and do more at home and help watch the finances. During this time my parents chose to involve us in the discussion about money and the situation. We all prayed together and hope for change. They day my father got his new job wasn’t just a wonderful day for my parents but for our whole family.