Strength and wisdom is found in the struggle, not going around it

​Something I'm good at: looking back at the struggles I've faced in my life and knowing they made me stronger.

Something I'm trying to get better at: celebrating the struggles I am currently in knowing they are making me stronger.

It's much easier to celebrate the struggles we've overcome than the ones we are currently trying to get through. But if we know every struggle we've faced has made us stronger - and wiser - why would this one turn out any different?

I'm not suggesting we should throw a party for our struggles. Wave pom poms at them. But if we don't see the value in our struggles, the risk increases that we will try to avoid them. The risk increases that instead of walking through them, we will try to find a way to run away from them.

And I will tell you, I've tried just about every 'run away from them' one can imagine. I will also tell you that you end up celebrating absolutely nothing about an escape. Mainly because your struggles inevitably shows back up dangling your escape in front of you by its neck.

Steven Furtick says, "you don't have the wisdom to give others if you don't go through the weakness with God yourself."

It's true. The wisest people I know are the people who tell me stories about what they've been through and not the stories they've read about. Wisdom is experience based, not IQ based.

And I personally believe life is about all of us walking hand in hand toward wisdom.

I just want to encourage you today, if you are facing a struggle, you don't have to smile, but maybe think about it a little differently.

Think about it more as opportunity than punishment.

Think about it more as gift than curse.

Think about it more as a stepping stone in life than a cell.

Think about it more as a story that will not only become the story of your own strength and growth, but also the strength you'll pass on to others.

Maybe today you aren't ready to throw a party for your struggles. I get it. I just want to challenge you to stay the course with them; don't run away from them.

There's no party to be found in life skipping over your struggles, only walking through them.

Keep going.