Cliff Shiepe on Overcoming Life’s Obstacles

Hi, Guideposts, I’m Cliff Shiepe and the last time I was in Guideposts, it was for a health challenge I went through in my 20s and how I was restored. This time, I’m in the October issue and it talks about a setback that I had and how I felt that I was back in the same spot as I had been years ago.

The first time I was in Guideposts, I heard from people from all around the world, people who were chronically ill, and, frankly, I was overwhelmed. I’m not a doctor; I didn’t know what I could say back. But I first thought, What would I have wanted when I was in that position? And that was someone to listen, to know what it’s like to be in that space.

And so that’s what I did. I offered people who emailed me or found my phone number a phone conversation. And I heard so many stories of people who were chronically ill, and what they wanted? They want to know that they were going to get through it, that they had to believe that they were going to get to the other side of it, whatever that looked like. When you go through things in life, you’re separated from things you put your identity in, and that isolation, and, you know, we’re experiencing that now with Covid.

When all the self-quarantine started, I said, “Well, I’ve been in this space. I know what it’s like to be cut off from the world and to have to kind of confront yourself and all your relationships.” That’s an opportunity, it’s an opportunity to be transformed, to grow into the person that you were created to be.

I think for people who struggle with chronic illnesses, identity is such a big issue. They see themselves defined as a bundle of their symptoms or some diagnosis. And the truth is, who you are is something bigger beyond that. I had a challenge I had to overcome, figure out, but it wasn’t who I was.

And if people ask me, you know, are you chronically ill? I say, “Well, I have a health challenge and I have to live within certain boundaries.” And when I go out of those boundaries, things happen, and I have to back off from life because they can get out of control. And yes, during those seasons, it makes your own life smaller, but it’s for a season.

When you’re in that space, you have to believe that you’ll get to the other side, whatever that looks like. And I had a restoration verse: After you have suffered a little while, He himself will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

So this is what I learned: We all have setbacks in life, And just because you feel like you’re back in that spot where you were years ago, it’s not necessarily the truth. There’s been growth. There’s been life between that time and this time. And you are more equipped to get to the other side of that trial, whatever that looks like. You just have to believe that you will, and that you’re not alone.