In conjunction with the release of my book, Live To Win! 5 Essentials for Victory and Success, I’m excited to provide a series of guest posts over the next few weeks. These folks are special to me, having coached me in one way or another to achieve my career goals and experience victories at various times and in various areas of my life.
Today, I’m pleased to share with you the insights from my friend, Kendra Tillman. She encourages women who work from home to apply spiritual principles in order to grow their career. She helped me to stretch my faith and rely on God as I launched out as an author and speaker. Keeping the faith is a way of life that Kendra espouses no matter the challenge or difficulty.
When Victory Feels Out of Your Reach
I love to read Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 chronicles what is referred to as the Faith Hall of Fame. It’s the Who’s Who of the faithful, the persistent, the imperfect, yet, still strong in faith. The lives of Noah, Abraham and Sarah and Moses are all detailed in the Old Testament. Hebrews 11 briefly shares their stories and the stories of several other ordinary men and women who wrestled with the same fears, insecurities and uncertainties we all face.
Do you know the one thing the Bible says all these men and women had in common? In Hebrews 11:13 we are told that “all these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it.” They all died…in faith. They were in faith that what God promised He would do. Yet, they died without seeing the promise fulfilled. In this chapter we are assured we are in good company, when we feel we haven’t received an answer to every prayer we’ve prayed.
Even though they didn’t see the promise fulfilled when they expected, they still believed.
How many days, weeks, months, years have passed since God has spoken a promise to your heart? Has the length of time caused you to waver in believing it will happen? I pray this post will stir your faith.
If we keep reading in Hebrews, God drops another nudge to our faith at the very beginning of Hebrews 12. “We are surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith.” Have you ever been to a race? One of the best things about races is the crowd of family and friends that gather along the race route to cheer on the runners. They hold up signs. They yell encouragement. It’s wonderful!
Hebrews 12 tells us there’s a similar crowd that gathers for us in this race of faith that we run. These witnesses are not only the men and women mentioned in Hebrews 11, but all the men and women of faith who’ve lived since. They are waiting to see you cross the finish line. They are there to watch you win! The interesting thing is winning might look different than you expected.
No matter what you are facing today you are destined to win in the race of faith! Your victory may not look like mine and it may not even look like what you imagined, but you will win. I John 5:4 tells us that we receive victory through our faith. This is a promise from God’s word – our faith gives us the victory over the difficulties we experience in this world.
What promise from God seems distant or impossible for you? Surround yourself with people who want to see you win. Strengthen your faith by meditating on faith stories of men and women who persevered in faith. Stretch your faith beyond what feels possible.
Kendra Tillman is the founder of StrongerThanYouThink.co, a growing movement that energizes working women with resources for making their personal, professional, and spiritual growth a priority. She is also the author of You’re Stronger than You Think.