We Have to Go Through It

You know the feeling...
You're at the end of your rope.  Something you love dearly is snatched away from you and you're left feeling stunned and dumbfounded.  Those whiny questions you told yourself you would NEVER ask like "Why Me?"and "Why This!?" are worming their way into your heart.  You're honestly afraid it will crush you, but you desperately want to be strong.
That's how I felt one morning as I came across this scripture in my search for answers:

Hebrews 2:14

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;"

You may need to read it again.  There's some poetic irony in there.

Christ overcame death and the devil by going through death.  It's a beautiful irony.
If Christ hadn't gone through death, the resurrection would have never come to pass.  You can't live again if you haven't died!  So then I was wondering-what else do we have to experience in order to overcome it?  Um...everything.

It is only through sorrow, that we overcome it.
It is only through stress and frustration, that we learn how to overcome it.
It is only through poor health, that we know how to overcome poor health.
You can't conquer anything you're not acquainted with.

Through is the only way!

It sounds so simple now that it's written down, but for some reason it hit me hard the morning I read it.

Hebrews 2:14 helped me find gratitude for my trials, my suffering.

More trials=more conquering!

Whoo-hoo!  Go Trials!

And it is only THROUGH the Atonement that we can conquer everything.

All this thinking about the word THROUGH reminds me of this book:


We're going on a bear hunt,
We're gonna catch a big one,
What a beautiful day,
We're not scared.
Oh oh!
Mud,
Thick, oozy mud.
We can't go over it,
We can't go under it,
We've gotta go through it!

That's one verse of the "Going on a Bear Hunt" poem.  The hunters have to make it through swirling snowstorms, strong winds, deep water, and more.

In every verse there is an obstacle, and for every obstacle there is no way around, under, or over it.

They have to go THROUGH it.

There's the gospel in a childrens' book.  It just sums up life!  One obstacle after another; repetitive, yet changing.  And I love the two lines that keep coming back in every verse, no matter what obstacle they're facing.

What a Beautiful Day,
We're not Scared.


"For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."   -2 Timothy 1:7