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Maggie Wallem Rowe

Overcoming Challenges: When a Hurricane is the Least of Your Worries


Friends,


I'm writing from BNA Airport in Nashville on my way home after two weeks of ministry in the Northeast.


(A long, strong hug to all the new friends joining us here whom I met at Camp Berea in NH a week ago and Black Rock Retreat in PA this past weekend. You lifted me up when I needed it most. WELCOME!)


It will be dark when I reach Waynesville, and I'm steeling myself for the shock it will be tomorrow to witness firsthand the property damage and demolished roads in our neighborhood.


While Peace Ridge escaped Helene's visit intact other than one collapsed retaining wall and culverts filled with mud and debris, many other homes in our region did not.


My husband, Mike, took the following video of our street just above our home. With hundreds of roadways in WNC closed or severely impacted, it's easier to understand why responders have had difficulty reaching those who need help the most.



But what if a hurricane is the least of your worries?


What if you live with a chronic, progressive disease that can alter your life at any moment?


Today I've invited a good friend from Georgia, Mel Brown, to share her story with us. Take it as testimony that you, too, don't have to let challenges stop you.


"Just days after my second birthday, I suffered a stroke. An ischemic stroke for which doctors could offer no explanation.


As a toddler, I was left with significant damage and neurological challenges: minimal fine motor skills in my left hand, neuropathy in my left foot, and difficulties with balance, coordination, and word retrieval.


Even though these deficits impacted many of my daily activities, my parents didn’t coddle me. God blessed me with the parents I needed – ones who taught me how not to let challenges stop me.


To strengthen my weak left side, they insisted I learn to ride a bike and participate in rec league sports. Those activities were difficult and required much more repetition for me than for my peers.


When I wanted to quit, I learned to persevere. 


During college I had a conversation with my parents about my ongoing challenges with tests in remembering what I read. I described the out-of-the-box reading comprehension strategies I’d been taught in my education classes to help students with learning disabilities. I tweaked the strategies to correspond with college-level information.


During that conversation, I learned the neurologists had cautioned my parents that the stroke impacted areas of my brain that would make school challenging -- so much so that graduating high school would likely be my ceiling. I needed grit, resilience, compensatory skills, and a never give up mindset to face challenges up that point.


A neurologist set a ceiling for me, but God equipped and empowered me to bust right through it.


I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was nineteen. Not having grown up in church, I didn’t know Him well. As I began reflecting on all the challenges I’d gone through, I felt anger toward God for not preventing the stroke or making life easier for me.

But when I read “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14) and “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you” (2 Chronicles 20:17), I came to understand that God had fought for me and been with me during all my challenges.

I was overwhelmed with gratitude and a hunger to know Him.


Using my new strategies, I began studying God’s Word. I noticed how God didn’t leave His people to figure out how to overcome difficulties by themselves. Instead, He strengthened His people and gave them courage. I learned that challenges had purpose: “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).


Other passages illustrated how praising God honored Him even when He didn't seem to be at work or wasn't answering prayers. As I learned these truths after college into my late twenties, I discovered a solid foundation of trust and faith that prepared me for the debilitating migraines that were to plague me for nearly ten years.


While those years were incredibly hard, I saw firsthand how God’s promises were not just true for the people in the Bible, but they were also true for me.


Just as we discovered migraine treatments that were effective, four mini-strokes intersected my life. In addition to the residual deficits I’d struggled with all my life, an unrelenting fatigue took over. A few months before I turned forty-six, an angiogram of my brain revealed I had Moyamoya disease -- a rare, progressive cerebrovascular disease. A malformed blood vessel in my brain had caused the stroke, migraines, and mini-strokes.


When my neurologist suggested brain surgery as the best treatment option, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “God’s got this.” I believed it, and He did. Oh, how I praised Him!


Challenges come in all shapes and sizes, like four years ago when half my colon had to be removed after it flipped upside down. While I recovered in the hospital, I felt under tremendous spiritual attack. I witnessed firsthand how proclaiming God’s Word dispelled darkness and defeated the enemy.


God was with me and fought for me again. How could I not praise Him?


Throughout the years, numerous people have asked how I’ve overcome so many challenges while maintaining a positive attitude. I always give a one-word response, “God", followed by three words: prepare, believe, praise.


Be prepared by knowing His Word.


Believe His promises are true for your life.


Praise Him for faithfully walking with you and fighting for you.


It’s not a formula. It’s a hard lean on God. Because I know God is with me, challenges won’t stop me.


Challenges are always just around the corner. Will they stop you? Don’t let them.


Prepare. Believe. Praise!"



(If you'd like to contact Mel, email her at Melony@MelonyBrown.com)


Melony Brown equips and empowers women to fight to overcome life's tough challenges on every episode of her Challenges Won't Stop Me podcast, and on every page of her books, Challenges Won't Stop Me and Keep Moving Forward. Visit the Resources page on melonybrown.com for resources to encourage and strengthen you during your fight to overcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





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