strength Archives - Jackie M. Johnson

Discouraged? 4 Vital Ways to Stand Strong When You Feel Like Giving Up

Life can be challenging. No matter what your age or life stage, we all get discouraged.

Whether you’re stressed from too much work, or anxious because you lost your job, you may feel depleted. Maybe you’re wiped out from caring for kids or aging parents all day–or you’re lonely because you just moved across the country and don’t know anyone yet. Either way, we all have times when we feel like giving up.

How do you press on when you just don’t have it in you? How do you stand strong in challenging times?

You need a solid foundation.

When a skyscraper is under construction, workers first dig a foundation and then pound steel reinforcing rods called pylons deep into the earth so the building will stand tall and not tumble.

Then, concrete is poured into the shaft with the pylons for a super-strong hold.

The same can be true as you build a “foundation” in your own life—as you grow deeper, you grow stronger in your faith. As you immerse yourself in the ways and wisdom of God, the reinforced truth, like pylons of

Hope,

Trust,

Courage, and

Faith,

help you become stronger on the inside.

So when you’re discouraged, and your life is spiraling downward, you will be able to withstand more readily the gale-force winds of hard times and pain because your inner foundation is deep and strong.

Steel upon steel, story upon story a structure is built.

Likewise, God’s Word tells us that hope comes step by step as “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3, 4)

So, how do you press on when times are tough? Here are four (4) vital things to help you persevere with God’s strength:

1) Cast your cares. Don’t take on burdens you were never meant to bear—like worry, fear and doubt. They’ll weigh you down and hinder you from being effective.

Instead, give God your fears; surrender trying to do it all on your own to Him. In other words, like a fishing line, “cast your cares, and don’t reel them back in again.” Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”

2) Press on in prayer. Prayer is the foundation upon which everything else is built in your life. It the most important thing you can do. You may think, “I’ve already prayed, what other solutions are there?” Keep on praying.

Talk to God about your situation, because He is the one who has the power to change it. As you pray, believe God is working and stand in the strength you receive.

3) Send in reinforcements. Sometimes you need backup. It’s amazing what happens when you receive support in prayer from friends and family members who are willing to pray for you and with you.

When you don’t know what to pray, when you’re spent emotionally or physically, or, like Moses, when you need someone to “hold up your arms” (to support you), the prayers of others on your behalf can give you a boost to keep going.

4) Take action. Taking one small step can lead to another and another and it builds momentum, and things begin to change. You will not be in this hard place forever. God will help you through. Unlike others who may have let you down, God keeps His promises. When you take action in prayer, God moves on your behalf.

Perseverance takes courage. Believe that God hears your prayers; He sees your tears, and He is at work in your life.

There are still purposes to be fulfilled—lives to touch, things to accomplish, and character to be formed on the inside.

Press on, pray on, with holy tenacity, holding on to hope that one day—maybe soon—things will change for the better: the check will come, the job will be yours, or the house will be filled with a child’s laughter.

Today, we pray and trust Him.

RESOURCES

For more hope and inspiration, check out these books by Jackie M. Johnson:

Praying with Power When Life Gets Tough

Power Prayers for Women

Prayers with Purpose for Women

By Jackie M. Johnson

How to Dump Insecurity and Find Rock-Solid Confidence

Photo by Jonathan Ouimeton Unsplash

It is God who arms me with strength
and keeps my way secure.
2 Samuel 22:33

My friend Julie told me recently that she grew up as a very insecure child, not the adventurous type at all. She had some hard things happen to her as a kid—like verbal abuse and the death of a parent.

Yet here she was dangling from a harness over the edge of a cliff, rappelling in the early hours of a warm July day in Colorado.

Halfway down the mountain, she paused. Her big brown eyes scanned the scenic beauty around her—a cloudless blue sky and morning sunshine glistening on Mount Princeton. She pondered the journey she’d be on for the past few years that led her to this moment.

“Who is this person I’ve become?” she asked herself.

Confident. Courageous. Strong.

Indeed, a newfound confidence began surface in Julie’s life when she discovered God’s truths in Romans 8. The Message Bible reads this way,

Those who think they can do it on their own
end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle
but never get around to exercising it in real life.
Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—
living and breathing God! (Romans 8:5, 6)

Distorted images
Lack of confidence and its opposite, pride, comprise both ends of the spectrum.

Is there a balance somewhere in between for a healthy self-image and a confident spirit? Consider this excerpt from my book, When Love Ends about a true sense of self-esteem:

Perhaps you’ve seen a woman who thinks she is “all that.” Her smugness and conceit is contrasted with the person who has low self-esteem: she thinks she is “none of that.”

She focuses more on her mistakes instead of what she does right. She is often sad or fearful, and her insecurity prevents her from speaking up, taking chances, or moving forward.

A woman with a healthy self-esteem respects herself. She feels secure and worthwhile because of what God says about her. She has confidence in relationships and in life and generally more joy. She knows she has significance; she matters.

With her sense of worth and value intact, she sits up straight and walks tall. Head up, this confident woman is friendly, gentle and kind. She makes eye contact when she speaks, and she doesn’t constantly apologize for everything she says or does.

Living your true identity

We all have reasons for feeling insecure. But we don’t have to stay there; we have choices.

Instead of living in insecurity, we can choose to live “in security.” That means we are secure in our identity because we know Whose we are.

As you uncover the truth about what God says about you, that confirms who you really are. What does God say about your true identity? Here are just a few things YOU ARE:

Accepted by God – Romans 15:7
Loved dearly – Colossians 3:12
Chosen – Ephesians 1:11
Blessed – Matthew 5:2-12
Friend – John 15:15
Bride of Christ – Revelation 19:7
Child of God – John 1:12
His workmanship – Ephesians 2:10
Citizen of heaven – Philippians 3:20
Light of the world – Matthew 5:14
His co-worker – 2 Corinthians 6:1
Victorious – 1 Corinthians 15:57

Self-confidence or God confidence?
Instead of relying on what others say or finding confidence in yourself, you can build “God-confidence” by remembering that He can do what you cannot.

In other words, focus on what He can do through you, not your own limited resources.

When we feel ill-equipped or inadequate, that’s the time to totally rely on God and what He does through us. You can be secure when you know the One in whom we can put our confidence.

“It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure” (2 Samuel 22:33).

Immerse yourself in God’s truth and love, and you will find insecurity fading and confidence building.

When we see with the eyes of Christ, we see who we really are.

By Jackie M. Johnson