Quote:

“First, it seems unsurmountable, then it becomes challenging, and finally it is complete.” – Candace Kade (Hybrid) 

Context: 

First, unsurmountable, second challenging, third complete.
In the context of this book the main character, Lee Urban, was listening to her professor who said this referring to art. When you begin a project, it feels impossible. Too big to complete. Unsurmountable. Then you begin to tackle it, one step at a time. It's hard. It's difficult and at times you still don’t know if you can do it. Challenging to say the least. At last you look back and you’ve finished. You did it. Complete.
This outlook can be applied in many cases, but what I want to focus on here is in the context of the trials of life. We all face hard things. We all go through seasons of hardship. Storms that beat us down and try to drown us amongst its fury. Fires that scorch our skin and tempt to burn us into defeat. 
If we can look at it like the quote says, it almost seems easier. We have to break it down.
First the storms we face seem nigh impossible. We doubt our capability. We fear our weakness. We don’t even know if we can. And then you take a step. And another and another. It doesn’t get it easier, we get stronger. It's hard. It's challenging. We’re tried and tried. We fight and fight and fight some more until there is nothing left in us. But it never ends like that. Finally, down the road it is complete. Done. Finished. 
But we can’t get there, to the end result, unless we go through the fire, through the storm. As 1 Peter 1:7 says, gold is refined in the fire. God is making us into gold. But we can’t be purified, redeemed, made whole, until we go through the fire. The fire is where all the impurities are made known and then removed.
That's what cleanses us. Makes us stronger. 
Looking at the whole thing feels impossible. Hopeless almost. Like you're standing at the foot of a mountain that you have to climb, doubting if it's even possible. Yes, the bible says that we can do all things through Christ but if we’re honest sometimes it's really hard to believe. 
I know I can relate. I’m going through my own seasons of struggles, facing surgery and a lot of physical therapy to repair my torn ACL and MCL. And it's hard. Really hard. I’m tempted to look at my circumstances and fear, doubt, crumble. But God, He is constantly showing me that it is not until I take my eyes off of the storm and put my eyes on Jesus that I can keep going. 
God promises us strength, but not for tomorrow, not for next week, not for next year, but right now. Right this moment. You look at it square in the face and you take the step. You cling to Jesus and He’ll keep on bringing you through. Every time. 
I know it, I’ve seen Him do it in my own life. In those moments of despair He’s always right there with his quiet beautiful voice whispering the truth. It can be so hard to accept it because we as humans hate being wrong. As soon as we accept the truths God tells us and we rest in His promises, His strength overcomes our weakness every time.  
Then we have the strength to take another step. His strength made perfect in our weakness. 
Sometimes this is all we can do. Take one step. We don’t think about the next two steps, just one. And after that you can take the next one. I promise you, God will supply the strength you need. Always. It might not be all the strength you want, but it will be all the strength you need. Because He knows best. 
I was inspired by Urban as she faced challenge after challenge. Things only seemed to get worse for her. She had to live a lie in order to keep safe. She had to pretend to be something she was not and in that she lost herself. She was knocked down. Betrayed. Hurt. Broken. But she didn't let it stop her. She took that one step. Through the art project she had to turn in, Urban learned to look at herself and at her life in a new way. Tackling the challenges as they came and went from looking at the unsurmountable, to the challenging, to the complete. 
So in your own seasons of life I challenge you to take this outlook. When you stand looking at the mountain that looks unsurmountable, fix your eyes on Christ. Take one step and then take one more and repeat that. Each step will be challenging but we have Jesus. And when you make it to the top, you can look back and say it is completed. Then God gets the glory because He is the one who gave you the strength. 

“Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” – Matthew 6:34