I press on is all a special needs parent can do sometimes. Guest blogger Kelly Simpson returns to talk about what she’s learned about pressing on while raising a child with special needs. She ends with some great ideas to help you press on during hard times, too.

During my husband’s deployment, our newborn was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 19 days. That stay was short compared to other families, but long enough and overwhelming for a first-time mother who was also walking through her husband’s first deployment. Our son’s first year was also long and hard—nine plus surgeries and procedures. I pushed through this season while working full time. Sulking and rolling around in my circumstances would have been easy to do, but it would not have been a healthy choice.

With each surgery or procedure, I had faith that it was going to get better. It had to get better.

It was going to be okay. We were going to be okay.

Eventually I ran dry on my own determination and drive. I could only be sustained from endurance given to me through Christ Jesus, so with His help, I pressed on.

Seasons of life take me high and leave me low. Jesus has to be my cornerstone—He is who I have to build my life on. 2 Peter 2:6 it says, “I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” My walk in life must bring God glory—the surgeries, the tears, the mess, the mountains, and the valleys. I am his and chosen. He will walk with me each step of the way on my journey. He is with me, and he will be with you too.

But I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Philippians 3:12.

Doesn’t the Lord know His plan for me? Doesn’t he know every hair on my head? Hasn’t he stood before time and seen every second of my life? Because he is God, there’s not a place where I’ll go that he has not already stood.

So I press on.

Rolling around in self-pity, asking why, and running conversations over and over in my mind only leaves me dry. I have to go past that. When worry, fear, and doubt are heavy in my mind, I lift it up and I press on! I ask for His presence and strength, then I press on! It’s not the easiest to do, but each time it gets a little easier.

I’m writing this article from a valley and that is no surprise to God. I know when I am in my deepest pain, at my darkest point, my brokenness can be used when I surrender it to Him.

I want to leave you with encouragement and steps so that you can press on!

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14

5 Steps for Pressing On:

1. Prepare to move on. It’s natural to question and to be upset, confused, and hurt. Accept and realize you cannot stay in that place.
2. Completely give your situation over to God. If you find your mind wandering, give it back to Him again, and again.
3. Surround yourself with people who will encourage you and point you back to Christ.
4. Try one or more of the following ideas. Listen to uplifting music, read and hold on to God’s promises and His word, read a book about a helpful topic, journal.
5. Keep going in your life. Take each day as it comes. Take steps forward. Times get hard, but life does not stop, and neither can you.

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Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay