We Can Do Hard Things - Together

Not long after losing Preslee, our family took on the mantra- I Can Do Hard Things. Over the past five years, we’ve repeated the phrase time and time again. The neat thing is, after reading many different e-mails, so have many of you.

 

Losing Preslee changed our lives in so many different ways, but so has this blog. We’ve been uplifted time and time again. From the sweet and encouraging comments that were left during Preslee’s hospital stay, to the love and support we were shown during the funeral we will be forever grateful to those who reached out to our family.

Over the past few years, I’ve learned from so many of you that God hears our prayers and His answers usually come from ordinary people who choose to listen to His promptings. There have been many times I’ve thanked my Heavenly Father that we don’t live in a world where we have to experience trials by ourselves.

Now, five years after losing our daughter, I continue to receive a surprising amount of e-mails asking for ideas on how to help others struggling with different trials. I’ve learned most people want to help, they just don’t know the best way to go about it. Not long ago, an idea came, and it hit hard. I suddenly had different images of the blog swarming around in my head, and I haven’t been able to shake them. With a lot of prayer, and direct guidance from above, I’m excited to introduce a new segment on my blog, one that makes my heart incredibly happy.

If you scroll up to the top of the page, and look just below the header, you’ll notice a new tab – How to Help. If you click on it, you’ll find a new page titled, We Can Do Hard Things. On that page is an index filled with different trials, such as - Death, Addiction, Infertility, Illness, and many more. If you click on “Death-Child,” you’ll be able to see posts already listed. The purpose of the index is to share ideas on how to help others going through these trials, along with printables, and resources to help make serving easy. I’m hoping these posts will help readers learn what is most helpful to do and say to those who find themselves in the midst of a difficult trial.

 

After weeks of brainstorming a name for this segment, I settled on – We can do hard things because I find  the phrase has two meanings:

1. I know it’s possible to accomplish hard things, especially when we receive help from others.
2. Sometimes serving is…hard. Let’s be honest, there are times we don’t have a clue where to start when wanting to help someone, and showing up on their door step can be nerve wracking. It can be extremely intimidating when we don’t fully understand what someone is going through, but all we know is we want to help.

This is why the blog has been a little quiet over the past month or two. I’ve been hard at work, reading, researching, and corresponding with individuals who have experienced the trials found within the index. I am incredibly excited to begin introducing these posts and hope they will be able to help those searching for ways to serve.

My heart is bursting.
I feel this might be a way for our little family to pass on the kindness that has been shown to us.
I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned from so many incredible people.

Stay tuned (later this week) for the first post in this series… helping families that have been blessed with a child with special needs.