The Battle Is Not Yours

Don't give up. Quitters never win. Stand up for yourself. Prove your point. You're just going to let it end this way? When the going gets tough, we need to get tougher.

Oh, the advice we get whenever we are struggling, suffering, confused, betrayed, afraid, or drained. The situations where we foolishly think we know what's best or try to take direction from people that have never experienced where we are or what we're going through. To say that life can be hard is an understatement in itself. In seasons of depression, loss, failure, and trials it truly feels like the weight of the world is sitting on our shoulders. In those times, no matter how much effort we put into overcoming, we always manage to feel defeated because we can't control, stop, or understand anything. Maybe there is a reason for that. What if everything we're trying to control or manage isn't unfolding in the way we envisioned because there is a bigger lesson to be learned?

It’s hard whenever it feels like we just can’t seem to get through the storm. It’s depressing whenever we feel like we are barely hanging on and something else just falls into our lap. It’s difficult to hold on to our faith when the fear won’t seem to loosen its grip. As draining, debilitating, and devastating as it all may be, we only seem to add to the destruction whenever we seek to fight battles that aren’t ours to fight. Whenever we refuse to let go and repeatedly take things out of God’s hand after the 538392nd time we’ve given it to Him.

The most profound and life altering battles we will face will not warrant guns, force, or people standing behind us. Instead they will require trust, faith, and obedience to follow God no matter where or how He leads us. We can’t win a war we aren’t prepared for and we have little to no chance of overcoming an attack we were never intended to fight. We can’t allow God to bring us to our victory if we constantly get in His way.

I used think I had all of the answers. I just wanted to step in and fix any and all things that came my way. However, there came a point in life that where I realized almost every time I foolishly tried to control or fix things I made them exponentially worse. I either acted out of emotion instead of logic, made moves out of order, or went before God when He instructed me in so many ways to be still. In true God fashion, until I understood the message He was trying to convey, I stayed reliving the same cycle and pain. My relationship with God truly took shape whenever I learned and accepted that sometimes all things are going wrong for all of the right reasons, but if I turn to God and seek His word all thing will work together for my good.



I gained a trust, relationship, and love for God that I never had because I had to learn to depend on him. I had to understand that I can only control so much and see so far of my journey. Meanwhile, He knows my journey from beginning to end. He showed me that if I would fight the enemy that resided between my two ears, close my mouth, and work on walking by faith; He would certainly fight for me and reveal my strongholds, toxic traits, and the motives of others in the process. I look back with gratitude seeing that though God didn’t change the situation, season, or struggle, be He was changing something much more important. Me.

I'm not stronger because I'm constantly putting out fires assigned by the enemy. I'm not filled with joy because I confront every person that tries to upset me. I'm not thriving because I've never fallen, failed, or taken the wrong path. I'm strong, joyful, and continuously growing because I trust, love, and am obedient to what God says and look for the greater message in every move made. I know He is in the midst. What can I do that would be better than Him? Even if it looks like I’m drowning, I know that is turning the tide for me. Even when it doesn't feel like it, I know He's using every emotion to build my empathy and testimony. It's not about my understanding. It's about me obeying.

Our perspectives and lives change whenever we learn and accept the fact that God doesn’t always allow what’s fair to happen, but He allows what’s best to happen. That friendship may not be salvaged, the prognosis may not change, the consequence may not fit the crime, that tough love may hurt, that rumor may spread, that plan may not come to fruition BUT no matter how the cards may fall everything will work together for our good. We can rest assured that we will overcome whatever situation, struggle, or sorrow that comes our way because we are letting a true victor fight our battle.