Yes, You Can

She is just in her mid-40s and so debilitated that putting in a load of laundry is a huge drain on her energy. She has lost her job due to her inability to function. She has many illnesses which all combined have wreaked havoc on her whole system. But, she is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

I think of her often and just as often, pray. I know that “things can always be worse”, and I keep perspective on bumps in the road by remembering her. Even on her worst days, she still takes the time and energy to text me something encouraging or that she is praying for me or asks how I am. Even when the medical profession has given up the ability to do much to help her, she has not given up. She has realized God has a plan for her life. She uses the resources she has to do the Lord’s work despite her condition. She is one of the most Spiritual people I know.
  
On days when I think, “I just can’t today,” I think of her. She is one of my motivators. If she can still think of me (in her misery), pray for me, encourage me, and remind me of the goodness of God, then surely I can (with my health) carry on. We all have moments of needing rest and feeling sad or depressed for one reason or another and this is normal. But once that feeling has past and we have had time to process…Yes you can get up go on, yes you can love one another, yes you can take time to encourage someone less fortunate, yes you can pray for the suffering, yes you can build someone else up, yes you can forgive, yes you can do a good deed. God isn’t done with you yet.
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Though we don’t understand everything that happens in this world, we have our Father to lean on. Always. He loves us more than we could ever comprehend. The power that raised Jesus from the dead in alive in us through the Spirit. Feel it, know it, live it. And tell yourself today and every day, “Yes, you can!”
 
In Him,
Celeste
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13