When Strength No Longer Serves Us

Leonardo Di Vinci has a famous quote where he says, “People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life.” We can see this idea in either a negative or positive light, but I believe in either case, it is a truthful statement. Many of us operate out of survival mechanisms that have forged a strength within us because of the heartbreaking events we've lived through. But I want to propose a thought to you that is a difficult pill for anyone to swallow. It’s this: In order to recognize these survival mechanisms, we need seasons of trial and testing. They are the doorway to becoming truly free.

Our strengths serve us well, until they don’t. Ask any successful corporate business leader and they will tell you that strengths taken to extremes become the reason the company is not open to growth and innovation where needed. It’s the same with us as individuals. However, when circumstances come upon us that are beyond our control, they can be the catalysts that are needed for us to find new life and health, if navigated with understanding.

We grow both spiritually and emotionally when we surrender ourselves to God through times of testing. We gain renewed strength (that might look different from what we relied upon initially) as we trust that God can see us through the darkest of circumstances. And, we might even find that we have hidden strengths that need to be developed for a new season. Strengths that would not have been highlighted to us if we had not been forced out of our comfort zone.

Ultimately, Jesus wants us to see that our faith in Him is secure and He knows how to take hold of our hand so that we can walk across the chaotic waters that threaten to drown us. But when we get to the otherside of the storm, we realize that we have dropped what was unnecessary (those forged survival mechanisms), and instead we find ourselves standing securely on the sea of glass before the throne, praising the One who knows how to save to the uttermost!

Excerpt taken from Jubilee Seasons digital magazine, Spring 2025. Look for it to be published the week before Easter.