I Can Do Hard Things

This is my life.

This is my story.

This is my journey.

This is my testimony.

And it is all by His grace!

Framing the words of my testimony is a chant that has gotten to be quite popular in this world. It goes like this: “I can do whatever I decide to do and God will give me His blessing or assistance for its completion.” Among those who repeat it regularly are individuals who want to lose weight, amass wealth, earn degrees, win competitions, etc.

Naturally, people cling to such a mantra because it seemingly places humanity in control. Further still, it appears to be validated by Philippians 4:13, which reads,

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

But is that the true tenor of this famous passage?

The context depicted in Paul’s letter to the Philippians indicates otherwise. Highlighting adversities and harsh conditions, Paul exhorts believers to obey and love God, to serve God and others at all times and in all circumstances with gratitude and contentment. In other words, the one who professes to believe in Christ is invited to trust God in such a way that, come trials or triumphs, sickness or health, rain or shine, plenty or want, such a one can say, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

So, let me take it home.

I am a Christ-follower.

I am to see every situation (rosy or dark) facing me as an opportunity to proclaim, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Hmmm. 

Let me be honest.

When life is rosy, I for one tend to think I deserve it. When I am recognized for a great feat or a kind deed, I tend to think I did it in my own strength. And when difficult circumstances rear their ugly heads, discontent seeks to destroy me by directing its “Woe is me” sermon to my fragile heart. My bent is doomed to fail, to fall, to falter, to flounder.

Thankfully, Grace comes to the rescue.

Instead of allowing me to wallow and wander aimlessly in self-pity, Grace leads me home to the place where I realize that I. Can. Do. Hard. Things.

Hard.

Tough.

Difficult.

Unpopular.

Problematic.

Indeed, I can do hard things through the strengthening grace of Christ:

I can sit in a roofless room as my 3-year old self watches my family's belongings being drenched by a merciless downpour.

I can trudge onward as my 6-year old heart gets shredded and torn by jeers and jabs from bullies left and right in my neighborhood.

I can quietly take the blame for an indiscretion my 9-year old self did not commit, and humbly stomach the severe beating meant for another child who was too frail to undergo it herself.

I can live to tell of my suicidal attempt at the age of 10 when I reached a point of utter despair, depression, and despondency over the incessant bullying that was my lot from morning till night.

I can move beyond the shock of my 11-year old eyes witnessing the fatal burning of a young adult male whose unfortunate sin was the joining of the wrong Haitian political party.

I can survive the enduring of a shameful season of sexual harassment and subsequent abuse that threatened to undo my pursuit of dignity, stability, and worth.

I can taste fame as a Christian contemporary singer in my teenage years and swallow its accompanying potion of gossip, slander, and malice reserved for those in the limelight.

I can wait through a long embargo period imposed on Haiti by the United Nations and the US before being granted access to a solid college education.

I can go through months and months of 10 meals a week at Biola, choosing to rely on the delights of Chopin and Schubert to shush my rumbling stomach in the Crowell Hall practice rooms.

I can lean on my Song Literature professor at Penn State as my salty tears stained her blouse the day when two planes caused the World Trade Center towers to crumble to pieces, killing thousands in their wake.

I can finish a tear-jerking doctoral recital the day after a friend and fellow Eastman student -- brilliant and promising -- was tragically killed in one of the most preventable car crashes known to homo sapiens.

I can sit in front of a TV screen and watch my childhood home crumbled and Haitian historic sites pancaked by a 7.0 earthquake in the presence of a horrified world.

I can choose to forgo taking the bait of self-righteousness, learning rather to forgive and overlook slurs, accusations, insults, and slanderous words. I can surrender my trials, snares, finances, emotions, relationships, strivings to the Father.

I can receive phone calls telling me my father had a fatal heart attack, my brother's body was mutilated, my brother/friend died while trying to reach a hospital, my sister succumbed to cancer at a young age . . . weathering storm after storm after storm . . . entering valley after valley of the shadow of death . . .

I can weep yet not lose heart. I can walk yet not faint. I can be struck and turn the other cheek. I can face mourning at night yet dance in the morning. I can reveal my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

I can sing.

I can trust God.

I can walk in faith.

I can do hard things.

And it is all because of Christ.