e173 Strengthen Your Faith Through a Solo Row with God (be inspired by solo rower,Taryn Smith, World’sToughest Row participant)

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 3 Episode 173 Strengthen Your Faith Through a Solo Row with God (be inspired by solo rower, Taryn Smith, World’s Toughest Row participant)

Here’s the gist, human. If you want to transform your spiritual life, how about a solo row with God? A solo row is a journey that you cannot do without God, without Jesus, without the Holy Spirit. Seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? But it’s really such a defining truth, that when we accept that our relationship with our Maker is 100% up to our free will and his glorious nature we head for much deeper water. A solo row that is between you and God, destined for a new spiritual horizon. Spiritual sea legs. Amazing. It takes a day to day commitment to our conviction, our confidence in God. And the world he made for us to live in.

Consider Taryn. The first American woman to compete in the World’s Toughest Row as a solo athlete. On day 34, at sunrise, Taryn witnessed a whale do a vertical jump in front of her. 

Courage in action. Conviction that is contagious. Tracking this kind of courage is a lesson we can’t ignore, and the beauty of it, the power of it, is that she has been rowing for 40+ days and at any point of my day I can stop and know this: 

Taryn is on that boat, rowing. 

Who is she? And are you ready to make a commitment to your own solo row? E173. Listen in. 

I will be looking for Moses in heaven. I would love to hear him give the testimony he gave to the Israeli nation in Deuteronomy as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. What a guy. 

And to think Jesus is greater than Moses. Consider this.

Hebrews 3:3-6

Jesus Greater Than Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house. Verse 6 says, “6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Christ is the author of divine faith in my human heart because he is forever a faithful Son to his Heavenly Father.

When Our Mind Tries to Dominate

Yet the author of Hebrews knows that we fight a daily fight not unlike the fight the wandering Israeli nation fought in the wilderness. They heard God’s voice. They saw the example of Moses every day. And yet their hearts rebelled. The unbelievers did not enter the Promised Land. Though not an unbeliever, neither did Moses.

Hebrews 3:7-14

Warning Against Unbelief

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,

8     do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion,

    during the time of testing in the wilderness,

9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,

    though for forty years they saw what I did.

10 That is why I was angry with that generation;

    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,

    and they have not known my ways.’

11 So I declared on oath in my anger,

    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 

Sin hardens the heart by deceiving us into thinking we can do life on our own. Make our own decisions. But the promise is to share in Christ if we hold our original conviction. Stand fast, be steadfast.

Taryn and the World’s Toughest Row

It’s been awhile since I shared a sea adventure, but, hey, what in nature inspires your reverence the most? For me, it is the ocean. I am silly scared of it. And so drawn to it. We have lived on or a few blocks inland from a sound, the ocean, east and west coast, for the past 20+ years, until 2024. Now it’s a short day trip away. I have a son who is a sailor, who was on the return team for the TransPac race across the Pacific Ocean. More than 2000 miles over 14+ days. He pulled me in close to his journey, sharing beautiful moments that I will never see with my own eyes. Thank you Cris. 

Today is about Taryn and the tenacity of our confidence. At the time of this episode publication, Taryn Smith is on day 40 of rowing, and rowing and rowing. She is 25 years old, a college graduate, with a childhood filled with “love of the water” memories, especially sailing. Yet Taryn had never rowed before beginning her race training in 2023 to participate in the World’s Toughest Row. The race began on December 12, 2025. 

Talk about a worthy goal that takes time. Taryn assessed what it would take, and threw her commitment into the center of it.  

According to the Winter 2025 issue of Sun Valley Magazine (https://sunvalleymag.com/articles/from-the-sawtooths-to-the-atlantic/), when asked why she was doing it she said, 

“My gut instinct was, ‘That’s the coolest thing in the world.’ It’s so outrageous and audacious. It’s been hard to explain to people sometimes. I want to do something scary, push myself out of my comfort zone, but a lot of my why for this endeavor can’t be explained with words.”

Taryn also shared her pre-race fears: “I am most nervous about the sleep deprivation,” she said. “I’m nervous about a big freighter hitting me in the middle of the night. I’m nervous about blue marlin, fish that sometimes pierce the hull of the boat. Sometimes I get nervous about the power going out and having no way to navigate or call for help. But the good thing about this is there’s so many redundancies in communication and safety—that’s why this race is so successful.”

The race she refers to is a 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean, aptly named The World’s Toughest Row. For 2-3 months, Taryn is out at sea, rowing from the Canary Islands to Antigua in a 24-foot-long special rowing boat. Taryn is the first American woman to compete in this race as a solo athlete.

She is battling sleep deprivation, salt sores, and other physical extremes. Not to mention being left with ocean isolation across a never-ending water horizon. And, the reality of getting the boat to the other side. It’s hard to imagine for non-rowers like me. A vast expanse of water and the will to cross it. 

-At its deepest, the Atlantic Ocean is 5.28 miles deep.

-The waves that a rower experiences can measure up to 20ft high.

-A range of temperatures, from as low as 10 degrees during the night shifts at the start to well in to the 30’s with added humidity as they approach the finish.

-Rowers burn in excess of 5,000 calories per day.

-The average rower loses around 8kg (17 lbs) during a crossing.

-A rower must be attached to the boats “jackstay” (safety line running along the deck from bow to stern), with a 3 point safety harness whenever on deck.

Taryn confirms: “The boats are very, very sturdy. They are very reliable; they are very safe,” Smith said. “They are designed to self right. So when I am out at sea, if I ever do capsize and flip, the boat is designed to flip back.”

She gives us insight into her motivation: “We are meant to be scared,” Smith said. “We are meant to do things that are a little bit stressful because that is what pushes us to grow and be better.” (https://www.wowt.com/2025/06/04/omaha-native-rowing-become-first-american-woman-solo-race-across-atlantic/)

Taryn is on That Boat, Rowing

On day 34, at sunrise, Taryn witnessed a whale do a vertical jump in front of her. That moment fulfilled her WHY in an impossible way, the God-possible way. 

That one moment.

This impassions me, can you tell, so here is what I am suggesting. That you follow her and take note of her perspective day to day. Gain a better sense of what confidence looks like when it is fueled by conviction. Get a better sense of what fear looks like when confronted with confidence. She got her WHY right.  

She does a quick daily checkin. She’s honest about how she is feeling, the challenges she is facing, but I have to say that takes second place to something more powerful.

Courage in action. Conviction that is contagious. The illumination of her face against the rising sea is truly inspiring. Tracking this kind of courage is a lesson we can’t ignore, and the beauty of it, the power of it, is that she has been rowing for 40+ days and at any point of the day I can stop and know this: 

Taryn is on that boat, rowing. 

And when not rowing, she is sleeping, refueling, taking care of the boat, whatever she needs to do to prepare for her next row. 

I know this. It is changing her. Someone asked her in an interview before she started, what could possibly be next, and she said she is considering law school, but will allow time following the race to assess how this experience has changed her. Ah, the wisdom of conviction in action. She has a seasoned soul, for sure. 

To track Taryn, follow her on her Instagram account: @tarynsmithmovement 

To track the race and take in additional information about the World’s Toughest Row, go to https://www.worldstoughestrow.com. It’s fascinating.

A Solo Row to Strengthen Your Faith

I want to row with Taryn. I want to be in it with her. So I am on my book boat with towering word waves on any given day. Consistently getting off course and finding my way back to the WHY. One thing is clear. To get anywhere, it mostly takes picking up the oars and rowing. So I have set my own goal to row alongside Taryn. I start my work by checking in on her. While she rows the Atlantic, I row through God’s word, my words, and all the human nature in-between. When she meets land, I will still be rowing, but not unlike sea creatures who are following her for periods of time, this feels like a magical bond. Let me get to it.

What boat are you rowing? It doesn’t have to be a boat that isolates you in the middle of life’s ocean, but it needs to be something you are 100% accountable for. That you do alone. Something that challenges you and takes more than you are capable of on your own. 

Here’s a guideline: This is a solo row, that you cannot do without God, without Jesus, without the Holy Spirit. Seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? But it’s really such a defining truth, that when we accept that our relationship with our Maker is 100% up to our free will and his glorious nature we head for much deeper water. Like Taryn. A solo row that is between you and God, destined for a new spiritual horizon. Spiritual sea legs. Amazing. It is a day to day commitment to our conviction, our confidence in God. Because God guarantees a self-right journey. Like Taryn’s boat, God will be there if you capsize, to spiritually flip you over. So you can keep going.

One more time, consider:

Hebrews 3:6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Taryn saw her glory whale.

And if you take on a solo row, here’s my prediction:

You will change, like Taryn.

You will be an example, a testimony, like Moses, and finally, like Jesus. 

Taryn has 452,000+ followers and rising, people engaged in her journey. I note this because when we row, human, it inspires others. A powerful testimony.

“Fair winds and following seas” Taryn!