Don’t Let Go: Clinging to Jesus When Life Feels Like a Cliff

 What are you clinging to in 2026? In this episode, I share a personal story about fear, faith, and holding on to Jesus when life feels like a cliff. Plus, 6 practical ways to teach your kids—and yourself—to cling to the Rock in everyday moments. You don’t have to be fearless—just hold on. 

Transcript

New Year, Core Message: Cling To Jesus

SPEAKER_00 0:08

This is Jenna Marie Masters with the Real Mom's Real Faith Podcast. I am so glad you're here so you can be encouraged to trust God with all the things one day at a time. Hello, hey, welcome back to the Real Moms Real Faith podcast. Happy New Year, happy 2026. As we step into this new year, I want to ask you something gently but honestly. What are you clinging to? Because if this year and this season teaches us anything, it's this. When we look away from what matters, when we loosen our grip, panic sets in. And today I want to remind us all do not let go of Jesus in 2026. And I want to tell you why.

Heights Story And Panic On The Cliff

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I want to share with you uh something about myself. There is a very different version of me that comes out when I am around heights. I start to think things like if I look down, I'm gonna fall. And if I fall, my kids are gonna fall off. And if I survive the fall, we're gonna be doomed because I didn't pack snacks or hand sanitizer. Welcome to Jenna when she is fully unhinged around heights. My fear of heights is a relatively new spiritual gift in my life, something short-circuited. When I first got married, Erin and I were newlyweds and we were on top of this beautiful church in Paris and a strong wind blew. I stopped, I dropped onto the floor, and I rolled into the fetal position. And my husband literally had to like peel me off of the floor and walk me back down these steps. I don't know what happened, but ever since then, I just imagined plunging to my death, even at like the slightest heights. Even at the mall when my kids were little, I would not let them get too close to the second floor railing, especially when Santa was there. Because if Santa was downstairs and my kids were upstairs, honest to goodness, imagine my kids climbing over the railing to try to jump down to Santa. And it just terrified me. I'm gonna have to give it to the Lord. I am just not okay in this area. So years ago when we were hiking at Sequoia National Park, we were going up really high and there were these little steps that were up against the rock with no railing. So it was just one side was rock, and the next side was just death. Just straight death. And my husband was just charging straight up these steps with all three of my little kids. And I froze. I could not move. So I decided the safest option was to like press my entire body up against this rock, just my face, my arms, legs, stomach, like a flattened fruit roll-up. And other hikers were trying to squeeze by me. And my kids were like, Mommy, are you gonna come to the top with us? And I was like, Nope, mommy's gonna smell this rock for a while. People were staring, some people were trying to help me. They were like, Do you need a tissue? Do you need essential oils? I don't think about that moment very often, but I'm a pretty visual learner and I've been asking God to, you know, teach me, show me, give me ways I can understand you more.

The Rock Metaphor And Scripture Foundations

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During worship one Sunday, God brought that image right back to me. There I was, clinging to the side of a cliff. When I looked down, fear just seized me. But when I looked up, the clouds felt like they were crushing me. Behold, when my face stayed toward the rock, I knew I would be okay. And God was clear in his spirit speaking to me, saying, This is what you look like sometimes, Jenna. You're panicking when you stop looking away from the rock. And I am the rock. So maybe 2026 already feels like kind of a cliff for you. There's unknowns, there's waiting. Maybe you have an adoption journey, financial pressure or health concerns. You have a child that you're really praying for, and maybe you don't know how to stop shifting your gaze from the rock. Maybe you're looking down at an impossible cliff. Maybe you're looking up to something you think you're never gonna reach. And you're asking, Will this break me, Lord? Will any good come out of this? And I just want to remind you today that Scripture says, God is the fire by night, he is the cloud by day, but he is always the rock. First Samuel 2.2 says, There is no rock like our God. David said in 2 Samuel 22, The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. In 1 Corinthians 10, it says the Israelites drank from the rock, and that rock was Christ. God brings provision from the rock and protection from the rock. And hear this: there is no shame in a season where all you can do is cling. Yes, we were made to climb with Jesus, of course, but there are days when climbing is not the faithful choice, but clinging is. God gives grace when we're not ready to move forward. But those what ifs, they try to pry our fingers, right? We glance down, we imagine a fall, we replay what God should have done in our head over and over, and slowly we begin to loosen our grip.

Invitation For 2026: Do Not Look Away

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So here's my invitation for the new year. Do not look away from the rock in 2026. Do not let go when fear whispers. Do not measure God by the drop beneath you or the impossible thing you can't reach above you. Let's train our thoughts to press in to Jesus, to wrap our arms around him if you have to. Imagine me on that cliff pressing my cheek up against that rock as people were trying to get by me. And I look like a crazy lady. Who cares what you look like? Cling to Jesus. So maybe this year you're not ready to climb that mountain yet, and that's okay. If you don't feel strong enough to climb, cling. Because there is no rock like our God. He is the same God yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And that's a promise. If we hang on long enough, he promises we will be able to climb again in his strength and in his timing. So for now, don't look away, don't

Six Practical Ways Families Cling To Christ

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let go. I wanted to give you six little practical action steps to help your family cling to the rock. Number one, name the rock out loud. Kids learn what to cling to by what we name in the moment. So when fear shows up, before advice, before fixing, name Jesus. You could try saying, let's hold on to Jesus right now, or Jesus is our safe place, or we don't have to figure this out. We cling to the rock, who is Jesus Christ. This teaches our kids that faith doesn't have to be abstract, it's relational and it's immediate. The second thing is we can model clinging instead of panicking. Our kids don't learn calm from our words, they learn from our responses. So when you don't know the answer, you can say, Mommy doesn't have the answer, but Jesus does. When you're feeling overwhelmed, you say to them, look, I feel scared, but I'm choosing to hold on to Jesus right now. And this shows our kids that faith doesn't mean I'm never afraid. It just means I know where to go when I am afraid. And I love that. And I've had to use this so much in my life. And it's good for me to say it out loud, too. This isn't just for your children. This is for our hearts as well as moms. The third thing is you can create a simple rock practice, right? Make clinging tangible. You can hold hands during prayer and say, We're holding on to Jesus while we pray. Let kids place a hand on their heart or squeeze your hand when they're anxious. And for younger kids, you can even say, pretend we're holding on to a big rock together. And his name is Jesus. You're teaching their bodies what their hearts need to remember. And number four, you can redirect the what ifs. When your child says, What if something bad happens? Or mom, if you're thinking, what if something bad happens? We can respond to ourselves and to our children this way. If something bad happens, then we hold on to Jesus. If something bad happens, God will take care of us. What if something bad happens and we answer, what if Jesus is already there? Because he is. We're training them and ourselves to press back into the rock, not spiral away from it. And number five, kids often think waiting means something is wrong. And to be honest, a lot of times I think waiting means God's not listening to me or God's not working. But we need to remind them and ourselves that sometimes, remember, we climb with Jesus and we're working towards a goal, but sometimes we cling to him. And both of those things are brave. So we can let them know it's okay not to have the answers, it's okay to pause. God is not disappointed if we're feeling slow in our faith or slow to understand. And this builds resilience rooted in trust, right? Not God's performance or our performance. And the last one I want to share is to end our day anchored in Christ. So before bed, you can ask your kids, where did you feel scared today? Where did you feel safe? And then simply pray, Jesus, thank you for being our rock today. Help us hold on to you tomorrow, too. Because consistency builds confidence for them and for you. Just a final word. Look, we do not need to be fearless moms in 2026. I know that's a super popular thing out there. Be fearless, be brave. Look, we don't need to be fearless. And if God expected us to be fearless, then he wouldn't say to us, hey, do not be afraid, over and over again in the Bible. He expects us to have fear because we're human and we're not perfect. So we don't need to be fearless moms in front of our kids, but we do need moms who know what to hold on to, what to focus on, and what to cling to with all of our might and with all of our life. And when we cling to Jesus, even imperfectly, we're teaching ourselves and our kids how to survive the cliffs in their own lives. And if they learn nothing else from us, may they learn this when it feels like we're tiptoeing on the edge of a cliff in life. Don't look away from the rock. Don't let go of Jesus.

You Don’t Need To Be Fearless

SPEAKER_00 9:22

So before I wrap up today, I have something I'm really excited to share with you because starting now, every episode of this podcast will come with a free weekly devotional and family challenge. There was once a time when I had three kids under the age of two and a half, and the idea of adding something more to my schedule just sounded super overwhelming. So I designed these to help you and your kids take what we look at here at the podcast and bring it home in a really simple, practical, tangible way for you. So if you would like to get them, it's super simple. Just go to my Instagram and comment the word rooted

Free Devotional And Family Challenge

SPEAKER_00 9:56

on my pinned post and I'll send them directly to you. Or if you prefer, you can email me at hello at genemremasters.com and I'll get them over to you. I'm so excited to have these tools and I'm so excited to share them with you because I wish I had something like this when all of my kids were little. And it's just my way of helping you because I love you and I want to give you more ways to experience Jesus with your family. I hope this podcast encouraged you. If God brought someone to your heart as you were listening, please be

Gratitude, Blessing, And Review Request

SPEAKER_00 10:22

that encouraging friend and send them this episode. I also want to say thank you for all you have done the past year with the podcast and to support what God is doing through this ministry. Um, it has touched my heart. And I cannot say into words how much you all mean to me and how much I appreciate it. I pray that God moves through these words. I pray that your homes are blessed. I pray that the Lord moves powerfully through your children and through your marriages and through your homes this year. And I also pray for this rising generation and thank God that we get to be their moms. If you have a quick minute, if you could jump onto the podcast to give a review and a rating, it helps other moms find the podcast faster. I would like to throw that out there because it is super helpful. Don't forget to follow, save and share, and subscribe. You're awesome.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Give it up for our mommy! Ya will me faster. Love it.