When the Lesson Becomes Your Life
The phone call I never wanted to come! I have spent years encouraging people. I have spoken about emotional discipline, faith, resilience, keeping your head when life becomes difficult, and finding strength when your back is against the wall. I have mentored people through loss. I have encouraged people when their families were hurting. I have told people to trust God when they couldn’t understand what God was doing. And then life said: Now it’s your turn. My mother became critically ill. Suddenly, everything I had ever said to someone else was being tested in my own life. This wasn’t a motivational speech. This wasn’t a chapter in one of my books. This wasn’t somebody calling me asking for advice. This was my mother. The Difference Between Knowing and Experiencing There is a tremendous difference between understanding someone’s pain and actually standing inside it. You can sympathize with someone sitting beside a hospital bed. You can tell them to have faith. You can ...