It Gets Harder Towards the End

Life’s greatest difficulties always happen right before life’s greatest breakthroughs - Billy Cox

I will always remember two weeks in my life where I did not think I would survive. I was 15 years old, and we had been trapped in Sierra Leone for months after the rebels invaded the city. We relocated often to hide ourselves in hopes of escaping the country. The new regime had thrown a coup, but the president had managed to escape. My father, however, was among his cabinet members, and it was not safe for him either. One day we received good news that a helicopter was taking people to the airport and from there a plane could smuggle us out to Guinea, the bordering country. The helicopter would land at an ECOMOG base outside of town. ECOMOG was a united army of West African nations sent to fight for us because our soldiers had joined forces with the rebels, leaving the civilians defenseless. We grabbed our few belongings and left in two separate trips so as not to draw attention to ourselves. My father left with my 6 year old brother first. Then my mom left with my big sister who had schizophrenia and me.

We arrived at the base and went straight to a small area to wait for the helicopter to arrive. Excitement coursed through me knowing that we were that much closer to freedom finally. There was so much joy among us as I played a game with my brother to pass the time. Suddenly, gunshots rang out and we all dove for cover wherever we could find it. I could feel my heart beating so hard in my chest as I hid in a tiny metal closet. Was this it?

After all these months were we going to die here so close to freedom?

I looked for my family and noticed my mother was missing. Fear tore threw me instantly. As I made the decision to run out and look for her, she came bursting into the area and hid behind a wall on the opposite side from me. I gave a huge sigh of relief. We were all together but for how much longer. I closed my eyes tightly praying. I can’t remember how long the shots rang out for, but it felt like eternity. Finally, they started to slow down and a soldier came and grabbed us from our separate spots and told us to run to a building that was nearby. The chopper was most certainly not coming today. Once we made it inside the building someone guided us to a room. It looked like an abandoned dorm. We stayed there until nightfall when all was quiet again.

That night another soldier came to inform us that we would try the next day but would have to spend the night in that room. We looked around. It was a double room with two small beds for one person each and there were 5 of us. We also didn’t have any food for the night. It was fine, I told myself. We had survived and we would be free the next day. Sadly, it turned into a two week nightmare. Wondering everyday if we would survive. I went through my ups and downs with God. Did He forget about us? How could He show us the exit and then block us from going through? Not only block us but it had gone from bad to worse. But the end did come. My life was forever different as my journey continued.

Are you in a moment where you feel like it’s just getting worse and worse? The harder you pray the harder it gets. Are you wondering if God even sees you? Are you on the verge of just giving up? Please don’t. Because the end will come. As that challenge or trial worsens keep reminding yourself that it gets harder before it gets easy. You are that much closer to the end. Hang in there and do not give up. When the helicopter finally showed up it was when I had least expected it to. Everything turned around and we were finally able to leave Kossoh Town behind us. I remember looking back while on the helicopter, thinking I can’t believe I survived that.