The Quote
“Once you are in this world, challenges will always come. Whether you are ready or not.”
— Godwin Delali Adadzie
Context and Inspiration
This reflection addresses a reality many people spend enormous energy trying to avoid: challenges are not optional features of life that careful planning can eliminate—they are fundamental, unavoidable aspects of human existence. The observation cuts through the illusion that sufficient preparation, right choices, or good behavior will create a challenge-free life. Challenges come to everyone—the prepared and unprepared, the wise and foolish, the righteous and wicked. They don’t wait for permission, don’t check your schedule, and don’t care whether you feel ready. A child doesn’t get to delay challenges until they’re mature. A young adult doesn’t get to postpone difficulties until they’re established. An older person doesn’t get exemption because they’ve already faced enough. Challenges keep coming throughout life, regardless of readiness. Understanding this truth changes your approach to life—from trying to avoid all challenges (impossible) to building resilience for facing challenges (essential). The question isn’t whether challenges will come, but whether you’ll respond to them with faith, wisdom, and perseverance when they arrive uninvited.
Biblical Affirmation of Inevitable Challenges
Scripture consistently affirms that challenges are guaranteed:
John 16:33: Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Not “might have trouble” or “could face difficulty.” You WILL have trouble. Jesus guarantees it. But He also guarantees His victory.
Job 5:7: “Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.”
Trouble is as natural to human life as sparks rising from fire. It’s built into existence in a fallen world.
Job 14:1: “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.”
Life is short and troubled. Both characteristics are unavoidable.
Acts 14:22: “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
The path to God’s kingdom includes hardships. They’re not detours around the path—they’re part of the path itself.
1 Peter 4:12: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”
Don’t be surprised by trials. Expecting smooth sailing is strange. Trials are normal.
James 1:2: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”
Not “if” you face trials—”whenever.” The assumption is that trials will come.
Why Challenges Come Regardless of Readiness
Several factors make challenges inevitable:
We Live in a Fallen World: Sin corrupted creation. Disease, death, disaster, and difficulty entered with the fall. These affect everyone, not just those “ready” for them.
We’re Human: Human limitations guarantee challenges. We age, get sick, make mistakes, misunderstand, miscalculate. These create challenges even when we do everything “right.”
Other People’s Choices Affect Us: You can be perfectly ready for challenges, but someone else’s drunk driving, dishonesty, or violence creates challenges for you anyway.
Time Doesn’t Stop: Life keeps moving. Children grow. Parents age. Bodies decline. Circumstances change. These transitions bring challenges regardless of readiness.
Spiritual Warfare: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world” (Ephesians 6:12). The enemy attacks. He doesn’t wait until you’re ready.
Growth Requires Challenges: God uses challenges to develop character, faith, and strength. If He waited until you were ready, you’d never grow. The challenge creates readiness.
Types of Challenges That Come Uninvited
Challenges take many forms, all arriving without checking your readiness:
Health Crises: Cancer doesn’t wait until you’re financially prepared. Heart attacks don’t schedule appointments. Accidents don’t ask permission. Chronic illness strikes the young and old alike.
Financial Emergencies: Job loss, economic downturns, unexpected expenses, business failures—these come without warning, often when you’re least prepared.
Relational Breakdowns: Divorce, betrayal, conflict, misunderstanding—relationships can explode when you thought everything was fine.
Loss and Grief: Death takes loved ones when you’re not ready to let them go. Children leave home when parents aren’t ready for empty nests. Friends move away when you still need them.
Career Setbacks: Layoffs, demotions, business failures, professional conflicts—these happen to prepared and unprepared alike.
Natural Disasters: Floods, fires, earthquakes, storms—nature doesn’t check your readiness before destroying your home.
Spiritual Tests: Doubt, temptation, persecution, seasons of feeling distant from God—these come regardless of spiritual maturity.
Life Transitions: Marriage, parenthood, aging parents, retirement—these bring challenges even when anticipated and planned for.
Biblical Examples of Unready People Facing Challenges
Joseph: Sold into slavery as a teenager. Was he ready? No. But challenges came anyway, and God used them to position him to save nations (Genesis 37-50).
Moses: Called to lead Israel out of Egypt when he was 80, felt inadequate, and protested to God. Not ready. But the challenge came anyway (Exodus 3-4).
Esther: Became queen, then faced the challenge of saving her people from genocide. Was she ready? She said, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). Not ready, but she went anyway.
Mary: A young virgin told she’d bear the Messiah. Was she ready for the scandal, danger, and responsibility? No. But she said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38).
The Disciples in the Storm: Experienced fishermen caught in a storm that terrified them. Were they ready? No. Jesus was asleep while they panicked (Mark 4:35-41).
Peter’s Denial: Jesus predicted Peter would deny Him. Peter protested he was ready to die for Jesus. But when the challenge came, he wasn’t ready and failed three times (Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75).
Paul’s Thorn: Paul prayed three times for removal of his “thorn in the flesh.” He wasn’t ready to live with it. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). The challenge stayed; Paul had to learn to face it.
In every case, the challenge came whether they were ready or not. And in most cases, facing the challenge despite unreadiness produced growth, faith, and purpose.
The Myth of Being “Ready”
Many people wait to be fully ready before facing challenges. But several problems exist with this:
You’ll Never Feel Completely Ready: Readiness is relative. There’s always more you could learn, more you could prepare, more time you could take. Waiting for complete readiness means never starting.
Readiness Often Comes Through Facing Challenges: You don’t become ready and then face challenges. You become ready BY facing challenges.
David wasn’t ready to be king when anointed. He became ready through years of challenges—fighting Goliath, serving Saul, fleeing for his life.
Challenges Don’t Wait: Life doesn’t pause while you prepare. The challenge arrives on its schedule, not yours.
Over-Preparation Can Be Avoidance: Sometimes “getting ready” is procrastination disguised as wisdom. You’re not preparing—you’re avoiding.
God Uses Unready People: God consistently calls unready people to challenges beyond their capacity. Why? So they’ll depend on Him rather than themselves.
Gideon wasn’t ready. Jeremiah wasn’t ready. The disciples weren’t ready. But God used them anyway.
How to Face Challenges When Unready
Since challenges come whether you’re ready or not, how do you face them?
Acknowledge the Challenge: Don’t deny it or minimize it. Face reality.
Admit Your Unreadiness: It’s okay to say “I’m not ready for this.” That’s honesty, not weakness.
Moses told God, “I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Jeremiah said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young” (Jeremiah 1:6). Both admitted unreadiness.
Trust God’s Presence: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
You may not be ready, but God is. His presence makes the difference.
Take the Next Step: You don’t need to see the whole path. Just take the next step. Then the next. Then the next.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). Not a spotlight showing everything—a lamp showing the next step.
Draw on Past Faithfulness: Remember previous challenges God brought you through. His past faithfulness assures His present help.
David told Goliath: “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:37).
Ask for Help: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).
God provides wisdom for facing challenges. Ask for it.
Accept Support: Let others help. God often provides for you through community.
Learn as You Go: Nobody starts with all knowledge. You learn by doing, adjusting, and continuing.
Persevere: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
Keep going. Perseverance matters more than perfect readiness.
Building Resilience for Inevitable Challenges
While you can’t prevent challenges, you can build resilience to face them:
Spiritual Foundation: Deep relationship with God, regular prayer, consistent Scripture engagement—these create foundation that holds when storms come.
“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 7:25).
Financial Margin: Emergency funds, living below your means, avoiding unnecessary debt—these provide cushion when financial challenges come.
Physical Health: Taking care of your body through nutrition, exercise, and rest gives you strength to face challenges.
Strong Relationships: Deep, genuine relationships provide support when challenges come.
Mental and Emotional Health: Addressing issues, developing coping skills, and maintaining perspective help you handle stress.
Skills and Knowledge: Learning broadly, developing abilities, and gaining experience prepare you for diverse challenges.
Character Development: Integrity, discipline, courage, perseverance—these character qualities help you face any challenge.
None of these prevent challenges. But they help you face them more effectively.
The Purpose of Uninvited Challenges
Why does God allow challenges to come when we’re not ready?
Character Development: “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
Challenges develop character that ease never could.
Faith Deepening: When you face challenges beyond your capacity, you learn to depend on God.
Paul learned: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Purification: Challenges burn away what’s not essential, revealing what truly matters.
“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).
Mission Preparation: God often uses present challenges to prepare you for future calling.
Joseph’s slavery and imprisonment prepared him to save nations. David’s wilderness years prepared him for kingship.
Compassion Development: Facing challenges creates compassion for others facing similar struggles.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Glory to God: When God brings you through challenges you weren’t ready for, He gets the glory. It’s obviously His power, not yours.
When Challenges Feel Overwhelming
Sometimes challenges come that feel genuinely overwhelming:
Remember Your Limit: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
God knows your capacity. He won’t allow more than you can bear with His help.
Focus on Today: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).
Don’t carry tomorrow’s challenges today. Face what’s in front of you now.
Cry Out to God: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).
Honest prayer about feeling overwhelmed is appropriate.
Accept Your Humanity: You’re not God. You’re not supposed to handle everything perfectly. It’s okay to struggle.
Seek Help: Professional help (counseling, medical care), spiritual help (pastoral care, prayer), practical help (friends, family)—all are appropriate when overwhelmed.
The Promise for Those Facing Challenges
God doesn’t promise to prevent challenges, but He promises to be present in them:
His Presence: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you” (Isaiah 43:2).
His Strength: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
His Peace: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
His Purpose: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).
His Victory: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).
Reflection Questions
- What challenges are you facing right now that you weren’t ready for?
- Are you waiting to be “ready” before facing something you need to address?
- How have past challenges you faced unprepared developed you?
- Where do you need to build resilience for inevitable future challenges?
- Are you trusting your own readiness or God’s presence and power?
- What next step can you take toward facing a current challenge, even if you don’t feel ready?
Related Quotes
- “Life itself is the seesaw. It comprises of ups and downs.”
- “Before the storm, there is calm. After the storm, there is calm. This is the mystery of life.”
- “Sacrifice something dear for something greater. You will need to make a sacrifice whether it is your free time or something else to get what you need and want.”
Want to build resilience for life’s inevitable challenges? Explore my books on faith and perseverance, discover more quotes and reflections, or read more articles on facing difficulties with faith.
