We have all heard the adage “When the going gets tough…”

What happens next?  “The tough get going,” isn’t that the one?  This phrase of course means that when life’s challenges appear, the people who are ready to meet those challenges will rise up and show themselves.  Some suggest that one can only learn about one’s true strength when they show how they react to the difficulties they have to face.

We have countless examples of this throughout our history:

• Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of KFC, convinced he had a winning recipe, was turned down 1,008 times before he finally heard the word, “yes”.
• Walt Disney, recipient of 22 academy awards, was fired from a newspaper for “lack of imagination with no original ideas”
• Oprah Winfrey was told she wasn’t “fit for television” and was removed from her job as a news anchor.  She is now described by many as “arguably the world’s most powerful woman”

These are all great stories of maintaining perseverance in the midst of rejection and turmoil.  “When the going gets tough…” Admittedly so, perseverance, hard work and determination are all important qualities to possess, but let’s talk about the not so obvious pieces of these stories.  Ever wonder who that 1009^th person was that really loved the colonel’s chicken?  What did someone else see in Walt Disney that showed them he was an original, imaginative person?  Who took a chance on Oprah when others had written her off?  Or maybe it was simply divine intervention?  Are you someone, like me, who believes God intervenes constantly into our lives?  Or doesn’t, but for important purposes that I certainly don’t understand.

How do we typically react to situations where the “tough have to get going?” Situations like miscarriages, inadequate adoption agencies, other people not understanding our circumstances, or constant reminders that you don’t have children even though it’s what you desperately desire.  I know my tendency when faced with opposition is to rely on me–my strength, wits and ingenuity.  Or I rely on Chelsea, family and friends.  All great options but in reality for me it is His plans that I need to trust, even if I have been led into a difficult spot.

To be truly tough, should we surrender while others are still fighting?  There is only so much I can do about my wife having had two miscarriages or my former adoption agency being inadequate.  Eventually things are out of my control and I need help…wherever that comes from.  The tough refuse to fold under what is seen and refuse to rely on human logic or strength alone because inevitably we will encounter situations that are beyond our control and scope of understanding.

So, are you standing in the face of opposition?  Is it a person? A circumstance or dilemma contradicting what you desire most in life with every fiber of your being?  How are you choosing to handle it?  I know in my life, with my circumstances, in the fears and feelings I’m feeling so intensely right now, I know how I am choosing to handle it.

In life, sometimes we need to adopt the age old adage “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” and sometimes we need to simply…”surrender.”

~Eli