Strengthening Your Endurance
Hello friend! Do you need endurance? I know I do! When I was in my late forties, I needed endurance badly because a series of medication changes triggered a manic episode that led to depression and sleepless nights.
What if you feel incapable of enduring life any longer? I think one way to find endurance is to be still, as the Psalmist wrote, Be still and know that I am God.
Another way is to admit our exhaustion and fatigue and be aware of what our body is telling us. I’m tempted to say, just push through it, but I won’t because maybe our mental illness creates within us an inability to steadfastly endure. Instead, we lose hope of endurance and want to give up on life, thinking, we’ll never change. But don’t give up hope.
I want to toss out this question: Can we find a balance between pushing too hard on ourselves or on the opposite end of the spectrum, coming to the end of our rope and giving up on life?
Can we be compassionate toward ourselves but still choose to get out of bed and say, yes, I’ll find the resources to move forward?
It’s a balancing act for us as moms, grandmas, single persons, single moms, teachers, students, women in the work force, including those of us with a mental illness.
What is endurance? An online search led me to one definition I like, which is “the ability to last, continue, or remain.”
I think the need for endurance is closely tied to discouragement and weariness from long lasting suffering.
Are you suffering from an extended battle because of past trauma you’re reliving? Because your anxiety shows no sign of improvement? Because you are plagued with fatigue or panic attacks? After suffering for so long without seeing a positive outcome, we can find ourselves in a heap of brokenness of body, mind, and spirit.
When I need endurance, it helps me to put myself in a posture of prayer before God, sometimes on my knees, asking Him for the motivation to endure, admitting I can’t do this on my own.
Another way I find endurance is to celebrate every small victory, as my former counselor said. If you get out of bed in the morning, celebrate that. If you get dressed, celebrate that. If you fix a meal for yourself or your family, celebrate that. If you pick up the phone and make that doctor’s appointment, celebrate that.
No one can force us to have endurance. It comes from within. If we know Christ personally, His Holy Spirit lives inside us and gives us the power to endure. The Holy Spirit also enables us to have patience, which is necessary for endurance.
Think of a person who is in your life now, or was in the past, or someone in the world who is alive today, or who lived in history, who models endurance. Think of your own life and ways you’ve endured in the past. What makes you strong?
For physical stamina, our bodies need sleep, nutritious food, and physical activity. For emotional and mental stamina, we need a friend, or a counselor, sometimes medication, and most of all—Christ.
During those years when I needed endurance so desperately, I relied on frequent long-distance trips to see my psychiatrist, a stop afterwards at McDonalds to drink a Dr. Pepper and eat a fish sandwich (I know, I know, that wasn’t nutritious), a small weekly Bible Study and prayer group, my friend, Joni, at church who understood and encouraged me, and my husband who gave me back and arm massages during sleepless nights to help me fall back to sleep. In time, I adjusted to the new medications and slowly moved toward recovery.
A verse of Scripture that promises a second wind when we need endurance is Isaiah 40:31.
But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
This verse comes to my mind and encourages me when I’m exhausted and need physical or emotional endurance.
Take hold of the staying power He gives to enable you to press on and persevere with the confidence that He is directing your journey. Dare I say, believe God to help you believe in yourself with Him as your stronghold and say with a thumbs up, I’ve got this.
- Marilyn