What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

We’ve all heard that saying but I’d like to add to that and say… it also doesn’t define you.

We all have “what”s in our lives.  Those things that have been so hard to endure that they have threatened to kill us.  Maybe not kill us physically but emotionally.

In my worst times of depression I felt like I was fighting for my life.  Not my physical life.  But I was fighting for the life I want to live.  The life that I know I can have.  A life filled with joy and hope and purpose.

Knowing that depression doesn’t define me has been critical in helping me to rise above it.

I don’t like the idea that I am even associated with depression because it goes against everything I know I am.  Depression is associated with hopelessness and lack of interest and lack of joy.  But I am a joyful, hopeful and purposeful person. So even though I am experiencing those other emotions I constantly remind myself of the joy and the hope I know I have even if I can’t access them at that time.  And I remind myself that I will get through it and I will be even stronger than I was before.

Your “what” may be different from mine.  You may be dealing with a difficult marriage or financial problems. Maybe you suffer from anxiety or issues from a haunting past that you are working through. These are all “what”s.  They are things that you go through ~ they are not who you are.

I am not a depressed person.  I am a person who, at times, suffers from depression.  Separating the two has been very important to me.

Romans 8:28 brings it all into perspective.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…and it doesn’t define you…and God will work it into His plan for you and in the end…it will be good!