“If you’re never in a tough situation, it’s probably because nobody believes you can handle it.”

I read this in a book the other day and it really struck me. At a job, or volunteering, or in a family: who gets the toughest jobs? Growing up I thought my brothers did just because they were older. Some of that was true. As I grew, my parents gave me more responsibilities to teach me, to challenge me, to take away my fear of failing at a new task. When I started working my first job after college, at a preschool, my attitude was “I’ll do whatever needs doing. Cooking, cleaning bathrooms, wiping kid’s noses, anything.” I wanted that job to pay my rent. If I was flexible I had confidence that I would keep it. In fact, I eventually moved up to teaching three and four year olds. That part didn’t last long, because my ideas of teaching that age group did not agree with what the supervisor wanted. The short version is that I felt one lesson should be taught a different way, every day, so the children really understood. Her attitude was that a different lesson should be taught every day, whether the children grasped the concept or not. So, I quit.

Life is a challenge. It takes different forms and people react in their own way. Maybe this is because there are different personalities and varied stages of development. Not everyone is an adult at age 18. Some people are forced into early adulthood by their circumstances and others by choice. I moved out on my own at 19. I couldn’t even rent an apartment without my father’s co-signature. I had to borrow $25 from him to make my first month’s rent and security and repaid him from my next paycheck. Yes, I had a roommate until she got married. Then I lived alone until I got married. Yet my husband lived at home, rent-free, until we got married. Life is different.

I’ve been one to take a stand and choose challenges. Often I have taken “the road less traveled”, just because no one else did. That didn’t mean others appreciated my taking a stand or standing out. Most of the time, I didn’t care. Having that attitude has helped me when larger challenges of life have blasted me. No one promised an easy life. I have looked at others, whose lives seem much easier than mine, and wonder, “God, why don’t they have to suffer? Why aren’t they walking down this road? Why is their life perfect?” I know I am not privy to the challenges they may be undergoing. But I also contemplate if I am facing these tough situations because somewhere God is looking down and saying, “I believe in you. I have given you over to this difficult situation because I have seen how you have handled complications and unknown circumstances and fearful valleys in the past. I am with you as you walk, step by step, into the sunlight. Again.”