Guest Article - How to Turn Struggles into Strengths.

SoulFUEL seeks collaboration. It is an open field for uncountable ideas, principles, concepts, and stories to be shared and flourished. Thus, we live for the life journeys that do not seek social statuses or simply making a living, but paths that will deeply impact others.

That is why I am proud of sharing a piece written by my friend Andrew Mast. Andrew is twenty-three years old, but his story is already considered a legacy. He is the kind of guy that makes you reevaluate your problems and shut negativism away after just one conversation. He has battled emotional traumas, brain cancer (pilocytic astrocytoma brain tumor), and depression beautifully. It is impossible not to get encouraged by him.

This great guy is from Nashville, TN. and has just completed his undergrad studies last week in business administration management at Carson-Newman University.

Enjoy his work and do not forget to leave your comment if he inspired you.

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What is your biggest struggle in life? And how have you managed to handle it/ overcome it?

How to Turn Struggles into Strenghts.

My biggest struggle in life has always been dealing with depression. It fed my mind thoughts of wanting to die. That made me struggle with suicide attempts because I felt that I was not good enough, or that I was never going to be happy. This battle stems from lifelong hardships that have defined me as broken and unworthy of happiness.

It all began in 1996 when I was three, where in my backyard, I was molested by a neighbor. She opened my eyes to sexuality which shattered my childhood into a world of hurt. This moment left me feeling ashamed of myself and extraordinarily frightened by intimacy and relationships. Even today, I find myself at times feeling broken and unworthy of beautiful things like love or affection.

Then just a year later, my life was forever altered by a sudden diagnosis of brain cancer. A week before the diagnosis I was a "normal" kid. Over the course of five days my left arm stopped working and my left leg began to drag. It was the beginning of a childhood spent in hospitals, physical therapy, and countless doctor appointments. Cancer and the disability were not even the part that hurt and left me with the most scars, but the bullying I experienced throughout the elementary and middle school left scars. I never thought I was any different from any other kid until I heard the words, “what’s wrong with your arm?” and “You cannot play with us because you walk funny”. These statements felt like nails hammered into my head; I was identified as weird and strange because of circumstances that I could not control!

These two incidents shattered my world, left me feeling terribly lonely, and began a cycle of self-hatred and depression. The depression festered itself in me until college where it evolved into a major problem. At Carson-Newman University, I noticed my sad feelings but had no way of identifying them as major depression, and before I could get help, I decided that I no longer belonged in this world. I tried to hang myself in my dorm, but God stirred my roommate’s soul until he woke up and cut the rope. I felt incapable of doing the one thing I wanted more than anything. However, now I understand that it was not incapability, God simply wanted me there for a little longer than I did.

It took me a while to comprehend my self-worth, but now I know that all of the despair was necessary. I understood that the opinion of others is like a rollercoaster, and I had to find a solid foundation to my identity.

The healing begins and my advice to you:

1. You are not Broken.

It took me twenty-three years to realize that I’m not broken. I say this because everyone at one point or another in their life struggles with feeling inadequate or not good enough, but in all reality, we are all made perfectly in God’s image. We all hide our insecurities and make others feel worse about theirs by pointing out the struggles they have. Remember that your fights are just as bad as the next person because everyone’s biggest struggle is different but it is the hardest thing for them… you are not alone! You are not broken but made perfectly imperfect; you were made to uplift others daily through Jesus. It may be difficult, but the best ways to heal and overcome your struggles are to realize that you are not defined by your circumstances or difficulties but by how you handle them.

I found my healing by realizing in my sophomore year that I have the choice to continue and feel bad about being disabled and broken, or get up off my butt and glorify God for the blessing I have of being alive. I chose to ignore any awkward stares that I get from others and smile at them because then they would be asking themselves “Why is this funny looking kid, that limps and has a small scraggly arm, smiling when he has so much to cry about?” I decided to be unashamed of my disability and use it as a way to encourage and inspire others to never give up.

2. Surround yourself with people who respect you and love you… flaws and all.

I cannot express how important this is! To find a support system to overcome and deal with your struggles is one of the best ways to find peace in hard times. In college and the adult world, we will constantly be fighting our demons and fail every time until we realize that no one is struggling alone. There are others on campus and passing you at Wal-Mart that are hurting but do not say anything because they feel alone in their battles. Be open about your struggles to people you trust and they will open up to you because they will notice it is safe to share.

Now, you can really bond over a common issue and hold each other accountable; that's true fellowship. When you find others taking the same struggle bus, you can follow God’s calling and encourage them, build them up, and fight the enemy together with God as your leader.

I did this through opening up to others in my classrooms and making friends everywhere, and then I took a moment every day to talk to these people. Over time, a blossomed relationship grew, and I was no longer struggling, but I was overcoming depression and anxiety by being open about everything. Finally, by my senior year, I was a mentor to many by being an example of hope for struggles and spreading God’s love everywhere.

I will never forget that it all began with me taking my insecurities out of the darkness and bringing them to light.

3. Pray daily and hourly:

God listens to us through our prayers and heals us through our requests. Every struggle I’ve dealt with, I gave it to God and he showed me a way out. Sometimes it’s immediately and other times I need to keep being faithful for a long while. There is power in prayer and it never hurts to ask God for help! Remember that you cannot do everything on your own, and nothing is too small or big for God; he is greater than any struggle we ever have, he is bigger than we can possibly understand. Trust in the Lord and he will deliver you from any hardship.

This is a bit of my story and my redemption. These steps or actions described above have unlocked myself to receive healing grace. I hope it does the same to you.

Thanks for reading.

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