• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tara Johnson

sharing stories through writing, speaking and singing

TwitterLinkedInFacebookYoutubetara@tarajohnsonstories.com
  • About Tara
  • Blog
  • Books
    • All Through the Night
    • Where Dandelions Bloom
    • Engraved on the Heart
    • Hollow Victory
  • Speaking
  • Singing
    • Songwriting and Everything In Between
  • Writing
    • Writing Fiction
  • Gallery

Surviving Your Storm…Athlete in Training

Posted in: Walking with God | August 24, 2015

I’ve seen the photos and memes of one particular phrase floating around the past several years and I bet you have too. It’s this: God gives the hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. Judging by how frequently it’s shared, it’s a rather popular sentiment. strongest soldiers

After all, it sounds good. Perhaps even a trifle comforting. There’s nothing we need more in the middle of our personal storms to know that our crisis won’t destroy us. That we’re strong enough to handle it and emerge victorious.

I understand the warm fuzzies that come from this well-intentioned phrase but honestly, I believe the idea that God gives his toughest battles to His strongest soldiers is wrong.

Here’s the thing: thinking that we’re strong enough to handle a hard battle might be the very reason we’re having a battle in the first place. Let me explain.

Being one of the ‘strongest soldiers’ implies that we have strength of our own to fight and emerge victorious. It’s saying that we can handle a tougher challenge, more so than the ‘weaker’ soldiers out there. Isn’t this a form of pride? Not that we’re going through a tough time, but because we believe we are strong enough to handle it on our own?

The blunt truth is, we’re not strong enough to handle our storms. Speaking for myself, I have trouble getting through the day-to-day stuff, much less the big stuff that life throws us: the cancer diagnosis, the job change, marital stress, wayward children, financial difficulties, cranky people, etc. We all go through tough, messy stuff and a sure way to make a messy situation even worse is to think we can handle it on our merits and abilities. athlete in training

God doesn’t give us those battles because He thinks we’ve got it together. If we did, we wouldn’t have needed a Savior. Sometimes, we go through some tough stuff because we need to work on our weak areas, our sin-filled cracks that we’ve so desperately tried to cover up. He has to strengthen us, toughen us up to prepare us for something greater on down the road.
Think of it like a trainer trying to prepare an boxer for a fight. Say the trainer lets the athlete sleep in late, eat donuts and potato chips nonstop, and allows him to spend most of his day watching TV. What happens when the athlete must step into the boxing ring and strap those gloves around his sugar-coated fingers? Yeah, he’ll get creamed.

A good trainer pushes the athlete to grow stronger, faster. For each milestone, the trainer sets another and another. He adds more weights, more resistance until the athlete is in prime fighting shape. It involves a lot of sweat, a lot of determination and a lot of pain. Far from the donut-eating, television watching scenario we often prefer. workout

It’s the old karate kid wax-on, wax-off mentality. We may not always understand why we are going through something that doesn’t make sense, but if we want to survive in the ring, we have to trust our Trainer.

If we let Him, God can use those battles to chip away the hard places in us until we resemble His Son.

We don’t move in our own strength. We move in His. And ultimately, God’s children don’t need to fight for victory. Jesus already bought that when He rose and conquered death. We fight from a position of victory. Switching your perspective changes the battle. fighting from victory

Yield to the Trainer. Keep fighting. Keep growing. Keep on keeping on. Your Trainer knows what He’s doing.

Have you ever gone through a hard time that you didn’t understand only to see God use it in a big way? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Tags: christian warfare, God's soldier, tough battles, Training for a Purpose

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarJenny Carlisle says

    August 24, 2015 at 11:58 am

    When hubby lost his job just before I was set to retire, I had to concede that my plans were not going anywhere. God’s plan was so much better. We now have jobs we love, but we can see where those jobs fit into our lives, instead of dominating them. Love the image of looking down from a position of victory. We know Who brought us here.

    Reply
  2. AvatarJeanne Takenaka says

    August 24, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    Beautiful post, Tara. Such truth here. I believe God gives each person the trials He knows will best conform Him/her to the image of Christ. I agree that that sentiment doesn’t quite hit the mark

    There have been a number trials God has used trials ion my life. I rarely see what He’s doing in the moment, but the lessons learned become grounded in me, and then He’s able to use me to encourage other a walking through similar situations.

    Reply
  3. AvatarTaraJohnsonAuthor says

    August 25, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    I love both of your hearts, ladies! You’re right….we may not even see the ‘whys’ of something we go through in this lifetime but knowing that God is working all things for our good and His glory, well, it gives us the courage to keep standing!

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Get to know Tara . . .

Writing

Writing

Speaking

Speaking

Singing

Singing

Free gift from Tara!

Join Tara’s email community and you’ll receive a FREE short story, In the Shadow of His Wings.


Subscribe to our mailing list



FREE Book Club Kit


Click HERE to download your FREE book club kit for All Through the Night.

Where Dandelions Bloom

Where Dandelions Bloom 360X570

Engraved on the Heart
Click to view purchasing options for Engraved on the Heart.

Latest Blog Posts

A Tale of Three Dogs: What it Means to Walk with God

  • What’s up with the Christian Cliches?
  • Cracked Pots
  • What I Learned in the Darkness
  • Shattering the Fairytale: When Perfect Isn’t Enough

Click to read more . . .

Reader Reviews:

Laura Frantz

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Johnson weaves a tale of selflessness, and service . . .” Read more “Laura Frantz”

Author

Jocelyn Green

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Lovers of Civil War fiction will rejoice to add Engraved on the Heart to their collections.” Read more “Jocelyn Green”

Award-winning Author

Robin Lee Hatcher

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Tara Johnson delivers a stirring tale of danger and hope.” Read more “Robin Lee Hatcher”

RITA and Christy Award winner

Sarah Sundin

Engraved on the Heart by Tara Johnson

“Engraved on the Heart brings Savannah, Georgia, during the Civil War to life.” Read more “Sarah Sundin”

Award-winning Author

FREE Blog Updates!

Enter your email address:

Meet Tara

Tara JohnsonTara Johnson is a writer, singer, speaker and passionate lover of stories. Tara uses fiction, nonfiction, song and laughter to share her testimony of how God led her into freedom after spending years living shackled to the expectations of others. She lives in central Arkansas with her husband and children.

Trailer for Engraved on the Heart

Copyright © 2021 Tara Johnson. All Rights Reserved. | Contact

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Sitemap | Disclaimer | Contact