Women of the world Unite!

Today, I was clicking through my daily blog roll, and stopped to read CJane. I'm a fan of her and her blog and her post today moved me to share a story very near and dear to my heart.

It was the summer of 2010. Joe was approaching his last year of school and we were spending the summer in Washington D.C. for his internship with the Senate. We had very little money, a two bedroom apartment, and 4 small children. The days were long. I drug the children all over the city trying to educate, excite and occupy the time. I was hung up on the idea that this was not at all what I had planned for. I thought when I got married and had children, we would settle into a perfect life. With a beautiful home, loads of money, and several quiet, well-behaved children.

And there I was, 10 years into marriage. No house, not much money, and loud needy kids. This was not my beautiful life.

Then one night, we got a call from my sister informing us that while we were away, the basement to the house we were renting back home had flooded and our things being stored there were ruined. I felt frustrated, helpless, and overwhelmed.

I can remember pouring my heart out in my prayers. I listed my grievances one by one. This was too hard, it's not what I thought it would be, I did not know if I could do this. I prayed daily for some sort of repose.

Then one day, while sitting in church, half listening, half wrestling a toddler, I received my answer. Four words whispered by the Holy Spirit straight to my heart.

You can do this.

Which, if I'm being perfectly honest, was not quite the answer that I had in mind. But the words kept floating through my brain. You can do this. It was a good answer. It wasn't a gentle or not so gentle reminder to be grateful. It wasn't a rebuke suggesting I was doing it wrong, or pointing out all those that were doing it better. It was not a well meaning, but demeaning exclamation of, "I don't know how you are doing it!". It was a quiet vote of confidence from someone who really knew.

I had a change of heart that summer, and thankfully when I think of it, I only think of the beautiful memories we made there. Our situation has improved immensely since then, and maybe I'm sharing today in case somebody out there is having their own trial of faith or facing self doubt. Perhaps they need that message today.

You can do this. 

The bottom line is, we all have our own battles to fight. What if, instead of arguing who's doing it best, or pointing our other peoples weaknesses, we could instead give each other that vote of confidence. Instead of rolling our eyes at how people handle their burdens we say those words, "you can do this" or maybe four other words - "how can I help?".