When the going get tough…

I was very blessed to have Kagelo Henry Rakwena cross my path in the last few months. Readers who have followed my blog and read the posts that have been repeated on Facebook and Twitter will know that I have been in the midst of an emotional and existential crisis since December of last year.

Part of my process of healing was a brief stint in therapy with Henry. Our time was brief because, at least it seemed to me, God was in a hurry to move me on to the next step in my journey.

My crisis was prompted when I got in touch with the deep well of rage in my should surrounding events in my childhood. My mother was mentally ill and made multiple attempts at suicide. This experience left me stunted and scarred with an ability to deal appropriately with several very important aspects of life. I hadn’t realized the depth of my difficulty until last Mother’s day when a friend and I began to speak about our mothers.

We were on our way to Mother’s day brunch, abut 15 minutes away from the restaurant. The women were in another car and my friend and I were talking. I was surprised to feel the depth of the pain in my soul that a brief discussion of my mother was plumbing. I told my friend, “We are going to have to change the subject, I don’t have time to deal with this right now.

And so it was a night in early December that I awoke in the middle of the night and felt the nudge of God saying, “It’s time.”

As the days moved on it began to be difficult to cope with acts of daily living. Sleep was a near impossibility. This is what brought me to Henry. After a few weeks and about 8 sessions our time was drawing to an end and Henry gave me a copy of the book he’s written, “When the going gets tough, only the tough gets going.”

Quoting from page 43 of his book, Henry says:
God’s purposes are never delayed, hurried, stopped or jeopardized by the plots of our enemies. Tough He may permit some negative events in our lives, He is still in control; His purposes for our lives will still come to pass, and He will prevail in bringing us up over whatever the enemy uses to bring us down. His word is true, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). God will therefore, use the negatives and positives, the good and the bad that might come our way, as platforms on which to display his glory.