Finding Your New Strength In Adversity

There is a story of little girl in church with too much energy. She kept standing up on the chair and her mother kept pulling her down, but she would just keep getting right back up. Frustrated, her mother pulled her down again and put her hand heavy on her little girls head, pushing her down into a sitting position. The little girl sat there for a while, then began to smile. Then she said, “Mom, you know what, I may be sitting down on the outside, but I am standing up on the inside!”

This is the attitude of knowing there is a strength within me that knows nothing can keep me down, and that there is a Presence and Power in my life, God the Good, so I know I will stand up at the right appointed time.

It is not always easy to keep the faith. In this world, there are many challenges, that many of us face everyday of our lives. I know these spiritual teachings that we offer are wonderful, but when life shows up with all its distressing disguises, we sometimes can forget who we are.

When life pushes us down, are we standing up on the inside? Or do we let it bring us down? Are we beginning to believe in the voices outside ourselves that we are not enough? Are we beginning to believe in the illusion of lack and limitation or scarcity? (Scare City)

Right now, is there something in your life keeping you down!? In Unity, there is always hope for a better tomorrow, and a new way of seeing things. With God on our side (and God is on the side of all human beings), all things are possible.

After much hardship, how does one find the inner strength to continue the journey? Most of us cannot imagine what it takes, in one’s self, when you’re expecting an end to the difficult journey and instead are faced with the Rocky Mountains. Where does one go in that moment to be willing to be present to what is, rather than what one wanted?

I do not know what Rocky Mountains you are facing right now, but I know they come in many different forms. Perhaps it’s a diagnosis of illness or a difficult relationship. Maybe your mountain is a lost dream, or you have poured your heart out into a business and success still eludes, or you face a mountain of betrayal. Rocky Mountains come in all different shapes and forms. In this human journey, it is not a matter of if we will face the mountain it is a matter of when.

Like those who have scaled great peaks around the world attest, it is in that climb that we feel connected to something greater than we are. Regardless of how it turns out, this Presence is bigger than the thing we are facing, and we begin to find strength through the adversity.

When we are faced with an adversity, we can refuse to believe that there is anything against us, just shake it off, and step to higher ground. God is not finished with us yet. And remember, that a set back is just a set up for a come back! Something greater is about to happen. Just like the dream that is in your heart. Are you ready for that dream to be realized?

Sometimes the Universe pulls the rug out from under you, because you need to be standing on more solid ground. You need to get off the slippery slope of someone else’s dream and get on the solid ground of your own dream.

What I know to be true, is that we are all connected to something that regardless of how it turns out, is bigger than the Rocky Mountains we are facing. If we keep our minds focused on God and the Dream, we can shake off all adversity and stay aligned with truth and remain standing up on the inside. We can never be diminished from someone’s opinion of us, and our sense of self grows with our own ability to recognize the Spirit who knows us as it’s own.

Jesus said, there will be many trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer, have a good attitude, for I have overcome!

We have to be ready for adversity. Not look for it—no, not expect it—but be ready when we are knocked over, when we feel the dirt coming down on our backs to shake it off and remember the power of God is within us from on high and, step up onto higher ground of new possibility.