Your Mountain is no Match For God, Keep Climbing with Kelley Tyan

I bet today you might be facing something that feels bigger than you and you could use this faith-filled reminder. “The Best View Comes After the Hardest Climb.”  This New Episode will inspire you to keep putting one front in front of the other in Christ.

God often uses our pain to push us forward, and we will never become who He made us to be if we don’t keep climbing.

Kelley Tyan knows a lot about this. Her Mom had health issues all her life and ended up passing away, but it was HER FAITH that taught Kelley that the “The Best View Comes After the Hardest Climb.”

Kelley joins me on the Strong. Confident. His. Podcast to share how she kept climbing even after the death of her Mom, facing breast cancer, and leading women to live fit through faith with Jesus at the center of it all.

Listen above and stay on your climb, speak to that mountain girl, God’s got this!

Here are the highlights of our time together:

Addicted to the Climb

Can you share why you chose that name for your book?

“Definitely, I'm so excited to talk about it. I was listening to a podcast about three, four years ago, and somebody said, Well, everybody's addicted to something. And I stopped the podcast. And I thought about that. And I really said to myself, I'm really not addicted to anything. I don't have an addictive personality. But it struck me that I really am addicted to the climb because life is a climb.

Everything about life, right is a climb, where if we're not climbing, we're going backward. So that's when I realized addicted to the climb could be the name of my show, at that moment about few years ago.”

I think Jesus is like the healthiest addiction. I am definitely addicted to my time with him, because anytime I get away from it, I feel old insecurities or the old negative soundtrack plays in my mind of you're not this, you're not that and I just don't feel like I'm living in my full potential.

Preparing for Today’s Message

As I was preparing for my time with Kelley, I jumped on my computer and started doing research for the show. Bible Study Tool shares that God uses the imagery of mountains and valleys, often in His Word, to describe his power, the high moments of like the successes in life, but also the lows and the obstacles that stand in our way. He's Sovereign through it all. But what Kelly's saying is, if you're addicted to that climb, you're keeping your eyes on Jesus and you're going to keep going no matter what. That imagery is so beautiful.

It makes me think of a scripture, I have to share this because when I was trying to get pregnant with Giavella, my husband and I held onto this one.

Mark 11: 23-24, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things that he says will be done, he will have what he asked for Therefore I say to you, whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you have them.”

My Strength Comes From Him

So tell us about a time that you felt really strong.

“You know, I really feel strong when I'm really closest to God. I really have to say my strength comes from Him and I feel like I'm on top of the world when I'm reading my Bible. I can't get enough of it. I feel God moving. It's such a great place to be. We all have a different walk with the Lord but when you're really leaning in, and you're not feeling strong... lean in more. He's there.”

Jesus Was Glowing Through the Phone

Can you share about last week and what happened? Because I was talking to you last week, and I could just feel Jesus glowing through the phone. Can you share?

“Yes, I actually was glowing. Life gets hard at times. Last week my husband had an eye doctor appointment and was told that he possibly could have a tumor. And it was very scary. I was really nervous. But yet I was leaning hard into my faith and saying, Lord, I know you have so much more for us, my marriage. He's the love of my life. You didn't bring me this far to leave me here and to leave us with our children here. And I just kept praying faith over fear. And we went back for another opinion, and it wasn't a tumor. I was just so happy and just so full of faith that I know God will build our faith stronger when we do lean in.

Even if things didn't go that way, Kim, I wasn't going to waver in my faith. It goes back to how I watched my mom. My mom didn't always have a good diagnosis. And my mom passed away almost five years ago now, but I did not waiver in my faith. I didn't let the devil try to kill and destroy me and my family because I could have crumbled and cried and showed my children that I'm weak and I'm so upset about this diagnosis, but I didn't. We just stayed strong. We prayed more. I got on my knees every single moment, I had the opportunity and just said, Lord, I'm leaving this in your hands, and I know you'll take care of us.”

Confidence From the Lord

So, I want you to share where you get your confidence from because this is the Strong. Confident. His Podcast! And can you tell us about your breast cancer story?

“Well, as you know, my confidence does come from the Lord. It always goes back to that. Even when I'm not feeling confident, and like you said, Kim, not looking to the right or left, I just want to go back a minute because I didn't even share what happened to my husband with other people because I didn't want their opinions. I didn't want people getting nervous. I really just talked to God about it. And that was it. And I always say release the outcome.

You don't know the outcome of what's going to happen next. Only He does. God knows what's going to happen. So to worry, what is that going to bring you? It doesn't give us anything good. It brings more anxiety more fears. God wants us to keep our faith strong faith over fear. So I just wanted to say that because it's so important when we're going through battles and so my breast cancer was a battle. And it was very scary. Because I was the fitness girl. I was opening a boot camp. I was leading women in fitness.

I have been cancer-free for 10 years going on 11, and it's such a blessing. But there were those moments of fear that crept in. And even shame came in. I was shameful. I remember just feeling like, Why me? I can't believe I'm the one. I mean, I'm supposed to be starting this boot camp business and teaching women how to be fit and healthy. And right then, I had to just get into prayer. And I didn't want to be taken down by this diagnosis. Because that's all it was, was words being told to me that I had cancer.

I knew God was in control. That's how I grew up. And I just leaned into my faith again. I wanted my family to see me strong in this. And I wanted them to know that I chose faith over fear. And I wasn't giving up. I continued with my boot camp and it really kept me accountable. As much as I was leading these women in classes, they were also really lifting me up. Little did they know, they were keeping me accountable to keep showing up. And through my treatment, I had radiation every single day for eight weeks. And it was just a moment in time when God used me and is using my story to encourage others that if you get a cancer diagnosis. We can't give up and throw the towel in.”

I hope it's okay if I ask this but did you ever feel mad at God? Was your faith as strong, or do you feel like the cancer diagnosis strengthened your faith? Tell us about that?

"So I grew up a Christian since I was eight, so of course, you feel everything when you have a diagnosis. There's every emotion. As I said had the shame. Did I do something wrong? What did I do in my past? Am I supposed to die from this like this? So many emotions you go through, how scary it is. It's very scary. And I was angry with God for a quick minute.

I have to go back to my mom because she went through so much. I could write books about her life and the suffering, pain, and setbacks. And I just watched her Kim smile beautifully with Jesus by every moment, every single surgery she had, and I just kept thinking, I'm so honored that God gave me her as my mother.”

It’s My Decision

“It's my decision. We all can make a decision in our goodwill, right? And we have a choice at every given moment. We have a choice. Am I going to take a step forward? Or am I going to stay where I am? And I did.

I was so tired of crying and being isolated. I said, Am I just going to stay like this? I didn't want to stay like that. I said I'm going to take a step forward. I made a choice. I put the work in. I opened my Bible, it was a struggle. But I did it because I wanted desperately to feel better. And I knew my strength could only come from him and no one else.

My husband, my kids… nobody was giving me strength. But I knew if I plugged into the Lord God Almighty Father, that he could give me the energy, almost like when you charge your cell phone, I wanted to just plug into his power source.”

I asked Kelley to wrap up our time together with a prayer, and it was beautiful. Read it below!

Oh, thank you, Lord God, for bringing us here together today. We're so thankful for all your blessings and the opportunities that you've given us on our journeys. I pray that every person listening to this today feels encouraged to stay on their climb. We're all different in whatever climb or valley we're in right now. Just give them the encouragement, they need the peace they need to keep on going. Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful friendship. Thank you for this podcast so we can share to others. We love you so much. In Jesus name. Amen.

Faith Fuel

Matthew 17:20 tells us, “he replied, because you have so little faith truly I tell you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Psalm 121:1-2 “ I lift up my eyes to the mountains; where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

Praying for you and whatever mountain you may be facing, sweet friend!