Little Victories
As I began to recover, I realised quickly that I needed to remain positive. When I began to sink into self-pity, things got so much worse. So I made an important decision to look for little victories to celebrate as I recovered.
First it was just being able to get out of bed. A little victory! Then it was slowly learning to walk - and each day getting a bit further than the previous day was a victory. I remember how at first I was walking slowly and the physio kept asking me why I was slouched over as I walked. It was because the tube in my nose was pulling me down and it was real uncomfortable. But soon I could walk to the end of the ward and back, and then we did a trip to the lifts. Even when I got home a few weeks later, Shereen and I would go on slow walks in our complex, and it was a big deal for me to make it to the first circle without getting too tired.
Celebrating Progress, Not Perfection
Little victories! The first cup of tea, after being fed through the tube, was a little victory. Being able to write was also a little victory - at first I was too weak, but when I started jotting down these songs on paper it was really a victory.
Song 3 on this new album is about this, and I hope it is going to encourage people to rise above self-pity and keep fighting for the next little victory. Listen to the words:
It’s easy to get downcast and discouraged
It’s easy to lose heart and lose faith
Everything goes slow when you’re in the darkness|
Except getting filled with self-pity and hate
But if you wanna keep your head above water
If you wanna make it through another night
If you wanna be healed and walk tall again
You gotta rise up and fight
Hold onto the little victories
Push hard for the little victories
Take pride in the little victories
Yes hold onto the little victories
Rise Up and Fight Again
Maybe you need to rise up and start fighting again! Maybe you've been getting filled with self-pity and hate. Maybe you needed to hear these words today, to spur you on.
The Spirit of God is in your heart! He is able to give you strength, to help you up, to encourage and charge you.
Maybe your next little victory is around the corner. Push for it! Celebrate it when you reach it, and aim for the next one!
The enemy wants to keep you down, but God wants to lift you up and give you hope and victory.
Listen to verse 4, and may you be spurred on in your walk today:
There’s a Saviour who’s here to help and guide you
He’s a strong and mighty rock on which to stand
He ain’t gonna leave or forsake you
Just take hold of his hand
And hold onto the little victories!
