Becoming Steadfast

How to Stand Firm When Life’s Challenges Never Stop

For the past four years, I’ve felt like one of those arm-flailing, inflatable tube men you see in car dealership parking lots — constantly knocked flat by the slightest gust of wind. Since my dad died in 2022, it’s been loss after loss, challenge after challenge. Just when I stand up and get my bearings, something else sends arm-flailing inflatable Mindy on her back again.

After our miscarriage, I thought, “maybe there will be a break from hard things after…” And then I laughed. Oh, sweet girl, how cute you thought that! The challenges in life will not stop coming on this side of heaven.

This is a harsh reality Jesus warns us about: “In this world you will have trouble…” He also says, “I have come that you may have life and life to the full.” So, the age-old and always appropriate question emerges. How do we remain standing when challenges are never-ending?

This is a question I’ve been working on for years. And friends, I’m finally starting to see some fruit!

The key, I’m finding, is in this one directive: become steadfast. By our human nature we are not organically immovable or unwavering. We tire easily and would rather find an instant cure versus endure. But by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can become steadfast through Him.

If we want to cultivate this stand-firm immovability within us, we must actively do two things: secure our roots in Jesus and remain under the resistance of our trials. 

Read on to hear how I’ve been practicing these two steps, and the tangible fruit I’m seeing as a result.

Becoming Steadfast: Securing Our Roots

This April we had a record-breaking streak of severe weather in Wisconsin. I’m talking multiple nights of sirens going off alerting dangerous weather. Call me crazy, but I love a good storm (as long as I’m safe). I am in awe of them really – and one of the things that really gets me is watching the trees.

It blows my mind how ginormous trees stand tall above the ground and somehow manage to remain upright in 60 mph winds. They are incredible models of steadfastness. And it all starts with their roots.

Roots are vital. They transport water and nutrients, store food, and most importantly, spread out two to four times the width of the tree’s canopy to ensure stability and anchor the tree to the ground.

If we want to stand firm during storms—anchored like a tree to the ground—the first thing we must do is secure our roots. Where are they planted and how deep and wide do they go?

In Matthew 7, Jesus concludes the “Sermon on the Mount” with a final parable. He says,

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24-25

The story then goes on to tell what happens to a man who built his house on sand. The outcome is tragic; his house falls with a great crash.

When we are struggling, it’s easy to depend on our own strength, our friends or family, our finances, or other earthly pleasures to sustain us. While those aren’t bad supports to have in place, relying on them is like building our house on the sand – they simply aren’t meant to hold the weight of our entire lives. The only way to become steadfast is to secure our roots in the One foundation capable of supporting us —Jesus. He is the rock that enables us to withstand any storm because He, in His very character, is unwavering, unchanging, and immovable.

This first step towards becoming steadfast is the non-negotiable. When we anchor ourselves to the unchanging character of Christ, we establish a stability that isn’t subject to the elements around us. But staying upright requires more than just a deep foundation—it requires the strength to remain under the weight when the wind starts to howl.

Becoming Steadfast: Remaining Under Resistance

As I was reading about trees and their ability to withstand the wind in a storm, I learned something incredible. In the 1990s, a group of researchers carried out an experiment called Biosphere 2 where they attempted to recreate earth’s ecosystems inside a giant dome in Arizona. It’s a fascinating experiment through which they realized without constant movement of wind inside the dome, trees never developed "reaction wood"— dense, reinforced fibers that enforce structural integrity — nor received the biological sign to grow deep root systems. The end result? The trees, although they appeared strong, toppled over.

I’d love to go on about the biological reactions that take place within a tree because it’s absolutely incredible but let me put it simply. Without stress caused by the wind, a tree is not triggered to grow strong wood or deep roots. A tree without these will not be resilient or stand firm in the midst of a storm.

The same is true of us.

James 1:2-3 ESV says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

I love this translation of James because it explicitly uses the word steadfastness. There are other words used depending on the translation (perseverance – NIV, patience – KJV) each one coming from the Greek word hupomonē. This word is a compound of hupo, and menein, that translates: to remain under.

Ultimately James is saying if we want to become steadfast, we must willingly remain under (not run from, not try to escape) the weight of our struggles.

The trees are a perfect example of this. The only way they become strong is by resisting the force of the wind— this stress causes a change in their cells that enables them to grow strong and secure, even if their trunk is crooked. This is a beautiful analogy for us: we must remain under the weight of our trials to become steadfast.

I’ve been whining and pleading with the Lord, “I’m so tired of struggling! I just want to be resilient!” I wanted to click my heels three times and be instantly strong. I’m painfully realizing that just like I can’t pick up a 30 lb. weight and expect my bicep to curl it with ease if I’ve not first endured the weight of a 12 pounder, steadfastness isn’t a quality I can simply pick up. It is a strength I must grow into.

I find this both encouraging and challenging. It’s hard to read the “count it all joy” part of James 1:2 because who really says, “yay!” when they’re in the thick of it. But, in the same breath I understand it because it gives a helpful perspective shift. If I know that the challenges I am living through in life are going to produce something good, even if they are the absolute worst, I can greet them differently. They allow me to say, “okay, I see you. This sucks. AND I know that this pain is enabling me to become unshakeable.”
 

Becoming Steadfast: What It Looks like Practically

If you're like me, you might be wondering what this actually looks like day to day. I'm still figuring it out, but here's what I've been practicing.

Securing my roots: I plant my faith and hope in Jesus. I turn to the Word — for encouragement, for wisdom, to know God more. I talk to Him in prayer: praise and lament. And I try to keep an eternity mindset, remembering that through Him, all things will one day be redeemed.

Remaining under the weight: I name the struggle and own it. I refuse to wallow or stay stuck in anger about the circumstance. When grief hits, I let myself feel the feelings instead of distracting from the pain. I work with a counselor to help me process and make shape of what I’m going through. I look expectantly for the work God is doing and make note of it when I see it. And I try to be grateful for the fruit — the strength that comes from enduring.

None of this is tidy or easy. Some days I do it well. Most days I do it imperfectly. But these are the helpful rhythms I keep returning to.

Becoming Steadfast: Dependent on the Lord

There’s an important aspect about becoming steadfast we need to recognize. Just as a tree cannot deepen its roots or strengthen its wood without the stress of the wind and the makeup God created within it, we cannot magically become resilient on our own. It is God who graciously cultivates steadfastness within us. I secure my roots in Jesus. I remain under the weight of my trials versus running or hiding from them. And the rest is up to Him.

I am in the thick of a very windy season right now. Some days the struggles are a gentle breeze and others they’re a 60 mph gust. But by the grace of God, even when I’m struggling I don’t feel like arm-flailing inflatable Mindy anymore. I’m a tree with deep roots gripping the earth, and a trunk and branches growing stronger every time I bow and bend in the wind. I am becoming more and more steadfast; I can feel it, praise Jesus.

The fruit I see is real. I don't go into panic mode every instant something goes awry — like the day my cat needed an urgent X-ray for a possible blockage. I respond with more calm and less frustration when my day goes haywire. I bounce back from a heavy day of grief that used to take me out for a week. And when something hard hits, I meet it with "okay God, help me through it" instead of "really, Lord?" The struggles haven't stopped. There are still moments I feel like my tree trunk is about to snap. But I'm not flattened the way I used to be.

If you, too, are in the midst of a storm, know this: you’re not alone. Each struggle you endure with the help of our Savior is doing real work in you — making you stronger, steadier, more rooted than you were before. As James 1:4 says, “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We won't experience that perfect fullness completely on this side of heaven. But by the grace of God, we are growing towards it even now. Until we reach eternity, let’s keep our roots in Jesus, remain under the wind, and trust that we are becoming steadfast through Him.

Thank you, Jesus.