It’s really easy to want to give up when living with chronic illness. I haven’t heard of one person that hasn’t wanted to pull the bed sheets over their head until it’s all over. It’s really a vulnerable place to be so physically weak - but we cannot let ourselves become weak-willed. There are so many days where I just want to give up from the exhaustion of it all but these are the days I have to consciously remind myself of my mantra “Grit Don’t Quit!”.
Not long ago, I was so thankful to attend a Beth Moore women’s conference where she talked a lot about Grace and Grit. This was an especially vulnerable time for me physically (which resulted in a vulnerable time emotionally), and I really needed the reminder that IT AIN’T OVER.
“You’ve got to get rid of that quit in you”
- Beth Moore
So what exactly is grit?
Grit is that power of passion and perseverance, translated to mean “firmness of mind or spirit”. You cannot fulfill your calling as a wimp; grit is the courage to continue doing something even though it is very difficult.
Hebrews 11: 32-34 tells us that “through faith [they were] made strong; out of weakness, became mighty in war”.
You cannot be MADE STRONG until you are FIRST WEAK.
You cannot BECOME MIGHTY unless you’ve FOUGHT IN WAR.
But how can I become strong? How can I become mighty? I know for sure that what I’m dealing with in life is way more than I can handle. I am currently fighting this war and I feel like a weakling. I just don’t have the strength on my own. So this is when I have to rely on the strength and might of Christ. Do you understand the weakness I’m talking about? Stop losing the same battle by switching up your tactics. The moments that I am the strongest are those when I dig my feet in and stand on the word of God (the bible).
When our identity is found in our health, dealing with chronic illness is a devastating burden. How many times have you heard “as long as you have your health!”. So to have that grit in the face of chronic illness, we need our identity to be built upon a strong foundation. When we know who God is and who we are in Him, the strength in that truth grants us the courage to persevere.
“Grit hacks the path between God’s promise and great reward.”
- Beth Moore
The time is coming when I know I will be fully healed and I very well may need to wait until I am standing on the new earth alongside my Saviour. Until that time of great reward, I will continue to rest on God’s promises and persevere with grit as I hack my path through life to get there.