“I don’t have anyone to help me”
“Life has been unfair”
“I don’t have money”
“If only my father was there when I needed him the most…”
“I don’t have a choice than to take another bad loan…”
“I can’t go through the pain my mum went through for any man...”
These and many more are valid excuses. We can continue to point to these circumstances, histories, limitations all day. Identifying the odds that are genuinely stacked against us, including the hostile environment. We can choose to complain, get bitter, blame others and even God, or we can choose to grow through what we go through.
We spend a lot of time validating our inability to take actions and this only keeps us at the level of pity without solution. The starting point may be genuinely unfair but it is just a phase, and the fact that it is valid does not make it permanent.
They are valid but they are still excuses.
An excuse explains why something hasn't happened. It should not decide whether it ever will. People who change their circumstances rarely do so by first resolving every legitimate reason they have. They move despite those reasons. They build around them. They refuse to let what is true today become what is final tomorrow. You can weep like David when he lost his family and possessions to the Amalekites, we’re humans, but don’t forget to seek the Lord, and take actionable steps as instructed afterwards.
Your challenges are real. Acknowledge them. But do not let them set the ceiling. The ceiling is yours to set. The question is never whether your excuses are valid. They usually are. The question is whether you are going to let them be your reality.
You get to decide that.