No One Said It Would Be Easy

When I was going to nursing school, things were pretty tough for us. We made many sacrifices so that I could finish knowing that in the end all the sacrifices would be worth the result.

We had one car for most of that time. When you have one car and something goes wrong with it, you are in a predicament. We knew we were going to have to put the car in the shop and we really could not afford to be without it. So we found a really cheap car and we "limped"our other car to a shop so we could spend more money we just didn't have in hopes we would be back up and running.

On the way back from dropping it off the *cheap* car would not go over 35 MPH. It sputtered and schemed and lurched making the 20 minute drive last forever. At one point tears started to run down my face as I was thinking "what next."

To make me feel better, my poor well-meaning husband pushed in a tape and reached over to hold my hand.

The song that played was called "No One Said It Would Be Easy." My tears turned to sobs. He turned the song off.

I can smile at this story now, but that seemed, at the time, to be a hopeless situation.

I was almost finished with nursing school when that happened. And I did finish, with the same car I started with, the *cheap* car had long since died. I passed my boards and got a job. And I prayed, "Lord, let this car make it till I can start working."

It died right after my first paycheck. We were able to go and get another car without doing sacrificing something important, like food or lights :-) .......

Today I face another struggle in the long line of struggles I have faced since that day in the *cheap* car. But that day comes so vividly back to my mind. I was a young woman then, in my late 20's. I could see the end of what I was facing, the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel."

When I was little I made a habit out of falling asleep in my parents' bed each night while my mother read. I'd wake up each morning and I'd be lying in my own bed next to my sister. I just could not, in my young mind, figure out how I made it there night after night.

So one night I decided to find out. I *pretended* to sleep. And before long, I felt strong arms lift me into the air. I peeped through my *sleeping* eyes into the face of my father as he carried me to bed.

Now more than anything I would that I could be that little girl being carried by my Daddy as I peacefully slept. But that is no longer a possibility.

Now I depend on You Lord, on Your strength to carry me through. No one said it would be easy, but Your Word says that when I'm weak that's when You're strong. In my sorrow, in my despair, in my sadness, when the world would say I'm finished, defeated, You step in and carry me to a place of rest so I can stand and fight again.

No, no one said it would be easy, and at this point in my life, I wouldn't believe them if they did. But just when hopeless thinks it has won...HOPE steps into the scene...and I rise above my problems, carried by the strength of His arms.

Carry me today, Lord. Carry me through.