When you're going through hell, keep going!

Winston Churchill once said, “When you’re going though hell, keep on going!”

Churchill faced many difficulties in life. He was born with a speech impairment. He was not physically attractive. He was a soldier in a war. He lost elections. He was verbally abused by the press.

Still, he kept fighting on until he proved to his country and the world that he had the abilities to lead them through some of that century’s darkest days of war.

I think I would have liked Winston Churchill had I known him personally. I find encouragement and inspiration in people who face challenges and find a way to the other side, possibly scarred, but still victorious.

Just a few weeks ago, I spent some time with another inspirational person and Florida resident named Kathy Catino.

Kathy was the victim of serious abuse by her first husband. In addition to physical beatings and verbal and mental abuses, Kathy was locked in a closet when her husband went to work, forbidden to speak to anyone in the outside world.

Kathy survived her nightmare, escaped to freedom, found a way to obtain a college education, and went on to manage two shelters for abused women and children.

She is credited with providing a safe haven for over 20,000 women and children who were being abused. Kathy didn’t allow the hell she was facing to keep her.

Kathy is now launching a national organization to teach others how to open shelters for abused women and children.

In the last year, my father passed away, I suffered a near-death experience and lingering illness from inhaled black mold and a toxic reaction to medication, my younger sister passed away, my daughter needed a major reconstructive knee surgery, and I lost my job after reporting my employer to OSHA for black mold which was later found by OSHA in the building.

People I thought were my friends deserted my family.

Did I feel like I was going through a year of hell? Absolutely!

Do I want to stay in that rut of negativity for the rest of my life? No! I want to take the examples of Winston Churchill and Kathy Catino and remember that there is something better waiting on the other side….if I’ll keep fighting toward it and looking for it.

My hope for you this month is that you too will keep on going on through even the toughest of times.

**Steven Skelley is a published author of several nonfiction works and the novella The Gargoyle Scrolls. He has been a newspaper columnist, travel writer, news writer, ordained minister, music director, creative arts director, theater reviewer and tennis instructor.