Take Heart
“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.” — John 16:33
Jesus never promised a life free from hardship. He never said that following Him would spare us from pain, loss, fear, or seasons that feel unbearably heavy. In fact, He was honest with us from the very beginning when He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” We live in a broken world marked by sin, suffering, and darkness, and trials are something every one of us will face.
But Jesus does not end there.
He says, “But take heart, for I have overcome the world.” This is not future tense. It is not something we are waiting for. It is present. It is finished. Victory is already ours because over 2,000 years ago, Jesus defeated darkness, sickness, temptation, and evil on the cross.
Because of that, when we walk through trials, we are not fighting for victory. We are walking from victory. We can receive His strength in the middle of hardship, knowing that what we face will not defeat us. The trial does not get the final word. Jesus does.
Jesus has victory over the brokenness of this world because He conquered it at the cross. When we walk through trials, we cling to the One who knows exactly how to carry us through, because He Himself endured suffering, temptation, and pain in every way we do and came out victorious. There is not one obstacle He did not face, and there is not one obstacle He did not conquer. Following Him does not exempt us from trials, but it does lead us through them in victory, just as He did.
He guides us gently, often in ways we do not fully understand. Even when His ways feel mysterious, we are called to trust that they are higher, wiser, and greater than our own. This is faith. We are able to rest in victory even before we physically see it, because God always speaks first and then things move.
In Genesis, God spoke and then there was light. Light did not come first. His word did. And His word never returns void. When He speaks, heaven responds and the physical follows. So when Jesus tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world, we can trust that His victory applies to our present hardship as well.
Right in the middle of suffering, Jesus gives us a command filled with hope: “Take heart.” Not because life is easy, but because He has already overcome it.
Jesus did not defeat the world from a distance. He stepped directly into it. He humbled Himself, took on lowly human form, and willingly experienced rejection, grief, exhaustion, betrayal, and deep sorrow for our sake. He was tempted and tested in every way we are, yet He overcame, so we could walk in relationship with Him and experience heaven even here on earth.
There is no pain you carry that He does not understand. There is no trial you face that He has not already walked through and conquered.
When we come to Him in our struggles, we are not met with indifference or misunderstanding. We are met by a Savior who knows, who understands, and who has already won. Our trials may feel overwhelming, but they are never greater than His victory. Every battle we face is already beneath His feet.
This is why our peace is not found in the absence of hardship. It is found in His presence. When the world presses in, when fear tries to take hold, and when life feels uncertain, we can run to Him with confidence, knowing that the same power that overcame the world now surrounds us, strengthens us, and carries us through.
This truth is the heartbeat behind The Take Heart Collection.
God led me to create this collection as a reminder for myself and for everyone who wears it that even in the lowest valleys, hope is never lost. Suffering does not get the final word. Fear does not get the final word. The world does not get the final word.
Jesus does.
So take heart.
— Emily Jones
