fight

The Secret to Persevering in the Arena

Recently I had a week of awkward engagements, mostly in the form of writing emails telling people what they don't want to hear, or pushing into uncomfortable topics with others. Yuck. I thought, "Is there a hole I can go crawl into now?" But each of those interactions was necessary because of the tough arenas of life God has called me into for this season. Brene Brown, in her book Rising Strong, says, "an arena is any moment when or place where we have risked showing up and being seen." Inspired by the Teddy Roosevelt 1910 speech (below), those arenas are places of blood, sweat, and tears, where we fight for what we believe in. We hope for victory, but know that failing is always a possibility. This is a "venture into tough new arenas" year for me. They ask more of me than I want to give sometimes. These arenas call me to risk, lead, take stands, and put myself out there. Can I be honest? Making a difference, affecting change, living bravely, all sounds great in theory. But it's tiring. A lot of the time, I want to quit. Stop writing. Step away from leading. Let things go rather than fight for a stance. Comfort is more appealing than potential failure, regardless of what I or others might gain. It's hard to put yourself out there when there's a risk of falling on your face. So much more appealing to stay on those safe shores. And yet, we must keep fighting. When I am tempted to step out of the arena, wipe the blood, sweat, and tears off my face, and throw in the towel, I feel a check in my spirit. A voice says, "Stay. Stay and fight. You don't need to stop. You just need more truth for this." We don't need to quit. We just need to get stronger. And where does that strength come from? It comes from the truth. Here's the secret to not quitting when life is tough: We need a stronger theology for the arena. What does that look like? To begin with, it means more strength training out of the ring. We train our minds with the truth; that this is for His glory, not our ours; that there is no failure so great to put us out of His reach; that every second in the ring is only possible because of His power, not our own; that a knockdown does not define our worth. The more we are called to the arena, the more we need to feed our minds and hearts the truth about who He is and who we are. Then, when we are tempted to quit, instead we choose to double down on those truths. Second, we need to train our hearts to hear our coach's voice, even in the thick of the fight. He is with us, for us, in us. No one is more for us in the arena than He is. We can't…

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Soldier On, Friends

There is a constant battle waging for our souls, and I for one sometimes grow weary of fighting it. There are days I battle discouragement, pessimism, lies, apathy. It would be the easiest thing to let them sideline me. I know there's truth that cuts down all those negative emotions, but it takes energy to fight my way back to it. It takes time, and intentionality, and faith. It's a tiring battle. Every day we have to take up our cross and follow. We have to start again, knowing that there will be arrows of accusation and condemnation from the enemy. There will be lies we're tempted to believe about ourselves and others. Every day we have to fight our way back to the truth. We have to remember who we are and whose we are. And friends, it's tough. The Battle Is Tough It's easier to lay down our weapons and surrender. We wallow in complaining and negativity rather than take up gratitude, especially when it's hard to find the gold. Holing up with Netflix and ice cream hoping the battle will cease is the path of least resistance. Easier than the hard work of dragging those lies into the light. Staying in isolation is easier than inviting others to speak truth into our darkness. I'm reminded of one of my favorite books, Hind's Feet on High Places. In it, the protagonist, Much Afraid, is called to the High Places by the Good Shepherd. What she hoped would be a joyous journey with Him is marred by her relatives with names like Resentment, Bitterness, and Pride, who constantly call to her along the way. They cause her to doubt and fear and wonder if she hasn't chosen the wrong path. She learns to cover her ears and turn away from their voices. She holds doggedly to the promises the Good Shepherd has made to her, however much they might not feel true at the moment. So do we. Keep Fighting the Battle I want to tattoo all His promises across my arms so they sink into my soul and take up permanent residence there. If only I were not such a leaky vessel when it comes to the truth about Him and me. Would that I never find myself in those places where I realize I have listened to the wrong voices and strayed away from that solid ground in Him. I wish fighting was not part of the Christian life, but it is. We are meant to fight hard against the enemy, and we are meant to be victorious. Are you fighting the good fight? [ictt-tweet-inline]Fighting is hard and tiring but it's worth it.[/ictt-tweet-inline] There is truth to be claimed. Joy that is ours for the taking. Peace offered to us. Solid ground on which to rest. There is victory to be had. Yes, there is much that will threaten to knock us off that rock of truth, but there is One who wants to hold us there. He is greater…

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Moana and the Power of Grit

  If there’s one thing I hope to say about myself by the end of this year, it’s this: I’m grittier than I was. When I say grit, I’m talking about courage and resolve, showing up and staying in it for the long haul, doing the hard things that get you places you thought you couldn’t go. I’ve learned, in the last year, that I am not a naturally gritty person. I like safety and comfort. I like staying in known places where I’m doing well. The problem is, not much happens in those safe, comfortable places. You know who has grit? Moana. I’m in love with this character from Disney because she is a great picture of the rewards of being gritty. Moana lives on an island, where she is destined to be the next leader. Their island is slowing dying, food is scarce. The people are getting desperate. Moana suggests they go beyond the reef to look for more fish, but her father tells her, “There’s nothing beyond our reef but storms and rough seas. As long as we stay on our very safe island, we’ll be fine.”  He tried to go beyond the reef before and found nothing but heartache and an unforgiving ocean. Moana tries to stay as her father asks, but the desire to save her people, and the call on her life to be the one to help them compels her to go. Throughout the movie, we see her waver between doubt and courage, resolve and giving up. In the end, (spoiler alert) her perseverance pays off. We all have a safe island where we could stay. And we all have ways God is calling us to live out who we are, asking us to venture into new waters. He calls us to places that test our resolve, places of potential failure, but also great reward. For me, writing has been that call onto the water. It’s been a challenging and anxiety-ridden ride at times, full of temptation to compare myself to others, wonder if I have what it takes, and be discouraged. I have tried to be courageous and put myself out there, but often I have wanted to give up and walk away, back to my safe island. To be honest, I feel that right now, today, as I write this. When we attempt to do something that calls us beyond our comfort zone, it's tough. We get tired. There's heartache and failure. Sometimes it feels like the world is against us. Our dreams seem just out of reach. We doubt it's worth it. The question is, “Will we keep going?" It takes grit. Leaving the island takes grit. Staying the course takes grit. But what’s the alternative? If we stay, our worlds get smaller, until we are stuck on our islands. We are safe, but we aren’t living. Comfortable, but accomplishing little. We miss the call. So what does it take for us to leave the island, to stay gritty? In my experience, it's a combination of being…

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The Fight Belongs to Him

We are at war, and I am a lousy general. There are issues in the world worth fighting for: the hearts and minds of our kids, strong family ties, justice for the oppressed, basic human rights. I don't stop there though - I have all kinds of ambitious ideas, expectations and goals for myself, my family, my world. I approach them as hills to be conquered. I am a fighter. I've never been one to sit on the sidelines (remember, I'm the overly enthusiastic sideline coach). The problem is that my weapons are not effective. I fight in my own strength. I'd like to think I'm a pretty strong woman. I am, by most standards. That's my downfall. When I see these issues around me that I want to change, I tackle them with all my might and wrestle them to the ground. I come at them with my best arguments, lofty goals, high energy, intentionality. What looks like fierceness is often nothing more than a fearful attempt to control the outcome of a situation. If I just keep trying and try hard enough, I can conquer them, right? Right? Tell me I'm right. I'm wrong. These problems are bigger than me. They take more than I have. Others are simply not my battle to fight; they're my ideas, not God's. Most of them are spiritual battles, led by an enemy bent on our destruction. Who am I against that? [ictt-tweet-inline]I'm picking the wrong weapons and the wrong battles.[/ictt-tweet-inline] I am not meant for this war, but He is. Lately, I've been convicted of my need to lay down my feeble weapons and turn to His power. He sees the true battles and sees them better than I do. He knows what it takes, and He has it. He knows what must be hard fought and what is not meant to be. My best weapon is not inside me but in praying the fight back to Him, trusting that He will do what needs to be done. [ictt-tweet-inline]He wants to fight for me. My job is to step back and let Him.[/ictt-tweet-inline] Do I stop fighting altogether? No. There are some problems worth pounding the table about. But there are some hills that I am not meant to climb. Those I leave to God. I want to fight as one who knows her place as a lowly foot soldier, trusting in my commanding officer's weapons, wisdom, guidance and strength, not my own. I want to follow His orders on when and where to fight, and with what. The battle is the Lord's. "The Lord will fight for you. You need only be still." Exodus 14:14 Related posts: I Don't Need Rescuing (Except I Do) Soldier On, Friends

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