Will this ever end?

I bet there has been a struggle in your life when you just think: Is this ever going to end?

I remember thinking this when Liv was a colicky baby. Night after night, day after day of wrapping her up like a burrito and bouncing on the yoga ball. Taking 24 hour shifts with my husband. Will it ever end?

Then there were my health issues that started in 2009. For some reason, my body decided it was going to be tired, in pain and not function properly. Doctor after doctor, and no one could figure it out. Then we tried holistic doctors and found my food allergies and that my pituitary gland was very low functioning. That was hard in the in between because we didn’t have a diagnosis to treat. Will it ever end?

When we were dealing with my health stuff, my husband lost his job because of the recession. That was scary. We had a 3-year-old, a mortgage and no job. Will it ever end?

These are just a few hard situations that stand out in my mind of mine and Jeremy’s life together. They all were resolved and even produced blessings, as most hardships do if you let them.

Liv is now 12 and super independent. I miss holding her.

My medical doctors said that I have fibromyalgia, an autoimmune disease that you just live with. I learned to manage the pain with diet and exercise. I was in the best health of my life when we received the cancer diagnosis last year.

As a result of Jeremy losing his job, we started our business, which is really God’s business because we had no clue what we were doing. We had $500 in the bank and by the grace of God and His guidance, we have made it successful. That in between time when we were living on unemployment were some of my favorite times as a family. We had no money, so we got to spend a lot of time together. We fought our way through it and it makes us thankful for what we have now.

It was so good for us to go through all of this.

These struggles were so very temporary. It is hard to see while you are in the thick of it, but nothing lasts forever. It does end. Jeremy and I are so fortunate because in the struggles, we fight them together. One verse from our wedding in 2004 was Phillippians 2:2  “Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” For some reason, we live that out most of the time, but especially during hardships.

I am SO ready to be done with this cancer stuff. Just till February, then I’m done with treatment! I’m ready for my immune system to come back up. I have been catching every virus I run into lately. One of the drugs they have me on, Perjeta, lowers my immunity. Tis the season! I have a new N95 mask that can be washed and have filters for, so that’s going to be worn through the rest of treatment. I might start a new trend.

This cancer battle will end, and I will be the winner. This too has been good for us to go through. It’s easy to see the negatives, but we choose to see the positives instead. We are still in the thick of it but getting towards the end. It’s hard to see clearly yet that YES, this will end. Especially as I sit here on my second round of antibiotics in 3 weeks and I just got my voice back. I had to miss one of my favorite races today. It’s been rough lately. This will end, because all struggles are temporary. Hills and Valleys. That’s life. Praise while standing on the mountaintop, worship while in the valley.

This has been one of my theme songs through this. Hope it encourages you!

Tauren Wells- Hills and Valleys