Show Transcript

0:00:01 - (Kevin Lowe): If there's one thing that I hope you don't walk away from today's episode thinking is that I'm trying to downplay the stuff that you're going through in life. That I'm trying to make it sound like the troubles we face, they aren't horrible, they're not devastating because that's not my intent at all with today's episode. All I'm doing with today's episode is helping you to look at things from a slightly different angle, to look at things from a different view.

0:00:31 - (Kevin Lowe): And specifically, Im talking about the unexpected blessings that only occur on the other side of lifes challenges. That is exactly what today is about my friend. I cant wait to explore todays topic with you. So I welcome you to episode 310.

0:00:55 - (B): Yo, are you ready to flip the script on life? Cause those bad days, they're just doors to better days. And that's exactly what we do here at grit, grace and inspiration. Your host, Kevin Lowe, he's been flipping the script on his own life, turning over 20 years of being completely blind into straight up inspiration, motivation and encouragement just for you. So kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin hello.

0:01:22 - (Kevin Lowe): What's up my friend? Welcome back to the podcast. This is our follow up episode to my interview with Doctor Robin hall. But more specifically, it's me diving into the topic that she spoke about in her book. Her book is called the other side of unexpected blessings. This really resonated with me because, well, it reminded me of things in my own life and things that I've seen true on so many of the interviews I've done here on the podcast.

0:01:54 - (Kevin Lowe): If you find today's topic intriguing, well, you would definitely love the interview with Doctor Robin hall. Definitely scroll down to today's show notes where you can find a link to her episode as well as a link where you can find her book. My promise to you is that by the end of today's episode, you're going to come away looking at things differently. Looking at the fact that just maybe there could be blessings that come out of life's challenges.

0:02:24 - (Kevin Lowe): Maybe in ways that you hadn't thought of before. Maybe you've been taking them for granted, or maybe you've just never opened your heart to let them take place in your life. That is my promise to you, is that you're at least going to start to look at things in a slightly different way. To kick this off, I have a question is who do you turn to? What do you turn to when life knocks you down? When you got nobody else to turn to.

0:02:54 - (Kevin Lowe): Who is it? Who's in your corner? I've also heard it compared to that 03:00 a.m. friend when everything goes awry, who are you going to call at 03:00 a.m. who is it? Who's got your back? For me, it's no doubt my family. When I went blind back when I was 17, one thing really powerful happened is that it brought me closer to my family than I believe I ever would have been otherwise. Here I am 20 years later, almost 38 years old, and I get to say that I am best friends with my parents, with my sister, with my grandparents.

0:03:33 - (Kevin Lowe): And thats something really pretty special, something that only happened because of the terrible thing that I endured. So I want you to think about your own support system. When things go down and you gotta find somebody to lean on, who are you gonna call? Who is that person? If you don't have a relationship in your life, that is that kind of person? Well, maybe this is that little spark to maybe open your heart, open your, your mind and put yourself out there.

0:04:11 - (Kevin Lowe): I think so many times we're so guarded. We don't want to put ourselves out there because we're afraid of being hurt, because you've probably been hurt in the past. But if we never try, then we're never going to have the opportunity to make those bonds, to form those meaningful relationships, to have those people who are going to be there when you are at your lowest. And specifically talking about today about the blessing, the blessing is the relationship you get to have.

0:04:42 - (Kevin Lowe): The blessing also comes in the way of you letting the people who love you be there for you. So many times we want to say that we can do it ourselves, that we don't need any help. But sometimes, even if you don't technically need help, if there's somebody there who you know is wanting to help you, just let them help you. What does it hurt? It's going to make them feel good, and it's going to ultimately bring you closer with that person.

0:05:13 - (Kevin Lowe): It's a give and take all the way around. And in the end, well, look at myself. I've come away with my best friends being my family, and that's a blessing that I think is absolutely amazing. Now, as important as the relationships are that we can have is something even maybe more profound, and that's a deepening faith, a deepening relationship with our creator. Now, I understand that I obviously have no idea if you believe in God, if you have a relationship with God, if you are a Christian or not.

0:05:52 - (Kevin Lowe): And you know what? It doesn't matter. I don't care. There's no judgment anything. I'm just sharing with you my own experience. And that is me becoming closer with my creator than I think that I ever would have if I hadn't become blind. It was no doubt that my faith, it became my anchor, guiding me through the most difficult of times. I've always say that it wasn't me. It was only because of my faith and my family that I'm here today.

0:06:25 - (Kevin Lowe): And I guess that's why I want it for everybody else. I want it for you. I hope that you can find family, friends, those close people. I hope that you can find faith, faith in something more and something bigger and something, a reason bigger for it all. Now, of course, me, I'm a Christian, and my faith is in Jesus Christ. And when I went blind, I was a Christian, but I didn't have the relationship like I developed afterwards.

0:06:59 - (Kevin Lowe): And I think one of the most powerful ways that I want to show you exactly what I'm talking about is a story that my mom always shares, and I know I've shared it on the podcast before. She shares the story of when I came home from the hospital. Now, that was after my brain surgery, the surgery to remove the brain tumor, which also ended up equaling the moment that I became blind, waking up from that surgery to unexpectedly have lost my eyesight.

0:07:30 - (Kevin Lowe): And I don't remember any of the time afterwards, and I don't remember the time coming home. My memory doesn't pick up for quite a while later, but my mom shares a story that she asked me one morning who it is that I always talk to at night when I go to bed, because she said every night she would hear me in my bedroom talking. And she said that I said, just plain as day, oh, Jesus. That he's always there with me and my friend.

0:07:59 - (Kevin Lowe): That's the power of faith. I don't know if you've ever read the poem about the footprints in the sand, about at points in your lives. There's two sets of footprints. But then when you've gone through the struggles, the hard times, there's only one set of footprints. And you feel like, why? Why did God leave me? Why am I alone? But the fact is true is that. No. Is that was the moment in which God was carrying you.

0:08:31 - (Kevin Lowe): Those were his footprints. He was carrying you when you needed it. And he would only set you back down when he knew that you were ready. That is the power of faith. Again, whatever faith looks like, for you, that is fine. For me, it was a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ, something that I will be forever grateful for and that has forever impacted my life in the most profound of ways. Now, if my faith was there, helping me through the hard times and still today, helping me when the days are tough, there was another blessing, a third blessing that I want to share that came out of my own story that I only experienced on the other side of illness, the other side of hardship.

0:09:19 - (Kevin Lowe): Whatever your challenge is for me, as I gained a new perspective on life, I wont say that it happened overnight. I'll tell you that it took a long time. But one thing that I did realize is that even though I lost my ability to see, I gained even more. Maybe I didn't automatically start hearing more, but I certainly had that, that I paid attention to more. And, well, I started to pay attention to the sound of the birds in the morning.

0:09:55 - (Kevin Lowe): The morning, honestly, it's my favorite part of the entire day. It's the sound of the birds. It's the warmth of the sun. All of that representing a chance at a whole new beginning. Every day that the sun rises and the birds sing, that signals that we all have a new opportunity at life, a new chance to do what we want with this life, with this day. And I hope that whatever youve gone through, youll take the time to understand that youve grown.

0:10:30 - (Kevin Lowe): Yes, I understand that it has hurt you. It has broken you, but it has also made you stronger. It has made you better. I promise it depends at what point in your journey youre in, but I promise that eventually you will be able to look back, you will be able to look yourself in the mirror, and you will be able to see that you have indeed become a new, better version of you. So I hope that you'll be able to take the opportunity to just shift perspective, to pay attention to the little things, because, of course, the little things, they are the big things.

0:11:12 - (Kevin Lowe): And of course, with all of these blessings that I mentioned, and trust me when I say there are so many more, it's led me to believe one thing, a powerful thing, that if all of this good came out of something bad, I've had to ask myself, was it ever really bad in the first place? Maybe in the big picture of things, it was just a moment in time, something that was supposed to happen. It was in my story from the beginning.

0:11:44 - (Kevin Lowe): It was that moment, that speed bump along the journey that was needed to have me be able to have the life that I have today, hopefully making an impact here on the podcast, talking to you, talking to people all over the world, it's what I love. So what lights me up, and I truly hope that it means something to you. So, wrapping up today, I want to remind you of what we just went through talking to you about this idea of exploring the idea of the blessings that are on the other side of hard times.

0:12:23 - (Kevin Lowe): For myself, it was strengthening the bonds with my family. It was bringing me closer to my creator, and it was given me a whole new perspective on life, helping me to appreciate the little things. What I want for you is for you to start to think about your own life, about your own story and what are the blessings that have come out of the hard things that you have been through? Have you grown into a new version of you?

0:12:56 - (Kevin Lowe): Has it led you to find new joys, new loves, new passions? Whatever it is, I encourage you to figure it out. And I hope you can come to realize that at the end of the day, everything is working out for your good. Even if at the moment that seems so far from the truth. Just give it a little bit of time. Give yourself a chance to travel down the road a ways until you can finally look back and you can see how it all made sense after all.

0:13:28 - (Kevin Lowe): My friend, my name is Kevin Lowe. I'm the host of this podcast, and it has been a joy to have you here today. If today's episode resonated and made you think of somebody, please share it with them. That would mean the world to me. And with that, I'll see you in our next episode. That's episode 311. See you then.