Each trying or unforgiving circumstance I enter, cross and exit has within it a specific purpose. To remove some of my layers. That veneer that I have allowed to accumulate over time.  Diminishing and hiding  some of my best features.

Persevering through those moments of adversity, no matter how arduous, is how they come to be stripped away. Revealing all the best that I was  – even when I thought I  was  at my worst.

So when I  find yourself alone, lost in the midst of an inhospitable expanse – or – within the emptiness of my own personal confinement, I sense that things may begin to close in about me.

But as I learned, all is not lost.

I need not drift away, carried by the current of circumstance.  Or,  be held hostage by my demons of doubt, fear and anxiety.  I could access the transcendent quality that always existed within.  One that  powered  my ability to persist.

Will.

Not of my making.

But solely of His creation.

And by so doing, I  was able to do far more than just simply hang on. Merely get by and through it. Or simply,  survive.

When I chose His over mine, I found  that level of perseverance that led me to embrace all unforgiving circumstances.

To thrive despite the intensity of the adversity.

And become more than what I ever was. .

Willing it to be so.

Through His.

Not mine.