Rock Bottom

...is not the end, it’s the beginning of new things if you allow it to be. On this journey towards healing we all hit rock bottom at some point, in varying ways and to varying degrees. I remember when I felt I’d hit “rock bottom” in my situation. For me it wasn’t necessarily a sense of hopelessness but rather the acknowledgment of the intense pain of that final blow. You know how during painful circumstances painful blows just seem to keep coming until it runs its course, 'till there can be no more blows. Well, in this circumstance I took my final blow to the gut and it laid me out on the floor. I called my position there on the floor “rock bottom.” I couldn’t have been anymore hurt by or devastated about my situation than I was at that point. I was at rock bottom.

But, God helped me see that it wasn’t a position of defeat, rather it was the position from which I’d rise. It’s like that old saying, when you’re all the way down, there’s no where to go but up. Please, don’t get it twisted, it hurts to be down at rock bottom. I’m weary from all the blows and all the times I’ve had to find the strength to keep going despite them. It’s dirty and grungy down here, cluttered from all the painful memories and raw emotions. But I know I can’t go any lower than this and I recognize that this is my launching pad. And so, because I want to live a newer, healthier, happier life, because I want a new beginning, I get up, slowly. Feeling all of the aches and bruises from all the blows, with heavy limbs and hands I brush myself off. By God’s grace I bring myself to my feet, then sit myself down to rest recuperate, and nurse my wounds. I take slow deep breaths, come to terms with what has happened in my life, and think about how to move on.

Rock Bottom...it’s not the end, it’s the beginning if you allow it to be. And if you have God, hope, and will, it can be a pleasant, well, relatively pleasant, place to be, because when you know you’re down as far as you can go, then you know it’s time to start going up. It’s all a part of healing. If you can look up, you can get up. By faith in God- “rise, take up thy bed and walk.” (John 5:8) You’re well on your way to a brand new life.

Blessings,

Stephanie

Text- Jeremiah 29:11
Song- Still I Rise- Yolanda Adams


Copyright 2010 Stephanie Whitley unless otherwise sourced. All Rights Reserved