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Written by Michelle J. Goff, founder and director of Iron Rose Sister Ministries
Every time I write a book, I wrestle. I wrestle over what to include and exclude. I wrestle with my thoughts, with finding enough time, with how to best express something, and so many other things. During at least one stage of the writing process, I also wrestle with God.
The writing of Bible study books are not the only times I have wrestled with God. We have wrestled over my health and the health of loved ones, especially spiritual health. We have wrestled over my longing for understanding of a certain passage of Scripture, over a prayer that His will be done coupled with an expression of the deepest desires of my heart.
Awake all night, conflicting thoughts and wordless prayers have robbed me of peaceful slumber. Grappling with uncertainty and a lack of clarity, I have wrestled day and night to understand where God was leading. Impatient with confusion, the tension of the wrestling squeezes and bends to the point of breaking. I am forced to keep fighting or to give up.
Yet imagine if I had never engaged in the wrestling to begin with… Would I have exercised my spiritual muscles, fortified my trust in God, or come to know and be known through the depth of relationship?
Wrestling is a form of conflict. I would venture to say that Genesis reveals that Jacob lived a life of conflict. He started in conflict with his twin brother, Esau, from the womb. When he stole the birthright from his older brother, the conflict it created forced him to leave the region, fearing retaliation.
His mother, Rebekah, sent him to her people, where he fell into immediate conflict again. Having experienced “love at first sight,” he worked for Laban for seven years, never losing sight of the goal of coming to know his bride, Rachel. Yet Leah was the older sister who greeted him the morning after the wedding. He worked another seven years, becoming one of the first men to have “sister wives.” Talk about conflict!
Conflict with his father-in-law. Conflict between his wives. Conflict amongst his children, especially after his favorite son Joseph received a colorful coat from him. Conflict regarding the decision to travel back to the region of his childhood home, fearful of stirring up more conflict with Esau who may or may not have forgiven him…
Through all of this conflict, he had seen the faithfulness of the God of his father and grandfather, the God of Abraham and Isaac. The majority of the time, the Almighty’s blessing was born out of conflict and wrestling.
To wrestle… to take part in a fight, or to struggle with a difficulty or problem.
Jacob knew both physical and metaphorical wrestling. Figuratively and literally, he had been wrestling through more than his share of struggles and victories his entire life. And by this point in the story, he was an old man.
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” (Gen. 32:22-28)
Jacob was a well-practiced wrestler. He “had struggled with God and with humans and had overcome.” Instead of avoiding those conflicts, Jacob had learned how to persevere through them and come out on the other side a blessed child of God.
During my times of wrestling, a tension is created from which I sometimes think it would be easier to flee than to embrace. This tension is uncomfortable, exhausting, mentally draining, and most definitely frustrating. But it is also healthy. The more times God and I wrestle, the more growth comes on the other side of that tension.
Like Jacob, I have learned to embrace the tension, to lean into the fight, in order that God might bless me—personally or as a ministry. I don’t do this perfectly and please don’t hear me minimizing the struggle. It is a battle… but one that promises a blessing!
I will close with one very recent example. My current health hinders me from traveling internationally—a truth I am still struggling to accept. Yet, I still did not feel at peace releasing the plans for us to provide resources for Brazilian women and women’s ministries. I couldn’t go to Brazil, yet neither could I the let go the plans for our launch of these resources. Leaning into that tension, as Board President Katie Forbess and I served as iron sharpening iron in conversation and prayer, God revealed am amazing plan—a blessing that could’ve only come from Him.
To make a long story very short: At the beginning of September, we launched our Portuguese resources in partnership with a Brazilian church plant in South Florida. To God be the glory!
For more God stories that affirm the truth of the blessings of wrestling, turn to the story of Jacob in your Bibles or ask me for a few more stories of my own… Lean into the fight ladies, the blessing is worth it! And you are not in the struggle alone.
#IronRoseSister #HIStories #wrestlewithGod #Godsblessings #leanintothetension #MichelleJGoff #blog
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Written by Abigail Baumgartner, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister in Louisiana
“Do you remember how, on a racing-track, every competitor runs, but only one wins the prize? Well, you ought to run with your minds fixed on winning the prize! Every competitor in athletic events goes into serious training. Athletes will take tremendous pains—for a fading crown of leaves. But our contest is for an eternal crown that will never fade. I run the race then with determination. I am no shadow-boxer, I really fight! I am my body’s sternest master, for fear that when I have preached to others I should myself be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:24-27, PHILLIPS).
Growing up as an elite-level competitive swimmer, I always appreciated Paul's words to the Corinthians in all their intensity. As a swimmer, I worked hard to achieve my goals, whether moving to a better training group, reaching a time standard, or winning a race. The "run the race" metaphor Paul uses to talk about the Christian life made sense to me and drove home that need for Christians to be determined and disciplined. Today, though, as I write about Paul and "running the race," I remember how I once misunderstood this passage. Though I appreciated Paul's intensity, some messages I picked up through my childhood in competitive sports hindered me from understanding the beautiful goal of this race.
As a young swimmer, I learned I was solely responsible for my success or failure. The individual-sport-culture convinced me that if anything went wrong, I need only look in the mirror to see why. In a sense, this is true. Making a habit of missing practice, staying up too late, or eating only junk food demonstrates a lack of discipline. Still, the message I heard was that any shortcoming was unacceptable. So, when there were days when I did not sleep, eat, or train to perfection, I condemned myself just for being human. I learned that, in sports, you had to be your own savior; there was no grace, no redemption. For someone with perfectionistic tendencies, this was not a helpful message.
In fact, I struggled for years to reconcile this deeply ingrained athletic principle with what I knew about my God. From a young age, I knew that all sin separated me from God (Rom. 3:23), but that God had redeemed my life through the blood of Jesus (Rom. 3:24). I accepted that gift through baptism at 12 years old. Still, I felt a disconnect between what I'd been taught as an athlete and what I knew to be true as a Christian. Whenever I read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, I always squirmed a little; for me, it was just another call to race toward perfection by sheer force of will.
Thankfully, I found new freedom and depth in these verses during my first year of college while swimming for Louisiana State University. That year, as a major competition approached, I was overcome with fears that I had not done enough. For example…
What about that time three weeks ago when I didn't hit my paces in practice?
I shouldn't have had pizza last week.
It's 11 pm, and I'm STILL NOT ASLEEP!
Amidst this mental warfare, I cried out to God, and He drew me near, reminding me that He is "… one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph. 4:6, ESV). God reminded me that He was not just the Lord of my life in a spiritual sense, redeeming me of my sin, but Lord over all aspects of my life. He reminded me again of His power over sin and death, of how He created and saved me... did I really think He would abandon me in a race of any kind?
What I learned then—and cling to now—is that God never asked me to run toward perfection. He asked me to “throw off everything that hinders” me and run toward Him (Heb. 12:1, NIV). The race Paul talks about is not a robotic checking of boxes and the prize is not perfection. The race is about the wonderful chance to know God and make Him known—God is the purpose and the prize.
Though I retired from competitive swimming in 2021, I continue to treasure my new understanding of what matters in running any metaphorical or literal race. As a student, friend, daughter, worker, mentor, or athlete, I know the true prize and purpose of my race are found in Christ alone. I praise God for those years of swimming that taught me I cannot save myself. Now, knowing my gracious Savior, I can glorify God for the beauty of His redemption that does not stop at the water's edge but flows in, out, over, across, and through every piece of my race in unexpected, awe-inspiring ways.
How has God used pieces of your story to make scripture come alive in your life?
In what areas of your life do you need to let go of perfection and run toward God?
#IronRoseSister #HIStories #runtherace #notaboutperfection #runtoGod #guestwriter #blog