Hope in Hard Times – You Don’t Have to be Strong
When you are face to face with a struggle in life that seems to knock the wind out of you, you might hear people say to you:
You can do it!
Be strong!
Hold on tight!
Don’t let go!
You are going to make it!
What if I said, you don’t have to be strong?
Many times people grow up thinking they need to muster up more strength to press on. We are told to dry our tears, pull up our boot straps and move beyond the heartache of the moment.
I hear God gently telling me to let go of the boot straps, let the tears flow and not move a muscle.
If you are feeling crushed beneath the weight of life, don’t misinterpret God’s instruction for what man has made it sound like. Listen for yourself to God’s voice.
Lately God has been telling me to:
1. Seek Him
2. Trust Him
3. Sit with Him
He has never told me to rely on my own strength or to get a grip and get over it.
There are lots of things I could do when times get tough. I could plan and prepare and go into survival mode. I could try to avoid another disaster before it happens or freeze in fear of what might come to pass tomorrow.
God is constantly reminding me that I don’t control my own destiny – He does.
If you’ve been feeling like you need to be strong, but you don’t have the strength, it’s going to be okay. You don’t need to develop more strength, you need to trust God to display His.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Isaiah 40:29(ESV)
I love how Paul puts it when speaking about his thorn in the flesh:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. II Corinthians 12:8-10(ESV)
In Paul’s weakness God’s strength is revealed. If Paul tried to figure things out himself and leaned on his own ability, he would have forfeited the opportunity to experience the power of God’s strength.
I don’t want to give up something that is miraculously and freely offered to me. God’s power is beyond anything I can imagine, yet the amazing part is that I can personally possess it for myself.
If you have never allowed God to take control and be the strength of your life, I promise you will be overwhelmed when you hand over your control to His. His display of strength is beyond anything you will ever experience.
If you are feeling weak, you are not alone! We all have moments in life that are too heavy to handle in our own strength. What in your life has caused you to feel weak, alone or afraid? If you share your story with me, I will pray for you. Today, there’s one thing you don’t have to do – You don’t have to be strong.
If God has encouraged you, strengthened you or enabled you when you thought you could not move forward I would love to hear your story, your insight, your encouragement or your struggle. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Love & Blessings,
Micah
If this has been an encouragement to you please pass it on to someone you love!
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Wow! This is so great! Ur totally right, we all struggle everyday with big things and little things and we all feel like we have to be strong and pretend like everything is ok. Well sometimes it’s not and it is so great to hear u say it’s ok to not b ok! Sometimes in order to b ok we just need to cry and let it all out. I have always felt like that wasn’t ok, like I was doing something wrong when I just couldn’t hold it together anymore. But that’s not so. Just now as I was writing this God showed me that when I get so upset it’s the only time I really let go of MY control! All this time I’ve been thinking I was letting God have control but really I was still doing everything I could to keep my control! It’s really amazing how God uses everything in our lives to teach and guide us! It’s so hard to give up control but I know God will show me, just like He did tonight, how to surrender all the control to Him. All the time not just every once in a while…..Thank u Micah for allowing God to use u. Every time I read ur posts it teaches me ab God, myself, or just how I can better build my relationship with God.
Jayna, isn’t it amazing how God knows exactly what we need when we need it. I’m right there with you learning to let go…so glad to connect with you here!
Before i opened my emails at work all was well then chaos.
As i checked my Twitter acct to see if my youtube posting was there your note was here. In reading this i wrote the following:
“Heavenly father,
Give us the peace to be still as watching the snow fall for hours.
Give us the joy in this midst of turmoil as jogging thru leaves on a sunny crisp day that with you we can get it done.
Remind us to be thankful to know that you are near.
Thank you Micah
LOVE. THIS. !!!! Beautiful post, Micah! Our strength is IN HIM… thank you JESUS! #livefreeThursday
Amen! Thanks, Crystal! #livefreeThursday
Powerful truth, Micah!! Must share.
Thanks so much, Julie!
Such a sweet and uplifting post. Thanks, neighbor. Blessings to you!
Thanks, Maria-Anna!
Love this post. The difficulty often lies in trying to decide what we should be doing as we try to lean on God and relinquish the situation to Him. God can do amazing things when we let Him have his way, even if it feels scary to do so.
Yes He can. Thanks for reading!
What a thought provoking and encouraging post Micah! It took a massive stroke that left me flat on my back to truly realize God’s strength in my weakness. All the planning and career success was meaningless at that time. I am beyond thankful that God revealed His power, love , and strength to me. Now I want to live for Him so that He is gloried every day.. Thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend and may God bless you and yours!
Wow! Thanks so much for sharing your story. Keep giving God the glory in all things! Many blessings to you!
Such a tricky balance, this being bold like Joshua and Paul idea and embracing our weak, and resting in our Savior. But I think it’s more of a heart position and never an “either or”. We fight moments of both and, as you pointed out, we must remember where true strengths lies. We will always come up short when we are depending on ourselves to produce it. I loved reading and thinking through this with you! Thanks for sharing!
Katie, it is so hard to find “balance”. I’m
learning more and more I must be audaciously obedient and fervently surrendered. God’s strength is there, it’s up to me to submit to it. When I remember it’s not me, but Him – that’s where I find balance and strength. Thanks for making me think deeper! So glad you stopped by today!
Thank you, Micah!! I could not move forward a day in my life without these truths to hold on to! In Aug 2009 my then 29 year old daughter, Alma, stopped talking to me-first because she was dealing with repressed memories from her childhood-I made some really bad choices when she was young, and secondly, written words that were mis interpreted by hurting hearts. Six years and 2 months is a long time for a mama to not hear her only child’s voice or hug her and right now no reconciliation is in sight. I’ve tried to reconcile-I’ve tried to bargain with God but in the end trusting Him and leaning on Him to bring about reconciliation is the best choice for me. I stand on Matt 19:26-HIS word promises me that what is impossible with man is possible with God! His word is true so I am resting on this promise :)
God Bless you!!
Nancy, keep resting in His Word. I can’t imagine all you are dealing with. I too, am so thankful for God’s promises. Praying for your restoration.
Words for my soul…I, far too often, feel like I must do things in my own strength. God is so good because after I fail, He picks me up and tenderly caresses me and handles the situation. Your words: “You don’t need to develop more strength, you need to trust God to display His.” really touch me this morning. Glad I came by, ~ linda
Linda, great to see you today!
I love this! And I agree wholeheartedly! We don’t have to be strong or even look like we have it “all together”. What we truly need is to give it to Him and simply trust. What peace! Thank you for posting!
So true, Carrie. Thanks for reading!
Evidently, learning to relax and let God operate is a lesson I need to learn over and over again ;)–I know because I keep having to exercise my impulse to get things done in my way and on my timeline and sit back and realize that my problems are God-sized and only HE can fix them.
Yes. Me too. Only God is in control, and that is a continual learning process for me.
I keep hearing over and over again in the hard places, “Abide in Me. Abide in the Vine.” You are so right. Our strength is found IN Him and IN Him alone. We don’t have to be strong, but we must know where to go to become strong again. Thank you for sharing!
I love that. “Abide in Me.” Thanks, Barbie!
Thank you for the encouragement. I love that when we are weak, He is strong. When we are weak we are able to see God’s power be strong for us and it draws us closer to Him!
Thank you for sharing this encouragement on the Art of Home-Making Mondays Micah!
A wonderful encouragement to surrender and let God be our strength and our deliverer. Thank you Micah! Visiting from the #mommymoments link up
So glad you stopped by!
Micah, This post so reminds me of a speaker I heard this weekend. He talked about “abiding” in a way that somehow simply washed over me. Abiding in Jesus when we are exhausted, confused, or up against the weight of the world. There we find peace, comfort, and strength! I am so glad we were neighbors at #WordswithWinter! I was blessed!
Blessings and smiles,
Lori
Thanks, Lori! “Abiding” seems to be the theme I’m hearing a lot this week! It’s so vital to victory! Thanks so much for chiming in! I love to see you here!
Micah, I found much encouragement in the insights you shared here.
Our church is studying the Book of Judges. One of the most interesting stories was Ehud, the left handed man, whom God used to save His people. He used a person who was perceived as weak {the left-handedness} only for that to become His strength with God working through Him.
My own story of God’s strength in weakness was when my husband called me from His MRI appointment to tell me that I had to take Him to the hospital because they discovered something on his brain MRI. I had to talk myself down to calm myself, crying out to the Lord to give me strength to face my worst fears, which extended beyond the obvious of my own husband’s serious health situation. I have a fear of hospitals AND at that time, a fear of driving somewhere far. All of which I had to do because I was now on deck!
I can’t even put into proper words how the Lord sustained me through that whole experience. The peace I felt and the strength I had was indeed supernatural, only explained by the power of God within me. So much so that the neurologist who came in to speak with my husband and I commented on how calm we were considering my husband had had a carotid dissection and resulting stroke that could have killed him and the fact that he was only in his early 40s. We were able to testify of the power and strength of God.
I always leave your blog posts encouraged. :-)
Karen, wow. You have an amazing story! God is going to use that and I’m sure He already has in so many people’s lives to remind us that God is with us! In the ups, in the downs and in the complete unknowns, He. Is. There. You, my friend, have encouraged me tonight! Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you, Micah, for giving me permission to not be strong. I needed to hear that. And the lovely encouraging comments here are proof that none of us have to do this alone. Blessings to each one of you!
Christa, I hope you have a blessed day. Thanks for joining the conversation!
So often I find that when I try to muscle my way through a trial or sorrow, I may successfully come out on the other side of it, but I do so with a hard heart or a prideful spirit. God wants us to lean on Him, and long-term, it’s the only way to live with His kingdom as our focus and joy.
Michele, I love how you brought out the issue of pride – too often it is disguised as strength. Thank you for reminding us to rest and trust and not do it all ourselves!
Amen!
Such a great post and reminder of stopping relying on pulling up bootstraps all the time, it’s okay to be weak, in fact that’s where God wants us and needs us..like little children! So well written! I’m visiting from #smallwonders today. Liked the title of your post!
Thanks, Kathy! Yes, like little children! So difficult sometimes when we want to do it ourselves.
Micah! I think this post impacted a lot of people -myself included : ) This is something I’ve been loving living lately. I’ve been saying “I can’t” often, leaving it up to the One who Can. He has enough, that I don’t have to muster up my own! The battle is His and He’ll win it. What peace and rest come in our own weakness!!
You’re so right! We can’t muster it up! But Jesus! He has the strength we need! I needed the reminder today too!
You’ve hit on one of the most common lies touted in our culture today. Even Christians are tempted to do things in our own strength instead of constantly flinging ourselves upon God’s gracious provision. I love this, especially: “You don’t need to develop more strength, you need to trust God to display His.” Micah, you continue to be an important part of our Grace & Truth community, and we’re so thankful to you for sharing your wisdom with us!
Jennifer, you’re so kind! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your amazing community! Relying on His strength day by day!
Love, love, love this. Visiting from TellHisStory (I’m nr.48). When I was grieving the loss of my Mom, a Christian acquaintance tried to tell me that I could be “strong” by holding onto God’s Promises as she’d done when her Mom died. What she failed to see and hear as I told my story, is that God was bringing me to my knees so that He could comfort me. She spoke in compassion, but her words cut, more than healed.
I had just been through PTSD induced flashbacks in which I was trapped in the memories of my mother’s horrific last hours and right into that pit God had spoken His Love out over me…He was releasing me to mourn that which I had been unable to fully mourn: much more than my mother’s suffering and passing as He would later reveal.
Thank you for sharing your story! I’m so sorry for the hurtful, cutting words, but how beautiful the comfort and grace that only Christ could give in your darkness. Thank you for stopping by!
Thank you, Micah. I came to understand over time that she was genuinely filled with compassion for me, but rather than allowing God to continue working in me, she leaned in to try and “fix”. I am guilty of the same thing at times. It was a moment God has used to help me trust and listen to Him above all else.
I’m often a fixer too, when I need to be a listener. I think lots of us are. Learning to listen rather than “fix” things and people. God does a much better job of healing the hurts than we ever could.
Just popping in to say thanks for being a part of the #TellHisStory community, and sharing your encouragement with women who need to hear what you have to say. You offer such good words here. Shineth thou on!
Thanks so much! I appreciate you featuring me this week! Thanks for providing a great place to hang out!