Bending Can Be Brave

By Holley Gerth

God's Brave Women - Holley's Story

The wind blows cold against my back as I walk along the streets in the quiet suburb where I live. I think of other days when I've walked this same path with much on my mind. Losses. Hurts. Dreams laid down.

And I think of loved ones who have felt the chilly breath of trouble on their hopes too. Mamas who have said goodbye to babies. Teens who have survived abuse. Folks who have battled cancer. It's a cold world sometimes. Some of those folks have come out of those times with greater strength, tenderness, and resilience. Others have become bitter and hard. I quietly ask myself, "What makes the difference?"

As I ponder this question, I think back to one particularly painful season in my life. It seemed sorrow, frustration, and disappointment threatened to overtake me. I wanted to shut down my heart, lock the door of my life, and let bitterness move in as my only companion. Yet God seemed to keep whispering, "Yield, yield, yield."

I grew up in a place where hurricanes were frequent, and I learned this: the trees that survive are the ones that bend. Tough times do one of two things - they reshape us or they break us. And the choice is up to us.

"Tough times do one of two things - they reshape us or they break us. And the choice is up to us."

If we stiffen our souls and harden our hearts, then the wind blows against us until we break to our core. But if we can bend - keep trusting, hoping, loving - then we are transformed in ways beyond our understanding.

Oh, we will have days when we experience deep grief and anger. That's okay - it's actually part of yielding. We let ourselves feel our emotions and wave them wildly for a bit like branches. It's when we stop feeling that we should begin to worry. When we fake it. Or when we insist on having our own way. When we quit believing God is good because he did not give us what we wanted.